‘NO MORE MICHELIN STARS, PLEASE’

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Holiday at home with a trip to Claridge’s where their newly opened spa is one of the capital’s finest excellent bistro-style lunch. There's also paragliding, canyoning and climbing.

Even closer to home is the hotel spa with thermal pool with sub-aqua sound system, sauna, hammam, hair salon and a nail bar. After a day in the mountains there’s nothing quite like a massage from healing hands to tie a restorative ribbon around the day.

But the laziest way to find the fruit of the region is at the restaurant. La Dame de Pic – Le 1920 is comfortable and refined, with a lofty, vaulted ceiling and views of the mountains adding drama in the dining room, buoyed by wafts of otherworldly aromas drifting from the open kitchen. With the doors to the terrace flung open on a balmy evening, the boundary between inside and the outdoors is blurred, allowing the scent of summer and the chime of cowbells to fill the air, and the odd pop of a champagne cork.

The six-course menu showcases local proteins and dairy, centering largely around freshwater fish, game and cheese. It gives pride of place to plants and herbs, gathered either from the wild or from the hotel’s garden.

You won’t be surprised to hear the food is remarkable. Pine buds feature in a starter of gin-marinated fera, a freshwater fish, lending a delicate herbal edge to the white fish carpaccio, enhanced by a lactic vinaigrette made with marigold oil and smoked pickerel’s eggs. Pic’s signature ‘berlingots’, Turkish manti-esque dumplings that appear in various guises at every Pic restaurant, ooze with beaufort and absinthe, the intensity offset by a zingy tomato broth infused with aromatic meadowsweet and ground ivy. Local char arrives hidden under a coffee and lovage emulsion, with undertones of parsley and anise.

Pic also throws in impeccably sourced ingredients from further afield. Hojicha tea from Japan goes with roasted pigeon, blackcurrant buds and cacao nibs; Madagascan vanilla is paired with a brie de Maux, curious marriages that were meant to be and highlight an affinity for creating dialogue between cultures.

In Pic’s kitchen the journey varies but the destination is always the same: “flavours, flavours, flavours.” Contrary to the tenets of traditional French cuisine, Pic uses scant butter in her cooking, hardly any cream and little sugar. Even her signature dessert of millefeuille blanc is featherlight with only a hint of sweetness from leatherwood honey with eucalyptus, offset by wild blackcurrants.

“When I first started in the kitchen I opened my mind to other arts for inspiration, instead of being focused on straight up cooking,” says Pic. “Cuisine is chemistry, whether you make a distillation of alcohol, a sauce, a wine or a perfume, the

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The five-star Hotel Granbaita in the Dolomites has meditative forest walks, hikes and mountain biking. Hotelgranbaita.com/en process is all linked.”

Powerful flavours are distilled into delicate dashi broths, humble vegetables are juiced and reduced into explosive concentrates and sauces are made using a technique called enfleurage, using fat to capture the fragrant essences in plants. The magic ingredient in Pic’s kitchen, however, is always “emotion”.

Pic’s litany of Michelin stars somehow feels less surprising after eating this incredible food. But I’m surprised to learn she isn’t aiming for a second at La Dame de Pic – Le 1920 - yet.

“I asked my chef [Alexandre Alves Pereira] to hold back a bit when we launched, actually,” says Pic, wearing a coy smile. “I didn’t want two stars, too quickly.”

Need To Know

Nightly rates at Four Seasons Hotel Megève start from £1,400 in winter and from £460 in summer

Marrakech Le Royal Mansour The Long Weekend

THE WEEKEND: Darling Marrakech is Morocco’s bohemian jewel, a soulful city surrounded by sand, anchored by an ancient Medina and crowned by the sultry peaks of the Atlas Mountains. Just three hours from the UK, there is no comparable weekend-worthy escape as bewitching, or as bonkers. There are hotels and then there is Le Royal Mansour. This vast estate functions like a miniature kingdom where guests are considered royalty. Just a 10minute drive from the airport, expect VIP treatment as soon as you touch down, courtesy of Royal Mansour’s fleet of Bentley SUVs, one of which will whisk you to what I reckon is Morocco’s finest hotel.

THE STAY: Maximalists rejoice! There’s nothing subtle about this hotel (except the service). Replacing rooms and suites are 53 extravagant private riads set in a maze of winding alleyways and fragrant gardens designed to echo traditional Islamic village life. Each of the three-storey residences celebrates Moroccan craftsmanship –zellige tiling, intricately carved custom furniture and hand-woven fabrics – and comes adorned by a rooftop plunge pool and fireplace. Up there, take in the views and listen to the soundtrack of the daily calls to prayer. There’s also a spa, pool and art classes in the garden studio.

THE FOOD: Michelin-starred chef Hélène Darroze has recently replaced Yannick Alléno as culinary director for the hotel’s restaurants: La Grande Table Marocaine for fine north African cuisine, and French brasserie, La Table. Her first foray outside of Europe, Darroze’s menus offer the chance

Book A Trip

Inspiring Travel offers a threenight stay at Royal Mansour from £2,339pp, based on two sharing a Riad Superior on a b&b basis. This includes return economy class flights from London Gatwick and private transfers. Visit Inspiringtravel.co. uk or call 01244 729749 to taste her terroirs-driven French cuisine: tarte friande, langoustine ravioli or a rich Saint-Honoré patisserie. More Michelin magic comes from Massimiliano Alajmo. The youngest chef in the world to earn three stars, his menu at the hotel is an homage to Venetian fine dining with dishes like grilled squid and smoked coconut milk.

WHAT TO DO: The medina is the city's historic heart – a must visit, no matter how many times you’ve been to Marrakech. Get lost in the rose-tinted ramparts then explore the tangle of souks and quissariat (covered markets). Haggle for brass lamps, technicolour babouches and vintage kelims. Nervous about driving a hard bargain? Don’t be. Word has got round that tourists prefer a softer sell, and shopping is no longer the ordeal it once was. When you’re done in the labyrinth, squeeze past pyramids of rainbow spices and piles of entrails en route to Jemaa el-Fna square for a refreshing mint tea in a rooftop café. The hipster areas of Gueliz and Hivernage showcase the city’s progressive eye, with art galleries, concept stores and tagine-free eateries, such as the Aussie-inspired small plates at Plus61, a favourite with locals. On a scorching day try a stroll through the Jardin Majorelle, or head west to the Bahia Palace in the Jewish Quarter for a lesson in the tenets of Islamic architecture and design. Marrakech's location at the foothills of the Atlas Mountains offers easy active escapes – cruise into the desert for lunch at the Terres des Etoiles glampsite, hike through atmospheric Berber villages or conquer the peak of Mount Toubkal, North Africa's highest summit.