CORDOBA: To have missed out on the first four seasons of Noor is akin to having started watching Games of Thrones directly in its fifth season. That’s an analogy Paco Morales, chef patron of Noor makes as he now enters the age of discovery or exploration as the 15th century is often known. Today you can say Paco is riding the crest of the wave. For five years, since opening his restaurant Noor, or Light as it is translated into English, he has constrained himself to explore his city’s glorious past limiting the scope of space and time while following a clear time path. Since 2015, when the restaurant opened, he has served guests a taste of Cordoba's culinary history researching past centuries starting from the 10th century, Paco chose a suburb where he grew up to open his restaurant. It is a modest neighbourhood that also reflects Paco's modest past. The neighbourhood was build in the 1950s and it would take years before it had power, telephones and paved streets. It is in this … [Read more...]
New year’s resolution for 50 Best: Hope for Hospitality 2022
50 Best has set out its resolution and ambitions for next year by launching the 50 Best Hope for Hospitality manifesto amid an ambitious programme of events which culminates with the World's 50 Best Restaurants award ceremony in Moscow. It is using the holiday season to reflect on the unprecedented nature of events of the last two years while looking ahead with renewed spirit and optimism for 2022. In 2020 and 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 50 Best pivoted from publishing its annual ranking and hosting live events to focus on fundraising and supporting the hospitality sector through its 50 Best for recovery programme which included raising $1.29m with the support of its partners. 50 Best distributed grants to more than 200 restaurants and bars in 53 countries and donated to a series of non-profit organisations in the food and drink sector. 50 Best also launched its first charity e-book, Home Comforts: simple lockdown recipes from the world's best chefs and bartenders, the … [Read more...]
Thierry Theys of Nuance in Duffel is Gault & Millau 2022 Belgian chef of the year
BRUSSELS: Thierry Theys, the chef of restaurant Nuance in Duffel was named chef of the year by the Gault & Millau Belgian guide to a digital audience on Monday, December 13. “With his sense of nuance - what’s in a name - this chef has reached new heights in 2021. His cuisine has a signature that is visible from the appetisers down to the desserts and coffee. Not a single detail is missing from the luxurious interior to the bread and butter selection,” the guide’s CEO Mark Declerck said when announcing the awards. He succeeds Christophe Pauly who was last year's Chef of the Year. This year’s young chefs off the year were Martin Volkaerts of L’Amandier in Genval for Wallonia, Martian Defauw of Rebelle in Kortrijk for Flanders and Francois Xavier Lambory of Stirwen for Brussels. The highest newcomer in Belgian and Flanders was Hertog Jan at Botanic with a score of 18/20. For Wallonia, two restaurants scored 16/20. These were Toma in Liege and Le Grand Verre in Durbuy. The … [Read more...]
Niko Romito fulfills dream of opening restaurant in Paris
Niko Romito, one of Italy's greatest contemporary chefs has fulfilled a dream of opening a restaurant in Paris. The restaurant called Il Ristorante Niko Romito has opened in the Bulgari Hotel in the French capital. "To open a restaurant in Paris is the dream of every chef," said the self-taught chef of Reale, a three Michelin star restaurant in Abruzzo. "If I could speak to those young guys who 20 years ago were beginning their adventure in a tiny village nestled in the Abruzzese mountains totally unaware of what they were doing and completely self taught I would say go for it, trust yourselves and believe in what you do always," Romito said. Romito said that dreams can become true thanks to endeavour, patience, passion and identity. "I am proud that guests of Bvlgari Hotel Paris can delve into my vision of Itlaian cuisine, into my professional and personal life story which is profoundly Italian. Together with my entire team we want to bring and share the most authentic values … [Read more...]
Moscow to host 2022 World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards in July
The ceremony for the The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022 awards will be hosted in Moscow, Russia in July 2022. This was announced by 50 Best earlier this week. The world’s most renowned chefs, restaurateurs and culinary icons gathered last month for the return of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2021 which was held in the Belgian city of Antwerp. It was the first in-person awards programme since 2019, representing an important milestone in the ongoing recovery of the restaurant sector. This will be the first time that the awards takes place in the city of Moscow. An extensive event programme hosted throughout the city will culminate in the awards ceremony in Moscow, as the much-anticipated reopening of the international restaurant sector continues and worldwide travel resumes once more. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience the superb restaurants, heritage and culture of Moscow, casting a spotlight on the city as an exciting and emerging culinary hotspot. William Drew, … [Read more...]
If it is dark enough you can see the stars
Go back some years and no one would have bet a dime on Eric Vildgaard. Maybe neither Eric believed that if it got dark enough he would be able to see the stars. Except Tina Kragh Vildgaard. She saw potential and she believed they could not just create a family together but also a restaurant. She had fallen in love with Eric despite his troubled past. "The most attractive part about Eric is that he is so passionate," she said as she looked him in the eyes. "He does everything at 100 per cent. That is what I fell in love with and I am still in love with. It is his passion and never being one to compromise." The minute Tina took Eric to the room which would end up being the highly acclaimed Jordanaer restaurant on the outskirts of Copenhagen, he thought it was a joke. He had other ideas and it certainly was not a restaurant outside the centre of the Danish city. She had walked home from a business meeting and told him that they were going for a drive. "We arrived in this place and she … [Read more...]
In search of identity: Malta’s culinary scene has never looked brighter
VALLETTA: Malta’s culinary scene has never looked brighter. A six week stay on the island in summer only served to confirm what I have been observing over the past few years. The introduction of Michelin, despite some criticism, has really pushed the bar as ambitious chefs and restaurateurs step up their game amid the hardships and difficulties that the pandemic has created. There were two dinners over the summer that taken separately both could easily fit the bill as among the best I've enjoyed on this Mediterranean island. They say comparisons are odious and indeed it is unfair to compare the two experiences because one involved Alex Dilling, the chef of former 2 Michelin star restaurant The Greenhouse with an impressive pedigree of working under French giants Alain Ducasse and Helene Darroze before going solo. The British chef was spending 100 days at Ion - The Harbour (later extended), one of the latest restaurants to clinch a Michelin star under talented Maltese chef Andrew … [Read more...]
Geranium eliminates meat from menu
COPENHAGEN: Rasmus Kofoed, chef of Danish restaurant Geranium has announced that he will no longer be serving meat at the acclaimed restaurant in Copenhagen. "I have not been eating meat at home for the last five years so to no longer use meat on the new menu was a logical decision and a natural progression for Geranium." The Danish restaurant, which placed second in the World's 50 Best Restaurants list in Antwerp last month has long focused on vegetables, fish and shellfist as the star of the plate with only small quantities of meat being used. "The menu is a reflection of me and how I am evolving as a chef and human being," Rasmus Kofoed said. The restuarant is firm favourite to top the World's 50 Best Restaurants list next year given their placing this year and their constant progression. "I see this as a challenge to create new dishes which celebrate seafood from pristine waters and vegetables from local, organic and biodynamic farms which thrive in Denmark and … [Read more...]
Daniel Humm to leave successful Davies and Brook restaurant as Claridge’s hotel don’t embrace his plant-based vision
Daniel Humm and Claridge’s will be parting ways at the end of the year. The London hotel has not accepted Daniel Humm’s decision to go plant-based at the restaurant Davies and Brook which has won accolades in the months it was open. David Humm said it was with sadness that he and the hotel management were announcing they would go separate ways at the end of the year. Over the last 18 months Daniel Humm as been taking the time to consider what his next chapter was. And that chapter is plant-based. He has turned his flagship restaurant Eleven Madison Park in New York into a plant-based restaurant and he wanted to do the same in London at Davies and Brook. “The future for me is plant based. This is our mission and what we stand by as a company and at this time this is not the direction that Clardige’s Hotel feels is right for them,” said Daniel Humm in an Instagram post. He said that standing behind this mission and what he believes in is more important and is unfortunately … [Read more...]
Da Gorini: A highly personal interpretation of the terroir
SAN PIERO IN BAGNO: In an unspoilt part of Emilia Romagna there a small village called San Piero in Bagno. The whole commune has just around 6,000 inhabitants. It's just over 100 kilometres away from Bologna and Modena where we've spent a few days and the contrast is astonishing. There are no Ferrari's or Maserati's driving past in this sleepy village despite the fact that this is Italy's region that is known for its fast cars and its slow food. What there is instead, is this sense of peace, of time standing still, of authenticity, stunning landscape and exceptional produce. Just outside the village, as you exit the motorway there is a small bar and trattoria were truckers normally stop called Alto e Savio. It is mentioned in many Italian guides including Osterie d'Italia. There are absolutely no frills here but the service is not only fast, it is also welcoming and for very little you eat excellent regional cuisine. It's as if this is a prelude to what one can expect in the centre … [Read more...]