Ferran Adrià, of El Bulli fame, takes you on a mouth-watering journey.

We’re getting a fourth server at work today in order to cope with our growing empire of travel sites.  This means that we’ll be moving a few sites on to this server to alleviate the load of the other three.  One of the sites due to move is A Luxury Travel Blog and this will, in all probability, happen this evening. Fingers crossed, the transition will be a smooth one but, if you notice any temporary quirks, then this is probably the cause.  Thanks for your patience.

Luxury hotel Celtic Manor Resort is now giving guests the opportunity to watch their Michelin-starred meal being cooked via a plasma screen at the head of chef’s table for ten! The five-star Celtic Manor Resort, located in the Usk Valley, Wales, has teamed up with The Crown at Whitebrook, Monmouthshire, and its Michelin star Chef James Sommerin, to offer guests an exclusive peek of the Michelin chef at work. This addition to the dinner menu certainly adds a new ‘flavour’ to an evening out!

The five-star venue is playing host to The Ryder Cup in 2010, and is set in more than 1,400 acres of beautiful parkland in the gateway of Wales. With 330 rooms, spas, health clubs, shooting school, fishing, tennis courts, mountain biking and walking trails - as well as five restaurants - it can provide a complete experience for business, leisure and golf travellers.

Andrea Wren is a freelance journalist and owner of Luxury Worldwide Tours.

The Avenue Hotel Chicago offically opens today.  Situated in the Magnificent Mile and just off Michigan Avenue, it has 200 guest rooms and 120 suites, many with great views. Business travellers will particularly like their Tech Rooms which come equipped with an iMac, T1 connection and printer.

Enjoy a relaxing day at Agave The Arizona Spa at The Westin Kierland Resort and Spa in Scottsdale Arizona.

Taymouth Castle, which was once a holiday haunt of Queen Victoria as well as having featured in the film Mrs. Brown, was to the centrepiece of a £75 million hotel and resort, with aspirations to be on a par with Gleneagles.  Once developed, Four Seasons were going to take over the running of the enterprise but they backed out two years ago and financial difficulties have meant that the project is now at a standstill.  Taymouth Group has confirmed that work has stopped, but added that negotiations to take things forward are underway.

Looking for the best in trendy hotels?  Look no further… Tripadvisor claim to have found them in their ‘top 10 hot hotels’ list.  Here it is:

1. Sanderson Hotel London, England 
2. Front Hotel, Denmark 
3. Rocco Forte Villa Kennedy, Germany  
4. Britania Hotel, Portgual 
5. Dream Bangkok, Thailand 
6. DO & CO Hotel, Austria 
7. Hotel Yasmin, Czech Republic 
8. duoMo hotel, Italy 
9. Aimia Hotel, Spain
10. The Glasshouse, Scotland

Of course, this is highly subjective, but it does strike me as a little strange that only one is outside of Europe.

Devoted exclusively to women, Arlington’s The Greenhouse has been a leader in luxury spa life, luscious cuisine, inventive health programmes and expert staff dedicated to unparalleled and personalised attention. From 22nd to 25th May 2008, The Greenhouse invites you to enjoy $500 off your stay.  Contact them for details.

When I visited East Africa on honeymoon a few years ago, I recall reading an article in the UK press about how the London jetset where heading there just for weekend safaris.  It seemed inconceivable to me that people would sneak out of the office a little early on Friday and return a late on Monday morning having just been watching lions, wildebeest and the like on the Serengeti plains that weekend, but apparently it was happening.  Now I read that travellers are even venturing all the way to Rio for just the weekend. Dehouche claim that’s what their clients are asking for and they’re fulfilling that demand with their Blow the Bonus itineraries that can cost around £25,000, not including flights.  I can’t imagine this kind of extravagance goes down too well with the environmentally-minded among us. If money was no object, would you go somewhere as far afield as Rio, just for the weekend?

The Times of Oman has published an interview with Jumeirah’s senior vice president, Marco Nijhof.  In it he claims that Jumeirah, which currently has just 10 hotels in operation, will have 60 properties by 2012. Some of these will still only be in developmental stages, but it nevertheless demonstrates that Jumeirah have a very rapid expansion plan for the next few years ahead.