Elite Traveler Summer 2019

elite traveler SUMMER 2019 95

filled with world-class art (some on loan from the Kering Foundation) and each detail, down to the bespoke plates of smiles by artist Virginia Mo and custom-made salt and pepper vessels from artist Laurent Beyne, has been perfectly considered as art itself. Savoy is helping prepare the next generation of chefs by passing on his knowledge. In addition to hosting apprentices in his restaurant — he believes that the best way to learn a craft is by doing, explaining the only way to make a perfect sole meunière is to fail at making it at least 10 times — he also opens up his kitchen to high-school students who are curious about cooking as a career. “We work together. I’m only the captain who leads, but sometimes there are young chefs with good ideas, who have desire as well. And it’s this vitality, this energy, that ensures the restaurant is alive.” He passes on the wisdom he learned from great chefs and adds some of his own: They will never be as good as they could be without the proper training, but after they have completed their training, they should remain true to themselves. “The responsibility is to rest on [France’s] DNA, and then to bring your own sensibility, to bring something truly new, different, to replenish this diversity, which is the signature of France.” When discussing what has meant the most to him in his career, whether it was his restaurant earning three Michelin stars or being granted the space in La Monnaie, Savoy pauses to reflect, then says his main goal is to love life. He does not have plans to open a restaurant empire, but he wants to “focus on the restaurant here and on trying to live the best life possible. Once again, with my purveyors, my team and with the patrons who come here.” By Kristen Shirley which honors my team, andwhich honors our work. Merci, merci, merci” “I amextremely touched by this award, which honors me, and