Page 84 - BLUE INK 2019

At every single one of the bluegr Hotels & Resorts on the famous island of Crete
Minos Beach art hotel features newly added live cooking stations, which will cook you dishes
fully customized to your preferences. Minos Palace hotel & suites and Candia Park village will also treat
your taste buds with live cooking stations.
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as well as at Life Gallery athens, a new culinary era has commenced – and it’s one cele-
brating the ingenuity and taste of Cretan cuisine and showcasing unrivaled local products.
Ushered in by a new star-spangled collaboration between acclaimed chef Giannis Bax-
evanis and bluegr Hotels & Resorts, this new chapter in the Group’s culinary history brings
new focus on the farm-to-table approach, making use of the freshest treasures of the Cre-
tan and Greek land to initiate diners from across the globe to the wonders of authentic
Cretan cuisine.
It all started with a vision to enrich the superb hospitality experience offered by Minos
Beach art hotel, Minos Palace hotel & suites, Candia Park village and Life Gallery athens in
a new, meaningful way, by further embracing what Crete means to those who live here – be
it by choice or by birth. This eagerness to showcase tradition on an island like no other in
the world simply had to extend to the culinary experience offered – after all, Crete is the
origin of what has become known as Mediterranean cuisine, and its most genuine repre-
sentative. To bring this dream to life, the expertise of multi-award-winning chef Giannis
Baxevanis was called upon, and it wasn’t long before he responded with enthusiasm. After
all, as you can read in the exclusive interview he gave Blue Ink magazine, he had envisioned
a hotel which solely uses local products and was determined not to let those who thought
it impossible cloud his professional judgment.
This inspired joint vision gave its way to careful planning, training and, finally, realization.
With Giannis Baxevanis as a consultant, dining at the bluegr Hotels & Resorts is all about
the art of Greek and Cretan cuisine, resulting in food that is simple, fresh and healthy. The
experienced chef’s talent, skill and know-how, as evidenced by his multitude of accolades,
including 11 Toques d’Or, two Chef of the Year awards and “Chef of the Future” award from
the International Academy of Gastronomy, meant the delivery of this concept was going to
be as precise and outstanding as the idea.
From breakfast buffets to a la carte pleasures, pure, bright Cretan and Greek ingredients
are the veritable stars of the show. Rejecting any and all pretentiousness, the message is
clear: This is the best our blessed land has to offer. Guests are already responding very pos-
itively to these remarkable flavors, especially when discovering lesser-known treats – from
delicious dolma and organically reared lamb to stuffed zucchini flowers and wild greens
freshly foraged by the kitchen team.
Give in to the hospitable embrace of Crete and Greece during your stay – not just in-
dulging in its natural beauty but letting us initiate you to fantastic new flavors, too.
Ambitious And innovAtive, the new dining
concept sources the finest products And
recipes from crete & greece, plAcing them
in the hAnds of gifted, pAssionAte chefs.
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