This year’s edition of the gastronomic festival once again departs from Il Gallo D’Oro, in Funchal.
The two Michelin star-awarded Il Gallo D’Oro restaurant in Funchal once again hosts the first dinner service in the yearly ‘Stars Route’ gastronomic festival, between March 10th and 13th.
For its ninth edition, the festival returns to its roots for three tasting dinner services elaborated by a group of chefs invited by host chef Benoît Sinthon. Gone are the days when the festival opened with a buffet dinner. The new format instead allows for the spotlight to fall more clearly on providing a gourmet experience.
There are 11 chefs, most of them holders of two Michelin stars. The list includes veterans as well as first timers in Madeira. The former include the return of Michel Van Der Kroft ** (‘t Nonnetje, Holand), Dieter Koschina ** (Vila Joya, Albufeira), Hans Neuner ** (Ocean, Algarve), Ricardo Costa ** (The Yeatman, Oporto), Kazuo Harada * (Mee, Rio de Janeiro), Hans Välimäki (August von Trappe, Tampere/Finland), David Et Noëlle Faure (Aphrodite, Nice/France) and Olivier Barbarin (Château D’audrieu, Audrieu/France).
As newcomers are Bart De Pooter ** (Pastorale, Anthwerp/Belgium) and Paul Ivic * (Tian, Viena/Austria).
Other than that, the festival’s philosophy for this year’s edition remains pretty much the same. Several Michelin star-awarded restaurants host events where the guest chef invites others to prepare tasting menus for dinner.
The Mee restaurant (one Michelin star, Belmond Copacabana Palace) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is the next one to receive this route for the second time since the first edition of the festival in 2010. This edition also includes five more award-winning restaurants: Gusto (Algarve), L'AND (Montemor-o-Novo), Antiqvvm (Porto), LAB (Sintra) and Vila Joya (Algarve).
The calendar and the participants of this year's edition are:
March 10-13: Funchal, Il Gallo d'Oro restaurant, Chef Benoît Sinthon, 2 Michelin stars
April 24-28: Rio de Janeiro, Mee restaurant, Chief Kazuon Harada, 1 Michelin star
June 4: Algarve, restaurant Gusto by Heinz Beck, Chef Heinz Beck, 1 Michelin star
October 5-6: Montemor-o-Novo, L'AND restaurant, Chef Miguel Laffan, 1 Michelin star
October 26: Porto, Antiqvvm restaurant, Chef Vitor Matos, 1 Michelin star
November 7: Sintra, LAB restaurant, Chef Sergi Arola, 1 Michelin star
November 16-17: Algarve, Vila Joya restaurant, Chef Dieter Koschina, 2 Michelin stars
More information: https://rotadasestrelas.com/stars-route/
