April 2008

Spain's hottest hotels

Spain is hot. And it shows no signs of cooling down-at least not where hip hotels are concerned. Foreign investment is sizzling along with the Spanish economy, and not surprisingly, hotel life is experiencing a rebirth.

It's a veritable boom time of tourist influx and heightened service standards, which means that finding posh five-star hotels in the major cities isn't hard to do. But that leaves the bigger challenge of zeroing in on the hot spots. Which hotels-because of their design, spirit and, yes, location-are distinct enough to be considered destinations in their own right? After all, when you're in Madrid, wouldn't it be more fun to shun the chains and stay instead in a new hotel with a fictional host, like the Oscar? Or in an architect's fantasia with individual floors designed by the likes of Jean Nouvel and Sir Norman Foster?


Moscow goes molecular

Twenty years ago, Moscow had only a few dozen restaurants. Shortages meant many menu items were marked with a handwritten "nyet." The biggest lines in town were at the new McDonald's.

"What we do here is like neurosurgery," says Chef Komm.Today, the Russian capital is teeming with thousands of eateries, from neighborhood cafés to places where Bentleys and Porsches crowd the curb out front and dinner tabs easily surpass $250 a person -- before drinks. Many boast foreign chefs preparing once-unavailable Italian, Japanese or Moroccan dishes. But there's one cuisine the restaurant boom has largely passed by: traditional Russian cooking. Chef Anatoly Komm says it is time the cooking of his childhood got some respect. His restaurant Varvary opened this winter offering herring-and-beet salad, borscht, Siberian dumplings -- a banquet of babushka's home cooking. But applying the trendy new rigors of "molecular gastronomy," he deconstructs Russian cooking and transforms traditional recipes into dishes that are altogether new -- and exponentially more expensive. The "gastronomic performance" starts with humble Russian black bread served with fragrant sunflower oil and coarse salt. Only here, the bread is an egg yolk-size capsule of brown gel infused with the sour, coriander flavor, and the sunflower oil is a hard spiral. White-gloved waiters instruct diners to take the silver-spoon portion in one bite, revealing an explosion of flavors made stronger by the reversal of textures. In the Soviet era, every detail of Moscow's state-owned restaurants was government-regulated, from the décor to the frying oil. Customers came for music and dancing, not for food. Tamara Sharova, a former top official at the Praga, an elite restaurant of the 1970s, says over a recent dinner at Varvary, "We had all these dishes at the Praga" -- just in completely different forms. Mr. Komm's version of black bread, she says, "is a revelation." Varvary is the 41-year-old chef's second attempt to expose Muscovites to the molecular gastronomy movement, whose high-tech preparations, such as flash-freezing and frothing, and surreal presentations made international names for Ferran Adrià's El Bulli in Spain, Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck outside London and Wylie Dufresne's wd-50 on New York's Lower East Side. Mr. Komm would like to add Varvary to the list. A few years ago, he says he introduced a molecular tasting menu at another of his Moscow establishments, but customers didn't get it. "Gastronomic restaurants of this level are first of all cultural institutions, not at all connected to gorging, to filling your stomach," Mr. Komm says. "What we do here is like neurosurgery." The name Varvary -- the Russian word for "barbarians" -- is Mr. Komm's ironic comment on Russian cuisine's public image, but there's nothing barbaric about dining here. The place has just 10 tables and two tasting menus on offer (reservations are required). First-time visitors get "Russian Traditions," eight courses including black bread and a main dish of meat or fish, plus a head-spinning parade of vodka and wine. Returning guests are steered to the pricier "Russian Renaissance" menu, featuring shellfish and exotic produce, like sea cucumbers from Kamchatka in the Russian Far East.


The Connaught unveils magnificent £70 million restoration

The Connaught, the legendary Mayfair hotel built in 1897, has gently opened its doors on Carlos Place after a £70 million restoration and renovation programme. The detailed work includes a magnificent redesign of the guest rooms, suites and interiors, and has brought together some of the world's finest designers and craftsmen. "As one of the world's most distinguished addresses, The Connaught's magnificent restoration will immediately establish the hotel as one of the world's most coveted and luxurious destinations," stated Stephen Alden, CEO of Maybourne Hotel Group. "We have appointed the most talented design teams to bring this Mayfair gem into the 21st century while preserving the authentic elegance and distinct personality so beloved by its guests, and the results are truly remarkable. Having taken the unprecedented step of keeping The Connaught staff during the restoration we are confident our guests will experience the personal, familiar welcome that has made the hotel so special."