It used to be that hotel restaurants were a function of convenience, but that just doesn’t cut it nowadays. These hotels understand the assignment, and their restaurants are as much of a draw as the hotels themselves.
Vito Mollica at Palazzo Portinari Salviati
Location: Florence, Italy
Chef Vito Mollica learned to cook by watching his mother prepare Lucanian specialties on the family farm, and that background still shapes his work. He builds his menus around appreciating ingredients, on the belief that luxury at the table starts with excellent produce. In 2022, he introduced a new concept to Florence at Palazzo Portinari Salviati, offering seasonal menus with a traditional foundation. The result is a Michelin-starred destination, celebrating Italian and Florentine cooking. Guests can also drop into Salotto Portinari Bar & Bistro, set in the Court of Cosimo I, at any time of day.
Mario Carbone at The Boca Raton
Location: Boca Raton, Florida
As managing partner of Major Food Group, celebrity chef Mario Carbone has built restaurants known around the world as some of the buzziest tables. At The Boca Raton, he is behind concepts serving classic Italian and modern Japanese cuisine, including Principessa Ristorante. His newest concept brings traditional Japanese cooking together with a playful spirit. Guests can indulge in sushi, a selection of crispy rice, BBQ spare ribs, and an extensive sake list. Takao Soejima, formerly head sushi chef at Morimoto, oversees the menu as chef de cuisine. The resort sits on 200 acres and has operated since 1926. It now has more than a dozen new restaurants and lounges, including the Palm Court lakefront cocktail lounge, MB Supper Club and a Burger Bar on the way.
Daniele Cason at MO Tokyo Pizza Bar
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Rome-born Daniele Cason joined Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo as executive sous chef in 2013 and became executive chef in October 2016. His career has taken him through Rome, Tuscany, London, Cairo, Bangkok, and Tokyo. At The Pizza Bar on 38th, he turns pizza into a considered, intimate meal at an eight-seat counter. His light pizza dough is fermented for 48 hours and topped with luxury seasonal ingredients from Italy and Japan. He is widely credited with making omakase pizza a phenomenon in Tokyo, and the restaurant ranked #4 in The Best Pizza 2026.
Daniel Calvert at Sézanne, Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Daniel Calvert grew up in a commuter town in southeast England and worked his way through kitchens globally. In New York, he was sous chef at Per Se, and in Paris he worked at Epicure at Le Bristol. Under his leadership currently, Sézanne in Japan has earned three Michelin stars within three years. The restaurant was named No. 1 in Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants and No. 7 in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2025. Calvert’s cooking pairs classic French technique with Japanese ingredients. In 2026 he received the British Empire Medal for his services to the culinary arts in Japan as well as for UK-to-Japan culinary relations.
Alain Ducasse at Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo
Location: Monte Carlo, Monaco
Le Louis XV remains one of the most celebrated dining rooms in Monaco. Alain Ducasse, who holds 21 Michelin stars across his career, runs the menu with chef Emmanuel Pilon and pastry chef Sandro Micheli. The cooking is modern Mediterranean and French haute cuisine. Celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay and Mario Batali have called a meal here one of their best ever. Ducasse brings his heritage into the food, most famously in his barbajuans, the crisp Monégasque fried ravioli filled with ricotta, herbs, and Swiss chard.
Arnaud Donckele at Cheval Blanc Paris
Location: Paris, France
Arnaud Donckele leads the restaurants at Cheval Blanc Paris, including Plénitude, which has held three Michelin stars since 2022. The grandson of farmers, he grew up in a Normandy family vegetable garden and still cooks as a Norman at heart. His signature is a cuisine of sauces, which he builds like a perfumer, layering top, middle, and base notes for complexity. His food moves between Mediterranean influences and his Normandy roots. The restaurant’s notable tasting experience is a seven-course menu paired with seven cuvées at €890 per person, served to just 16 to 18 guests around a single table.
Heston Blumenthal at Mandarin Oriental
Location: London, United Kingdom
Self-taught chef Heston Blumenthal views British culinary heritage through innovation, storytelling, and craft. He is known for pioneering molecular gastronomy at his three-Michelin-starred restaurant The Fat Duck, and he brings that curiosity to his restaurant at Mandarin Oriental in London. The menu draws on gastronomic history, reviving forgotten recipes and their histories.
Anne-Sophie Pic at Beau-Rivage Palace
Location: Lausanne, Switzerland
Anne-Sophie Pic comes from a family of chefs, and her Lausanne restaurant, Beau-Rivage Palace, now welcomes guests in an elegant setting. Her cooking is delicate, floral, and nature-inspired, with Alpine and lakeside fine dining that leans strongly on regional ingredients. Signature dishes include Berlingots ASP, Millefeuille Blanc, and line-caught sea bass with Oscietra caviar. Plus, what’s remarkable is that she is the only French woman to hold three Michelin stars in France.
Yannick Alléno at Le Pavillion Ledoyen
Location: Global
Yannick Alléno was born in Puteaux and grew up in his parents’ bistro, where he spent much of his childhood. Today he holds 18 Michelin stars across his global restaurant group. He has a notable presence in luxury hotels, with restaurants at properties in France, Monaco, London, Dubai and Japan.
At Cheval Blanc Courchevel in the French Alps, he leads Le 1947, the only three-Michelin-starred restaurant in the area, where he presents refined French cooking. In Monaco, he runs Pavyllon Monte-Carlo at the Hôtel Hermitage offering a cosmopolitan flair to food. In London, he is consulting chef at Pavyllon London at Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane, working alongside executive chef Benjamin Ferra y Castell to offer modern French cuisine. On the Côte d’Azur, he shapes the culinary identity at Beauvallon Sur Mer, the restaurant at COMO Le Beauvallon. In Dubai, he first joined One&Only The Palm in 2010 and oversees all dining at the resort, including Stay by Yannick Alléno, a two-Michelin-starred French restaurant that pairs French tradition with modern culinary techniques. In Japan, Sushi L’Abysse Osaka Yannick Alléno, on the 37th floor of Four Seasons Hotel Osaka, brings his French artistry.
Across these partnerships, his reach in the hotel world is clear and constantly expanding.
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FAQs
Q: Do I need to be a hotel guest to dine at these restaurants?
A: Most of these restaurants take outside reservations, though tables at the most sought-after addresses, such as Sézanne and Le Louis XV, fill up quickly. Check each hotel’s reservation page for current booking windows.
Q: Which of these experiences is best for a special occasion?
A: For a once-in-a-lifetime meal, Donckele’s seven-course menu at Cheval Blanc Paris is exclusive, with only 16 to 18 guests at one table. Ducasse at Hôtel de Paris offers classic grand-hotel dining, and Cason’s eight-seat counter in Tokyo is the most intimate.
Q: Are these restaurants suitable for casual diners, or are they all fine dining?
A: It varies. Salotto Portinari in Florence is a bistro open throughout the day, and The Boca Raton has casual options like a burger bar. Tokyo’s pizza counter is a refined but approachable way to try a chef’s work. Check the website for dress codes.
