Rui Silvestre – the Algarve-based chef who in 2015 became the youngest ever in Portugal to be awarded a Michelin star – will be taking part in the 20th World Gourmet Festival which will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, between September 2 and 8.
The event will bring together 16 of the world’s most acclaimed chefs from nine countries at the Anantara Siam Hotel.
Participating chefs will be responsible for hosting two dinners at the hotel’s four restaurants: Biscotti, Madison, Spice Market and Shintaro. They will also present some of their dishes at the hotel’s gardens to celebrate Bangkok’s history of street food.
Rui Silvestre left Bon Bon in Carvoeiro – where he won his first Michelin star in 2015 – at the start of the year to take the helm at the Vistas restaurant at the Monte Rei Golf & Country Club in Vila Nova de Cacela.
Rui was born in Valongo in the north of Portugal but moved to the Algarve when he was 10 and has lived there ever since, despite having worked abroad and learned from Michelin-starred chef Christophe Bacquié at Hotel La Ferme Saint Siméon in France.
His dishes combine French techniques and Portuguese flavours inspired by natural ingredients such as the Algarve’s fresh fish and seafood.
In 2017, he was one of only 10 chefs around the world to receive the coveted ‘Prix au Chef de L’Avenir’, awarded every year by the International Academy of Gastronomy (IAG) to the world’s most promising young chefs.
The other acclaimed chefs who will be taking part in the World Gourmet Festival are Wolfgang Becker (Becker’s, Germany), Hervé Deville (Momo, UK), Alan Geaam (Alan Geaam, France), Kai Ho (Taïrror, Tawain), Chiho Kanzaki and Marcelo di Giacomo (Virtus, France), Ian Kittichai (Issaya Siamese, Tailand; Tangerine, Singapore; Spot Dessert Bar, USA), Hideki Li (Shirosaka, Japan), Richie Lin (Mume, Taiwan), Angel Zapata Martin (Barrafina, UK), Hajime Otowa and So Otowa (Cie et Sol, Japan), Andrea Spagoni (BeefBar, Hong Kong) and Yoji Tokuyoshi (Tokuyoshi, Italy).
