Chef Vincent Choi makes preparation for a chicken dish.

DOHA: Four internationally acclaimed executive chefs and their assistants will take part during The Good Life Festival at the Sharq Village and Spa from November 16 to 21.

Ritz-Carlton chefs from around the globe will showcase their specialties during The Good Life Festival, held for the second time here.

The festival will commence with a cocktail reception at the hotel’s Al Dana Beach Terrace featuring canapés and other dishes where each guest chef will preside over a cooking station that prepares dishes a la minute.

Following the launch event will be a series of nightly dinners at Al Dana, each led by one of the visiting chefs. As the week unfolds, guests will discover that the common thread between each dinner at Al Dana and the Chef’s Table is the coastal seafood theme which is the mainstay of the menu at the restaurant.

Executive chef Xavier Salomon of the Ritz-Carlton Half-Moon Bay, California, who will be joining the festival the second time around, will prepare his brand of unique dishes that will tickle the taste buds of the guests. French chef Salomon, who has been with Ritz-Carlton for 20 years, said in an earlier interview, being in the restaurant business is in his blood.

“My father is a chef, my grandfather and great-grandfathers were chefs in the Savoie region and my family owns two restaurants there… So it’s in my blood. My family has been operating Restaurant Salomon for 150 years,” said Salomon. Salomon said he likes to experiment with the dishes he makes, but almost all of it has a French influence.

“I take classical dishes, tweak it a little bit and make it in a more modern dish… with French-based influence. When I’m cooking, French influence always comes to the fore. In fact, I call my dishes Californian-French,” he said. Salomon said he studied culinary arts in France. After finishing his studies, his father sent him to other countries to work in restaurants, “to see how they make things and experience other forms of cooking.”

His travels took him to California. “A friend of my dad is a chef in America and asked if I wanted to try and work there, and I said yes. I like California, the food quality and products are very good,” he said.

Chef Vincent Choi from The Ritz-Carlton, Sanya, will showcase his unique fusion of Chinese and French cooking styles. Executive Chef Denis Depoitre and his assistant Chef Michael Voltaggio from The Langham Huntington Resort Pasadena, LA, California, will dazzle their guests with French dishes. Newly appointed Executive Chef Dirk Matschke, who joined the The Ritz-Carlton, Berlin, will showcase his Mediterranean style of cooking during his dinners.

Running in tandem with the dinner at Al Dana each evening will be the Chef’s Table event. During these Chef Table dinners, diners may interact with the chef in attendance and enjoy a personalised five-course meal that features highly selected vintages.

Those with a sweet tooth will appreciate the delightful confections by resident Chef Kemal Ozcan his treasure trove of pastries and confections during the five-day event.

During The Good Life Festival, guests may enjoy 10 percent off on any 90-minute treatment, all fitness, yoga and activity classes.

THE PENINSULA