This year’s World Chaîne Day was special. Like everybody else I was unable to attend a Chaîne event to celebrate nor unfortunately did I have the time to participate in the Bailliage of China’s cooking competition, so I took another approach: celebrating by giving back.

The Chaîne is about enjoying good food, wine and friendship. I took this day to honour these values. So I personally invited my hotel’s on-duty team members to enjoy seafood as their duty meal: a deluxe offering of prawns and abalone which made a nice change for them from fried rice every day.

For the late evening shifts, I ordered pizza for the kitchen and Food and Beverage teams after their weary day. To spread the love personally, I served them individually to express my appreciation and care especially as it has been a very tough time for the hotel industry during this pandemic.

The smiles and laughter were the most rewarding gift of my day. I celebrated the spirit by opening a bottle of vintage 2008 Brunello di Montalcino afterwards! I may not have adhered to published instructions for this year’s celebration of World Chaîne Day’s spirit yet I “shared and cared” true to the Chaîne spirit.
 
Stay safe and take good care!
 
Vive la Chaîne!
 
Leila Lee
Maître Hôtelier

Leila’s autobiography

I am originally from Hong Kong. After my education in Switzerland, I embarked on my hotelier journey with the Hilton Group being inspired by the veteran hotelier Jean-Philippe Jacopin together with my passion in gastronomy and wine.

I was inducted as Maître Hotelier six years ago and into the OMGD (Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs) four years ago. During more than a decade with the Hilton Group, I have worked in three countries and six cities so far.

Currently I am based in Chengdu, China, as the General Manager of the Doubletree by Hilton Chengdu-Longuqnyi which is a full service hotel with 394 guest rooms and suites.

In my leisure time, cooking, hunting for gastronomic restaurants and wine tasting are my passion whilst I enjoy constantly travelling around to obtain inspirational ideas.