Relais & Chateaux Group is one of the world’s most prestigious hotel and restaurant associations. In November, awards were given to the best members of the group, ie deserving individuals who stood out with their enthusiastic work. The annual congress of the group was held virtually, and broadcast live from Paris to more than a thousand top chefs, managers and hotel and restaurant owners in 65 countries across five continents. This was a truly extraordinary moment for the Lešić Dimitri Palace in Korčula, one of the first Croatian R&C members in the world’s most luxurious tourist map. For eight years the LD team has been present on this list of exclusive, unique and independent hotels, villas and restaurants.
“The award came as icing on the cake after a great season! I know that these names mean close to nothing to many people, but for us chefs it means a lot! When you know that Relais & Chateaux includes restaurants where chefs Thomas Keller, Daniel Humm, Mauro Colagreco or Elena Arzak cook and some of the restaurants in the group have two or three Michelin stars each. The award if for the top rising chef, but I can’t say that I personally won the award. No award in gastronomy is personal, everyone in this business knows that it is a product of hard work of the whole team and the team experiences it that way. This award is not mine, but ours together,” chef Marko Gajski said. He is one of the most famous and most talented chefs in Croatia, who had his first Michelin star in confirmed this year, after first getting it in 2020.
As far as their further plans to establish the hotel and the restaurant on the domestic and international gastro scene, Marko is extremely optimistic and ambitious: “Our ambitions do not stop there. The Rising Chef Trophy, as well as the confirmed Michelin star for 2021, are a confirmation of the quality of our work. When you receive such recognition from the most respected and authoritative gastronomy institutions in the world, you can only get more motivated to perfect yourself more, and move the boundaries of innovation and creativity in everything we do even further!”
