And yet that is where Imbert finds himself, having started at its brasserie last week while the restaurant prepares to reopen in 2022. Imbert himself is staying uncharacteristically quiet as he knuckles down to the task. But plenty in the industry are having their say.

For food critic Francois-Regis Gaudry, it’s all too “bling-bling”. “He has neither the CV nor the experience for such a place,” he said, adding that Imbert’s talent for celeb selfies and brand endorsements were decidedly “extra-culinary”.

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For Le Figaro’s food critic Emmanuel Rubin, Imbert’s appointment was “unworthy” of a top hotel. Franck Pinay-Rabaroust, the founder of food magazine Atabula, also has his doubts.

“It’s an earthquake,” he said. “He’s broken all the codes. For the first time, we are putting a chef into a palace who doesn’t have any stars, who hasn’t proved himself with other big chefs. “At best, it’s surprising. At worst, it’s worrying,” he added.

Some of Imbert’s fellow chefs, however, have been more encouraging. “You can have a great experience even from a chef without any stars,” said Glenn Viel, the youngest French chef to earn three. “It’s quite daring, quite ballsy and it could attract a younger clientele looking for something new. I’m sure he’ll be successful.”

For some, Imbert’s rise reflects a wider change in the approach of luxury hotels, especially as the pandemic forces them to tighten their belts. Hotels increasingly feel it is unnecessary to compete with individual restaurants, where the star chef is more likely to be present and communing with diners, said three-star chef Guy Savoy.

He pointed to the recent closure of starred restaurants at the famed Prince de Galles and Shangri-La hotels. “The Ritz has also practically stopped this constant race for stars,” he said.

“It’s a 180-degree change” for the Plaza, she added. “But that doesn’t shock me. The food is less complex, less worked up, but the taste is there.”