Fabien NEGRE

Maotai symbolizes the national drink, both for the State and for families beyond the borders of mainland China. This millennial sorghum brandy belongs to the great family of Baijiu, the most widely consumed spirit category in the world. Maotai, which belongs to the subfamily of sauce-aroma Baijiu, unquestionably produces the elite liquor of the category – per Chinese and foreign experts’ opinion. Coming from the Maotai Township in southwest China's Guizhou Province, known for its preserved environment, Moatai has been protected as a state secret by the government since the 1950s.

On a hillside, on a slight slope. Between the pine, mimosa or orange trees. Overlooking the Bay of Cannes, facing the Lérins Islands and the Esterel ledge, in an historic building of Notre-Dame-des-Anges. He is a brilliant, wise man. He is sharp, quiet, witty with his colorful glasses frame and his unbelievable career. At the Villa Archange, the discreet Bruno Oger cultivates the secret gardens of a simple life with great humility and composure.

Here comes the Star of Bombay, backward, as a praise of time dilation, of ‘slow drinking’. The super premium version of the famous Bombay Sapphire gin, created by the Master of Botanicals Ivano Tonutti, crystallizes the Art of Slow. This October the triangular collaboration “Beauty of Time” between the chef David Toutain (Paris 7th arrondissement), the remarkable mixologist Danilo Grenci (behind the bar at the BlueBird), and the artist Philippe-H. Claudel cast a new light on this exceptional product.

On the Quai de Conti, across from the Pont Neuf, stands a neoclassical edifice from pre-revolutionary Paris.  Boasting one of the longest façades on the Seine, it encloses a large inner courtyard and houses the world’s oldest still-operating mint, and Guy Savoy.

At this legendary palace on Montaigne Avenue in the 8th Quarter in Paris, under the serene auspices of Denis Courtiade, the diner settles immediately into First Class: the leather two-seaters are made by the same people who manufacture the seats for Bentley cars. But any self-consciousness at being pampered by upholstery and luxurious trappings evaporates fast, overwhelmed by a surprising and deliciously earthy kitchen.  The evening begins with green lentils, caviar and a delicate smoked-eel jelly.  This topsy-turvy of textures coalesces around the refined combination of land and sea.

In an old olive grove stands the splendid 17th century convent, "Les Minimes", in Mane-en-Provence.  It houses the restaurant "Le Cloître," where Jérôme Roy, the former “Second” to the masters Thierry Marx and Michel Troisgros, works a kind of magic.  His creations in this setting bring to mind the Provencal novels of Jean Gionot, and in particular the short tale “The Man who Planted Trees.”  It tells of a widowed shepherd who sets out to reforest a barren valley to overcome his grief.  The result is a brittle paradise - transcendence through nature.

Alain PEGOURET, a handsome boy, a gentleman. The hard-nosed leader of LAURENT has erected an exceptional culinary establishment in front of the Presidential Palace. His definition of haute cuisine resembles fine jewelry-making. It’s a real dream for this from this sporty southernman who, since his rough adolescence, had only Cannes’s Croisette and Paris’s Champs-Elysées. The feat of instinct, a style.

Ever since man began playing at being a sapiens – ever since he has known how to taste things, major chefs have shaped a quasi-entirely masculine iteration. The irony is, through their own particular family histories, they’ve all eventually learned their high taste gastronomy thanks to their mothers, often their grandmothers. And suddenly is emerging a generation of female chefs at the cooking range. They are completely changing the culinary grammar and are introducing new keys into the gastronomic syntax. They are shaking up their father’s classics.

Nati and Christophe Roure gave rise to their “Neuvième Art”, which according to Larousse is purely gastronomy. This dazzling artistic achievement, crowned with two Michelin-stars within four years, surprises us with its controlled mess, the brilliant precision of its playful orchestrations, worthy of a sugar sculptor’s architectural epiphany.

Haunted by the landscapes of the sea color where all his Asian dreams sparkle, the rodezian soul in his mind, Alexandre BOURDAS, ambassador of young cuisine, smart and fresh, stunning star progression, audacious and natural, lives on an ancestral land. At the "Sa. Qua. Na", the elegant stripping of accessible clarity surprises the people.