Thomas Keller, the Michelin man who put little old Yountville on the culinary map with The French Laundry and Bouchon, shall be opening a restaurant in an even more out-of-the-way locale: southeast Asia.
According to Bloomberg News, the Las Vegas Sands—fittingly, the largest casino operator in the world—is in the midst of finalizing a budding empire in Singapore, where casinos were just legalized two years ago. And the Sands group is aiming high:
The downtown Marina Bay resort of Las Vegas Sands, neighboring the business district in Singapore, will feature three hotel towers linked by a sky garden, restaurants run by celebrity chefs Charlie Trotter and Thomas Keller and an art-and-science center.While a sky garden sounds pretty sweet, and an art-and-science center screams synergy with a casino, the real news is the restaurants by Keller and Trotter. Branching out into Asia isn't without precedent—see Jean Georges in Shanghai—but a Singapore outpost is sure to provoke a lot of thought for both Keller and Trotter alike. How will Keller's reliance on local ingredients play there? How will Trotter adjust to his first restaurant outside of Chicago? And just how involved will the pair of superchefs be in their respective Asian endeavors?
· Las Vegas Sands seeks record Singapore loan to construct casino in nation [IHT]
