In Sizzling Letter, Plantation Bay Resort Pulls Out of Hosting Fancy Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Dinner in Cebu

A planned dinner by the Cebu chapter of the international gastronomic society Chaîne des Rôtisseurs will no longer be held at the Plantation Bay Resort & Spa after an incident during the advance tasting of the menu for the June 29 event.

In a letter to the Chaîne’s Cebu chapter, Plantation Bay CEO J. Manuel González said tasting committee head Marco Anzani “made it quite clear that he disapproved of our entire menu, except that it was “too late” to change it, as if this were our fault (the tasting should have been a month earlier, but he kept postponing).”

Gonzalez added that each dish the resort presented during the June 7 tasting “elicited some kind of pedantic, quasi-sneering, comment” from Anzani.

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The CEO further said that Plantation Bay will host the same dinner on the same day with the same menu but at a lower price and for the general public.

Three resort officials independently confirmed the authenticity of the letter to Esquire. One official said it has been circulated among Cebu and Manila members. When asked for his side through a mutual contact, Anzani said he would not be making a public comment. Esquire also reached out to Chaîne des Rôtisseurs and was told that a statement would be issued by Tuesday or Wednesday, although none has been released as of the publication of this story.

In its Philippine chapter website, the Chaine des Rotisseurs describes itself as being “devoted to the promotion of fine dining and the camaraderie and pleasures of the table.”

Expats and Chaîne des Rôtisseurs members, however, criticized Plantation Bay in an email thread on Gonzalez’s letter. The group email thread was shown to Esquire by a hotelier who was one of the email’s recipients.

The statement is “wholly unacceptable, immature, and inappropriate. Marco's (Anzani) comments were delivered with grace and in the spirit of improving the event for everyone,” wrote one of those who attended the advanced tasting event who was named in the letter by Gonzalez.

“The fact that you are canceling the event but basically inviting all the members to a competing event at a lower price is beyond my and surely most of the Chaine members’ belief,” wrote another expat in the thread.

In his letter, Gonzalez said, “Mr. Anzani's tone and his assumption of automatic superiority were offensive, as was his refusal (upon arriving) to sit with anyone except his fellow white men for the tasting. I resent foreign persons of mediocre ability in the hospitality industry coming to the Philippines and giving themselves airs.

“It seems to us that the purpose of a pre-tasting for a Chaine event is simply to ensure that there is no major disconnect between the price and the meal. The tasting is not, as Mr. Anzani seems to believe, for the purpose of imposing his personal prejudices (or any other tasters' personal preferences) on everyone who hosts a Chaine dinner. Otherwise, all your Chaine events will wind up being boring expressions of just one self-appointed culinary Supreme Court Justice,” Gonzalez wrote.

The letter has been circulating in various groups and networks in Cebu high society.

Gonzalez said the suggestions for the menu made by Anzani were made “out of manifest ignorance, or to trick us into committing ridicule-worthy errors.”

“Plantation Bay had put together a menu that we hoped would be fun and unpredictable, instead of the all-too-common Chaine dinner with choreographed service but cardboard food,” the hotel CEO said.

“We will not host this dinner. We suggest that the Chaine hold it at Anzani Restaurant on some date in July, enough time for Mr. Anzani to prepare so he can demonstrate his superior expertise to everyone in Cebu.”

Cebu is celebrating the Food and Wine Festival in June with 60 pocket events featuring 40 restaurants, 20 hotels, 27 national chefs, and 10 mixologists throughout the month.

This isn’t Gonzalez’s first brush with controversy. The Plantation Bay CEO went viral in 2020 over his response to the mother of an autistic child who complained about their treatment by the resort.