There are lots of perks to living in Paris: amazing pastries, stunning architecture  and good, cheap wine, to name a few. And then there are those unexpected opportunities that sometimes come along.., like being invited to the Shangri-La International Festival of Gastronomy.

From October 27th to 31st, eight Michelin-starred chefs from around the globe were called on to work their magic in five international cities across the globe. Chefs like Italy’s Massimo Bottura, Enrico Bartolini and Mauro Colagreco descended on Shangri-La Hotel restaurants around the world for a week of culinary magic.                                                                                   

At the Shangri-La Hotel Paris, Executive Chef Christophe Moret and Chef Samuel Lee Sum prepared exclusive menus for the event at their respective restaurants, L’Abeille and Shang Palace (the only Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant in France). Chef Sum served up dishes like deep fried oysters with cucumber and wasabi, sautéed blue lobster with ginger and spring onion and vanilla ice cream with osmanthus fermented rice and figs.

At L’Abeille (which means “the bee”), Chef Moret (who used to be head head chef at Restaurant Alain Ducasse) presented playful, inventive plates like lacquered John Dory “goujonnettes” with grilled buckwheat and crystallized lemons with matcha-tea flavoured tapioca. Shangri-La Hotels generously invited me to eat at L’Abeille during the Festival and it blew me away. My favourites were the starter, a sea urchin and gold caviar dish paired with sake and a duck breast served with peppers, juniper, Romertopf veggies and smoked gin sauce. At the end of the meal, they sent me home with a jar of Corsican honey which I can’t wait to dig into.

The Shangri-La International Festival of Gastronomy is only in its first year and I’m already looking forward to seeing what they come up with for next year’s event. Thanks for having me Shangri-la!