Restaurant menus increasingly reflect the people and places behind them. Across Europe and the UK, a group of chefs is bringing regional ingredients, personal histories and individual techniques into hotel dining rooms and independent kitchens.

Their projects range from a new restaurant in Rome to a surf-and-turf partnership in London. Each offers a different view of how a kitchen can give a venue its own culinary identity.

Hotel kitchens with a sense of place

Titouan Claudet brings an artistic eye to pastry

At The Woodward in Geneva, pastry chef Titouan Claudet draws on nature, art and fine watchmaking. His work brings a visual sensibility to the hotel’s dining, while his training includes Sarkara, a restaurant recognised for its dessert-led approach.

Claudet received Gault & Millau’s Pastry Chef of the Year award in 2025, as well as La Liste’s Pastry Talent of the Year recognition. The accolades have brought attention to a discipline in which technique and presentation are closely connected.

Nicola Zamperetti builds a Tuscan identity

Nicola Zamperetti leads the food programme at Collegio alla Querce in Florence. Its four dining concepts include La Gamella, where the kitchen draws on Tuscan traditions and contemporary methods.

The estate’s menus also reflect seasonal produce, herbs grown on site and ingredients from local smallholders. A communal Social Table at Al Bosco adds a more informal format, extending the property’s food offer beyond its principal restaurant.

Valentin Raffali takes a personal approach to Paris dining

At Bus Palladium in Paris, Valentin Raffali oversees the culinary programme in partnership with Chapitre Six and Studio KO. His influences include art, literature, rock music and skate culture, alongside experience in kitchens across several major cities.

Raffali’s earlier style drew on open-fire cooking, sharp acidity and unconventional combinations. At Bus Palladium, he applies that energy with a more precise presentation, using French ingredients close to the restaurant’s home.

Giovanni Passerini returns to Rome

Giovanni Passerini is preparing to lead the restaurant at Experimental Roma, which is due to open in October 2026. Ludovisi e Cadore marks his first restaurant project in his hometown after establishing a reputation for modern Italian cooking in Paris.

The new restaurant is expected to bring Passerini’s ingredient-led approach to Roman cooking. Its opening gives the chef an opportunity to connect the experience he built abroad with the city where his career began.

Adam Maddock puts British produce at the centre

At Saltmoore in Sandsend, North Yorkshire, executive chef Adam Maddock oversees the property’s food and beverage offer. He joined the retreat in 2024 and took on the executive chef role in October 2025.

His work includes Calluna, a fine-dining restaurant scheduled to open in October 2026, alongside The Brasserie and the Pizzeria at The Beach House. Maddock’s cooking places seasonal British produce, local seafood and game at the heart of the menus.

Independent kitchens and new partnerships

Tom Brown develops the seafood side of Island

Tom Brown and Brad Carter brought their different strengths together to create Island, a surf-and-turf restaurant concept. After starting as a residency in 2025, it has moved to a permanent home at the George & Dragon in Clerkenwell.

Brown leads the seafood side, working with wild fish and seasonal British produce. His earlier work includes kitchens in the South West and London, where he developed a style centred on seasonal ingredients.

Brad Carter brings a producer-led approach

Carter focuses on meat, including organic and rare-breed cuts, while the restaurant’s approach also draws on its relationships with British producers. His interest in whole-animal butchery and traditional preservation informs that side of the menu.

The partnership builds on two distinct paths through professional kitchens. Across these seven profiles, the common thread is a close relationship between a chef’s experience and the setting of the restaurant, whether the focus is pastry, Tuscan ingredients or a shared London menu.