Ryôdô Kajiwara, whose eponymous restaurant in Hollerich has been one of the hot destinations for gourmands since in opened, was named the Gault&Millau 2022 Chef of the Year. (Photo: Guy Wolff/Maison Moderne)

Ryôdô Kajiwara, whose eponymous restaurant in Hollerich has been one of the hot destinations for gourmands since in opened, was named the Gault&Millau 2022 Chef of the Year.  (Photo: Guy Wolff/Maison Moderne)

The 2022 edition of Gault&Millau’s A Taste of Luxembourg guide was unveiled on Monday afternoon and saw the highly popular Ryôdô Kajiwara crowned Chef of the Year.

A week ago, Paperjam Foodzilla invited gourmets and foodies for an aperitifto talk about predictions for this year’s Gault&Millau prizes... and it seems that this happy gathering had a good nose for the awards, at least for some of the main categories.

At the awards ceremony at the Alvisse Parc Hotel on Monday, the prestigious Chef of the Year award went to Ryôdô Kajiwara, from the Japanese restaurant that bears his name. It was hardly a surprise. Sustained applause greeted his humble acceptance speech, a display of genuine affection from his peers and the entire restaurant profession for the discreet yet passionate chef.

The Foodzilla gossipers also predicted that the new chef of the Jardins d'Anaïs, Paul Cabayé, would win the Young Chef of the Year title.

The other winners were: Amore for Bar of the Year; Adeline Campestre (La Cristallerie / Hotel Le Place d'Armes ) as Pastry Chef of the Year; Giovanni Curcio (Ristorante Fani) for Sommelier of the Year; Njomza Musli (Léa Linster) as Hostess of the Year; Caroline Esch and Valérien Prade from restaurant Pavillon Eden Rose as Remarkable Newcomer of the Year, and Leonardo de Paoli (OiO) as Mediterranean of the year. Stéphanie Jaquet's new Belgian fries place La Baraque won the third Pop of the Year award.

New categories, well-deserved arrivals and notable progress

Several new categories were introduced for the 2022 vintage, including a Stars of the Moselle award that showcased five Luxembourg vintages from the L&R Kox, Henri Rupert, Abi Duhr, Schlink and Clos des Rochers estates. And the Restaurant de Terroir was awared to A Guddesch in Mersch.

Nine restaurants have made their debut entries in this year’s Gault&Millau Luxembourg guide, including De Feierwon, the new restaurant of the Sofitel Europe, La Manufacture from the Windsor group, the Rôtisserie Ardennaise, the restaurant Osé, Madeleine in Marnach and Le Sud in Clausen, which all were awared a score of 12/20. Jean-Paul Choi's Nonbe Kaiseki in Belval is a new entry with a score of 13/20, while the Pavillon Eden Rose and OiO go straight in with a fine score 14/20.

The new “Pops” are Amore, La Baraque, Il Mercato in Strassen, Vida in Kirchberg and the very nice Les Copains d'abord. Two other names mentioned by the Foodzilla prediction group were Lola Valérius as a Chocolatier category and Madame Jeanette in the Best Bars category...

In terms of restaurants making progress, L'Opéra and Manoir Kasseslay both gained half a point to reach 13.5/20, Rachel Rameau's De Pefferkär also won an extra 0,5 to reach 14.5/20 and Les Jardins d'Anaïs now scores 15/20.  Ryôdô, home to the Chef of the Year, unsurprisingly scored 15.5/20. Finally, Léa Linster's restaurant just missed out on a place among the elite with a score of 16.5/20...

Indeed, there is no change among those who score 17 or over and are rated in the fine dining category. That is still composed of the well-known quadruple of Mosconi, La Distillerie, Ma Langue Sourit and Restaurant Clairefontaine.

This article was originally written in French for Foodzilla and has been translated and edited by Delano

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