This month sees the much-anticipated launch of The Luminary Set – an extraordinary collection of critically acclaimed tastemakers and culinary innovators across Europe, Middle East and Africa, each curating culinary experiences that take diners beyond the ordinary.
Harnessing the power of gastronomic greatness, The Luminary Set brings together 52 hand-picked venues across 15 different countries, with a total collection of 26 Michelin stars between them, whilst championing and celebrating the talents behind each restaurant, menu and culinary concept.
With food an ever-growing incentive in the decision-making process around holiday planning, destinations are oft now chosen based on their culinary offerings – the chefs, restaurants or a city’s gastronomic scene becoming the ‘destination’ in themselves.
So, with that in mind, and with over 50 restaurants on The Luminary Set’s menu, here we look at five different venues and how the chefs, the menus and the unique dining experiences have made each a destination in their own right. Reservations, please…
ES FUM
The St. Regis Mardavall Mallorca Resort, Mallorca
THE RESTAURANT
The one-Michelin-starred Es Fum creates a culinary cornucopia of creativity, expertise, technique and rich ‘n’ ripe flavours, where every single ingredient is treated with due respect. Seasonality is key, with only the freshest local produce allowed in the kitchen. The restaurant is elegant, light and airy with pared-back colour tones that riff against sculptures by the contemporary Mallorcan artist Joan Bennàssar. For a special evening, book a table on the terrace for dinner with a view and striking sunsets that play out over the Mediterranean.
THE CHEF
The man behind the magic of one-Michelin-starred Es Fum restaurant is chef Miguel Navarro, a Spanish chef who began his career in the kitchen aged just 16. After apprenticing for several years, and studying hospitality management and tourism, he donned his apron to work for well-known restaurants in Tenerife, such as the Hotel Mencey and Mesón El Drago. He then undertook a career-defining apprenticeship at Martín Berasategui’s restaurant in the Basque Country, before moving to Hotel Ritz-Carlton Abama where he worked under chef Berasategui as part of the team that was awarded the first Michelin-star for M.B restaurant. From there, Navarro worked in Germany at Aqua, which was awarded with three Michelin stars, onto various kitchens in Italy, before spending three years back with Martín Berasategui in Barcelona as second chef at Lasarte restaurant, just as it was awarded three Michelin stars. Since 2017, Navarro’s been busy behind the kitchen counters at Es Fum, where he returns to his roots in Mallorca, the homeland of his grandmother.
THE MENU
Gracing your plate is a choice of three new menus, each centred around a stage of Navarro’s life: Origen, which focuses on the chef’s training and career, and pays tribute to the people who have passed on their values, affection and cuisine to him; Recorrido, which looks into the future, a search for evolution where risks are taken without abandoning the restau-rant’s roots; and Vegetal, which is specially designed for lovers of vegetarian cuisine. Think cod fritters, roasted lamb chops and smoked octopus on the Origen menu, oyster tom kha, jerk pi-geon, caviar with cauliflower and celery on the Recorrido menu, and the Vegetal menu serving up spring leeks with galanga and codium, candy tomatoes with avocado and mango vinaigrette, and pink quinoa with smoked avocado and Ají Amarillo pepper.
LAB BY SERGI AROLA
Penha Longa Resort, Portugal
THE RESTAURANT
A restaurant that prides itself on individuality, LAB by Sergi Arola is a celebration of culinary artistry, in a space that champions creativity, discovery and innovation. Awarded with one Michelin star since 2016, the restaurant seats just 22 guests per sitting, giving chef Sergi Arola the floor in which to present his masterpieces. The modern-designed dining room has incredible views over the undulating greens of Penha Longa’s golf course and features an impressive glass-fronted wine cellar, too.
THE CHEF
From musician to Michelin-star chef, Sergi Arola is something of a wonderkid in the culinary world. A charismatic chef, a rebel with a cause, a rock’n’roll star with a wild culinary soul. He kickstarted his career working with the likes of renowned chefs Ferran Adrià of El Bulli and the acclaimed Pierre Gagnaire, before launching restaurant concepts in cities like Abu Dhabi, Mumbai, Verbier, Santiago de Chile, Barcelona and Madrid. Now, with his stamp across umpteen award-winning restaurants, he has done what so many strive to achieve – international fame. Sergi Arola – the man who made his name a brand.
THE MENU
A true laboratory of fine dining, Arola stamps his trademark freedom and frivolity on the menu, innovating around meticulously-prepared dishes that exude flavour. He draws on the Mediterranean for inspiration, with a subtle nod to his past, and the beauty and simplicity of Portuguese ingredients. ‘From inside the mountain’, a menu of cured yolk, caramelized onion, hay and caviar find their way to the plate, while ‘Chef’s garden’ heralds ravioli with roasted vegetables. ‘From outside the mountain’ menu, there’s sea bass with shallot nage and chablis, and topinambur deer with cypress cocoa and green pepper. Inventive and wildly exciting.
OAK ROOM
The Abu Dhabi EDITION, UAE
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THE RESTAURANT
All traditional English oak-panelled walls, lashings of leather and black-and-white rock’n’roll imagery on the walls, Oak Room feels like a cool London supper club – modern, sophisticated, and, in this instance, all about steak. Huge dome-shaped chandeliers keep lighting soft and subtle, with rich hues of dark browns and Hunter green creating a smart yet informal backdrop for the menu to play out. British rock music brings the good vibes, while the staff – who are all deeply passionate about the art and craft of meat and know how to wield a steak knife or two – bring the energy. It’s a theatrical kind of dining experience too, with an on-show kitchen, a frosted glass-fronted butchery with cuts and steaks on display, and expert tableside carving.
THE CHEF
Mexican chef Nando Tapia learnt to cook aged 15 when he spent his food money on computer games and was forced to raid the cupboards and make something of what he found – cue a weird risotto with avocado, lemon, and mayonnaise with crab on top. Since then, his career has taken him from restaurants in Mexico City, Florida, Naples and Bahrain, before moving to Oak Room as Chef de Partie, and rising up the ranks to become Chef de Cuisine in April 2022. A proud Mexican who loves to mix and match as many flavours as possible, he says experimenting with different ingredients is second nature to him, using his creative Mexican flair to add a little va va voom to his dishes. His vision is to make Oak Room the number one steakhouse in Abu Dhabi and with the restaurant listed in both the Michelin Guide 2024 and Gault & Millau UAE Guide 2024, he’s well on his way.
THE MENU
This new-age steakhouse puts meat front and centre, with a spotlight on US and Australian cuts, whilst creating a stage for world-class ingredients to do their thing. There are the signature spare beef ribs, 400-day grain fed Stockyard Wagyu striploin, Black Onyx tenderloin and 21-day dry-aged Black Angus T-Bone. Throw in burgers, beef tartare and baked oysters for good measure. As for the highlights? Don’t miss the hand-dived scallops with brown butter and pumpkin purée, the beef carpaccio with black garlic aioli, salsa verde and parsnip chips, and the triple-cooked chips, which are something of Oak Room legend.
M.B
The Ritz-Carlton, Abama, Tenerife
THE RESTAURANT
As the Canary Island’s first two-Michelin-starred restaurant, Martín Berasategui’s restaurant M.B has sent Tenerife’s dining scene skyrocketing. With a menu that offers bold, Basque-inspired dishes that build on familiar flavours, M.B has built up a loyal following of die-hard foodies, those who expect and appreciate the exceptional. The restaurant itself is contemporary in design, with brick-laid herringbone flooring that adds a rustic touch, and tones of cream that lick the natural sunlight creating a warm and inviting vibe. There’s a room dedicated to welcome drinks and after-dinner coffee and liquors, and two beautiful glass-fronted galleries that open as terraces come the summer.
THE CHEF
Born in Getxo in the Basque Country, Erlantz Gorostiza Agruirre’s started his culinary career as a pastry chef, before his curiosity led him to explore more diverse culinary avenues. His training saw him work under the tutelage of esteemed chefs such as Quique Dacosta, and donning aprons for world-renowned restaurants like El Celler de Can Roca. He then took over the kitchens at Martín Berasategui’s restaurant M.B in Tenerife in 2010, which under his masterful eye, bagged itself a second Michelin star in 2014. Considered something of a culinary maverick, Gorostiza prioritises quality, creativity and dedication in his dishes, producing plates designed to both captivate and inspire, whilst simultaneously flying the flag for the best ingredients the island of Tenerife has to offer. His over-riding vision at M.B is to take diners on a journey that reaches back to childhood and carries them through to the future of gastronomy.
THE MENU
Inspired by tradition and built on memories and innovation, the menu at M.B is both exciting and surprising, featuring an à la carte menu which starts with flavours that guests are more familiar with, before twisting unexpectedly by changing textures, temperatures or flavours, creating a meal that’s ‘tasty, powerful and fun’. There are also two different tasting journeys – The Great Classics and The Great Tasting Menu – that include a collection of dishes devised by Martín Berasategui and executed by chef Erlantz Gorostiza that highlight a distinct Spanish cuisine. On The Great Classics, you’ll tuck into caramelised millefeuille with smoked eel, fresh pasta ravioli with truffle and mushroom, and liquid calamari bonbon in an ink cracker. And on The Great Tasting Menu, there’s Soldier shrimp marinated over an olive and orange juice, calamari in different textures, served with carbonara foam and El Hierro Island cheese crunch, and oysters with citrus roots cream, beetroot and crispy sesame.
