“On the pleasant shore of the French Riviera, about half way between Marseille and the Italian border, stands a large, proud, rose-colored hotel. Deferential palms cool its flushed façade, and before it stretches a short dazzling beach. Lately it has become a summer resort of notable and fashionable people; a decade ago it was almost deserted...
The history of Thessaloniki begins in 315 B.C. In that year, Cassander of Macedonia founded the city before giving it the name of his lover: Thessalonike, Alexander the Great’s half-sister. Over this city, edified like a profession of love, reigns a unique atmosphere. Situated at the far end of the Thermaic Gulf, Thessaloniki was originally at the crossroads of the great...
“I try to make Indian cuisine at a higher level, so it can be appreciated by people across the world. I want to try to do something different. You want it to look good, to taste good, and more importantly for the guests to have a good time.” The pride of the Mandarin Oriental hotel,...
While “caviar” was first mentioned in the West in the 9th century, the roots of consumption of Caspian sea sturgeon eggs lie in Persia. These trailblazers passed their taste for the fine dish on to the court of Russia, where the Czars would serve it during grand Imperial banquets… And then the Bolshevik Revolution happened....
In 1919 French painter Jacques Majorelle, son of the famous artist Louis Majorelle, took up in the medina of Marrakech, a city he’d fallen in love with. Three years later he would purchase a palm grove to the northwest of the medina, and in 1931 he would have his Mauresque-style villa built there by Paul...
In 1911, palaces began flourishing in the East of France. Jules Cadillat decided to lay the foundations for the Hotel Plaza on the avenue Montaigne. The Théâtre des Champs-Elysées would set up shop not far away. Originally conceived as a place to spend the evening after a show, it is now unconceivable for one to...
It was the first formula for Coca-Cola that gave it its name. Made with coca leaves and cola nuts, the drink was first presented as a medicine. The legend leaves up to chance the meeting of a sparkling water, a caffeinated syrup, citrus juice, and an extract from the coca plant. It is said that...
When Louis Ernest Ladurée opened his bakery on 16 rue Royale in Paris in 1862, the great fashion of the Second Empire was increasingly numerous and luxurious cafés. The Ladurée brand didn’t quite get tongues wagging yet, but the La Madeleine neighborhood where it set up shop was rapidly growing as a number of French...
In 1973, Anne-Sophie Pic was worried, demanding, and constantly seeking the best when the death of her father, chef Jacques Pic, left her running the kitchens. This fragility of a self-taught artist has allowed her to endlessly reevaluate herself. The meeting of her husband also proved to be a fortuitous one: at his side, Anne-Sophie...
When the League of Nations – forerunner of the UN – was established in Geneva in 1937, it wasn’t too difficult to notice the drawbacks of a hotel complex that was in dire need of more rooms. And so in the place of a grocer, a wine vendor, and a bicycle merchant, it was decided...
