Recently in Jean-Georges Vongerichten Category

Luxury hotel and restaurant consortium Relais & Chateaux this week hosted its second annual Grands Chefs dinner in New York, bringing together 45 top chefs from around the world.

The event, which took place at Manhattan's Gotham Hall on Monday evening, featured chefs from 10 countries from four continents, with the UK represented by two-Michelin-starred Grands Chefs Andrew Fairlie and Claude Bosi.

Other chefs included three-Michelin-starred chefs Daniel Boulud and Jean-Georges Vongerichten from the USA, Thomas Bühner from La Vie in Germany, and Emmanuel Renaut from Flocons de Sel in France. In addition iconic French chefs Marc Meneau and Annie Féolde as well as young chefs such as César Troisgros and Christopher Kostow were also cooking.

New York marked Relais & Chateaux's second annual Grands Chefs dinner after the inaugural event held at Versailles in France last year. Next year, the dinner will take place in London.

The Grands Chefs dinner, which raised funds for New York charity Citymeals on Wheels and was sponsored by Champagne Pommery, saw the chefs paired up in teams of three cooking for 20 or 30 covers. The menus featured a first course of lobster, a second course of either scallops or sea bass, and a third of either veal or lamb.

Andrew Fairlie, chef patron of Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles in Scotland, served seared Maine scallops with Scottish sea vegetables and seaweed broth. He was teamed up with US chef Mark Ladner from El Posto in New York, and Patrick Bertron, head chef at Le Relais Bernard Loiseau in France.

Meanwhile Claude Bosi, chef patron of Hibiscus in London, served roast tenderloin of veal with aubergine and miso caviar, roast baby gem lettuce and dried bonito. He cooked alongside Davy Tissot from Villa Florentine in France and and Stéphane Mazières Hôtel Le Toiny in Saint Barts.

Commenting on the event, Fairlie said it had been a great honour to have been involved. "Being among culinary greats such as Marc Meneau, Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller was a fantastic and humbling experience," he said.

"While the cooking on the night was a challenge, the organisation of the event was impeccable and I had a great team in Mark and Patrick."

Fairlie added: "The room looked absolutely spectacular and I didn't realise until I got there just how big the event was going to be. It was an amazing and exhilarating experience and one of the best events of its kind that I have cooked at."

Spanish chef Jose Andres, known for his avant-garde cooking and bringing tapas to America, has been named the most outstanding chef in the USA in the country's coveted James Beard Awards.

Andres, whose company the Think Food Group runs a string of popular restaurants in Washington, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, beat fellow chefs Gary Danko, Suzanne Goin, Paul Kahan and Charles Phan to win the prestigious accolade.

The chef, who grew up in the Asturias area in northern Spain, started his career under the tutelage of Ferran Adria at El Bulli, before moving to the USA in 1990.

"Here's an immigrant celebrating the melting pot," he said. "I feel like I'm an ambassador bringing Spain to America and also to the world."

Meanwhile, Daniel Humm's Michelin-starred Eleven Madison Park in New York picked up the James Beard Foundation's award for restaurant of the year, with its pastry chef Angela Pinkerton being named outstanding pastry chef.

Celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten's ABC Kitchen in New York won the best new restaurant award, while the rising star award for chefs under the age of 30 went to Gabriel Rucker, executive chef at Le Pigeon in Portland, Oregon.

US-based French chef Jean George Vongerichten's astronomic prices have made their way across the pond at Spice Market but sadly the great food has turned to mush, says Jay Rayner.

The three-Michelin-starred chef's new restaurant at the W London Leicester Square serves a menu that works on "that carefully calibrated scale between awful" according to The Observer's food critic.

He says: "Far better versions of all these dishes can be found at a third of the price elsewhere in London. As we left I consoled myself with a single thought: this is one restaurant I will never have to visit again."

Writing in The Independent, John Walsh says uncertainty characterises everything about Bennett Oyster Bar on Battersea Square, south London. "Bennett's also has a breakfast menu, and bakes cakes for its teatime clientele," he says. "But hang on, it also has a special Store, selling wine (which you can drink at your table for a small corkage fee), fruit and veg, and flowers. I'm surprised they haven't thrown in a multiplex cinema, a bouncy castle and a boutique, as well."

Meanwhile The Sunday Times' AA Gill finds honest, good ingredients, made with pride and served with nonchalance at Chabrot Bistrot d'Amis, a new restaurant in London's Knightsbridge from French chef Thierry Laborde.

Zoe Williams of The Sunday Telegraph likes the food and beautiful people at Brawn, the second restaurant venture by the team behind Terroirs, while The Guardian's John Lanchester is impressed by the Turkish food served at Sheesh in Chigwell, Essex, housed in a former pub now owned by Sir Alan Sugar.

Tim Tolley, executive chef at Spice Market, the new London outpost by US-based French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, is leaving the restaurant just weeks after it opened.

US-born Tolley, who returned to work with the three-Michelin-starred chef after running D&D London's Plateau for six years, helped launch the restaurant housed at the W hotel London Leicester Square. He previously worked with Vongerichten at Vong at the Berkeley where he was head chef until it closed in 2003. Former Vong and Plateau manager Bertrand Pierson will remain as general manager at Spice Market.

Commenting on his departure Tolley said: "Yes I am leaving. There's no specific reason, it just feels like the right thing to do. I have no future plans as yet but will definitely stay here in the UK."

When asked whether his departure had anything to do with the scathing review Spice Market received from the Telegraph's food critic Matthew Norman, Tolley said: "It has nothing to do with that. This decision was made some time ago.

"I still have a good relationship with Jean-Georges. I'm not sure when I will be leaving, it will be when they have found a replacement."

Spice Market opened in the 192-bedroom W Hotel London Leicester Square in February. Serving a menu inspired by South East Asian flavours, it is the sister restaurant to the original Spice Market in New York's Meatpacking District and marks Vongerichten's return to London after nearly eight years.

Three-Michelin-starred US chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten's new London venture Spice Market deserves to bomb, according to Matthew Norman.

The Daily Telegraph's food critic finds only grey gloop and vegetable slurry at the South East Asia-inspired restaurant housed in the W London Leicester Square.

"Awaiting us in the valley of death was steamed pollack with shiitake mushrooms and ginger, the ugliest dish I have ever seen," Norman complains. "Mounds of drab white fish were adorned with a hideous grey-green spring onion and tarragon gloop, while the mushrooms were as stone cold as the fish."

Writing in The Independent, Tracey MacLeod finds something disorientating about Nopi, the new all-day brasserie from Yotam Ottolenghi, with its unfamiliar ingredients, unpredictable meal structure and unclassifiable décor.

She says: "That disorientation intensified after a visit to the loos, a nightclub-style hall of mirrors which makes it hard to avoid catching unexpected views of yourself mid-act. I'll do anything for lunch, but I won't do that."

Meanwhile the Sunday Telegraph's Zoe Williams finds the food at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal a bit unsurprising but adds that even when playing it safe the chef still manages to spellbind.

The Observer's Jay Rayner says Vietnamese eatery Café East is the best kind of cheap restaurant while The Independent's Lisa Markwell finds Meateasy so trendy it hurts but adds that it does serve the very best of fast food.

Finally writing in The Guardian, John Lanchester enjoys the Iberico pork at Opera Tavern, the latest venture from tapas specialists Salt Yard Group.