The GQ Meals and Drink Awards 2023: presenting all of the winners
Vincenzo Arnese at Alain Ducasse The Dorchester, London
By the Glass
With its three Michelin stars, unrivalled service and spectacular French delicacies, Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester is without doubt one of the UK’s god-tier eating places, so it’ll come as zero shock that its head sommelier is greater than just a little bit OK. Napoli-born Vincenzo Arnese has a well-travelled palate, having labored in Switzerland, Italy, and Australia and spent almost eight years at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, earlier than arriving at The Dorchester, the place he oversees a 1,000-bin wine listing. His enthusiasm, ardour and experience has proved to be the right pairing with exec chef Jean-Philippe Blondet, and final yr he was named UK sommelier of the yr. Now he has one other award for his assortment. “Vincenzo is a really distinctive skilled,” says Alexei Rosin. GQ’s Adam Baidawi agrees, describing him as “extremely educated, a genuinely good man and tremendous inspiring for the subsequent technology.” alainducasse-dorchester.com
Runner-Up: Bella Babbit at The NoMad HOTEL.
Additionally nominated: Élise Mérigaud at Le Dame De Pic; Sylwia Oger at Lympstone Manor; Rory Luke at Sketch.
Finest Entrance of Home
Luigi Cagnin at The Ritz, London
Entrance Runner
For greater than a decade, Luigi Cagnin himself has been a motive to go to The Ritz. Having began out because the assistant restaurant supervisor in 2009, he took on the position of entrance of home in 2013 and made it his mission to welcome new visitors to the restaurant as warmly as he does the legions of long-standing clients. For a fine-dining restaurant open for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, pre-theatre supper and dinner three hundred and sixty five days a yr, with a well-known historical past and world popularity to maintain up, Cagnin isn’t simply the restaurant supervisor – he’s an envoy for The Ritz as a complete, and it’s a job he relishes. Rosin leads GQ’s tributes to him: “He demonstrates spectacular consistency when it comes to high quality, authenticity and impeccable ranges of service.” Galetti is filled with admiration for his “seemingly easy artwork of hospitality, and the way he appears to thrive off the thrill of a busy restaurant”, whereas Baidawi will get straight to the purpose: “Luigi is second to none.” theritzlondon.com
