Cooking up the culinary culture

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The Four Seasons Hotel Alexandria aimed to put the seaside city on the culinary map with its Mediterranean Gourmet Summit held last month.

The Four Seasons Hotel Alexandria at San Stefano hosted the first Mediterranean Gourmet Summit from June 15 to 21.

The event showcased gastronomic delights prepared by six master chefs from Four Seasons properties around the world and a medley of cookery demonstrations and classes took place throughout the week, allowing the chefs to share their trade secrets with visitors.

The event "marked a milestone in fine dining in Alexandria" according to the hotel's general manager Stephan Killinger.

"This is something totally unique, not only for Alexandria but also for all of Egypt. We wanted to showcase Alexandria as a culinary hotspot for people from around the region and the local community, as well as visitors from Cairo," he says.

The six chefs involved in the summit created a range of dishes with Mediterranean, Asian and Mexican flare at the hotel's six restaurant outlets.

Alexandria is currently under-served in terms of high-end eateries says Killinger.

"In Alexandria there are a not many outlets of any real standard. It's mainly franchise eateries and a few local fish restaurants.

"We're trying to create a hub within San Stefano, making it a centre for dining so that in the summer people from the north coast will come down to Alexandria to eat at our outlets," he explains.

"The summit is about giving back to the city, showcasing some of the F&B options, and helping to put Alexandria where it deserves to be on the culinary map."

Among the chefs tasked with helping to build the reputation of Alexandria as a gourmet destination was Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia's chef de cuisine David Jansen, who was resident at Four Seasons Hotel Alexandria's fine-dining restaurant, Byblos.

Serving up sushi and Balinese cuisine at the property's Sushi Etc outlet was Four Seasons Hotel Cairo The First Residence's Yoshinori Mizutani, who originates from Japan, and senior sous chef Nyoman Suasa from Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay.

Meanwhile, Mexican chef Jorge Gonzáles, the restaurant chef at the Aramara restaurant at Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita, presented guests at Kala, the Four Seasons Alexandria's sea-view outlet, with a buffet of authentic Mexican masterpieces.

In addition, executive sous chef at the Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai, Giovanni Speciale, brought some of his southern Italian specialties and seafood creations to Stefano, the hotel's open-kitchen Italian outlet.

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