This has been a week of big announcements in the restaurant world. René Redzepi, chef of Noma, announced he would be closing his award-winning restaurant Noma in December 2016 to reopen it as an urban farm. It might not have come as a surprise to those who follow this chef, but it still hit world headlines. A lot has been written but for those who want to know more you can read about it here. But there was also another surprise announcement about one of the most sought after restaurants in London, Hedone. Chef Mikael Jonsson announced he would be closing his restaurant for 10 days and will reopen it in a completely different format in October. The new Hedone will have no menu, will have just 22 covers instead of the current 40 and will be open for just six sittings every week. Jonsson, a lawyer by profession, is a self-trained chef who has risen to be one of the top stars of the international culinary scene over the past years. Some might consider this to be a PR gimmick … [Read more...]
Gault Millau changed cuisine to what we know today – Pierre Wynants (Comme Chez Soi)
Pierre Wynants, former three Michelin star chef of Comme Chez Soi, the Brussels institution that celebrates its 90th anniversary next year, needs no introduction among food lovers. There is no question that he is one of Belgium's most well known chefs. At 76 years of age, he still commands great respect among his peers having held the coveted three Michelin stars from 1979 to 2006. The Belgian capital has not had a three star restaurant since that day even though things are looking bright for the food scene in Brussels. Wynants was at the cultural centre of Uccle, a leafy suburb of Brussels, on Monday 9th June to present the book he wrote together with Philippe Bidaine called La cuisine belge de demain (Tomorrow's Belgian food). In a conversation on stage with the President of the Uccle Cultural Centre Jacqueline Rousseaux, Wynants recalled how kitchens in the past where completely different to when he had started working in restaurants. "In the old days we used to cook with … [Read more...]
Magnus Nilsson: ‘Unlike other creative industries, you don’t get a second chance in a restaurant’ – Chef’s Table review
"Unlike other creative professions, when you cook in a restaurant you don't get a second chance. You cannot go to customer and say the crab was not very good today so you should come and try it another day," says 32-year-old chef Magnus Nilsson, chef of Swedish restaurant Fäviken. The Chef's Table documentary of this talented Swedish chef is a must watch, as it depicts the story of this creative chef who is cooking in what is probably the most well known remote restaurant in the world. Listed 25th in the world's 50 Best restaurants for 2015 announced on 1 June, Fäviken is unique in many ways. Saying that the restaurant is in the middle of nowhere is an understatement. It is located in Järpen, around 750 kilometres north of Stockholm, and Nilsson started cooking there by chance given the fact that he was recruited to oversee the wine cellars as a consultant. This was after he decided to stop cooking on his return to Sweden from France. The documentary brilliantly portraits this … [Read more...]
Jiro Ono still loves his job at the age of 90
It has taken us a while to sit down and watch a conversation between sushi master Jiro Ono (owner of Tokyo's Sukiyabashi Jiro and subject of the acclaimed documentary "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" and René Redzepi which was recently released on Mad Feed (see it below). And as we watched it, we realised what we had missed. It is an incredible lesson in work ethic and life from a sushi master who still works at 90 and hopes to be still standing and making sushi in 5 years time when Tokyo hosts the Olympics. There is no question about Jiro being the most famous sushi master. "I have said before that you must like your job. If you start saying I don't like this or this isn't the job for me you will not become an expert in anything," Jiro says. "If you have taken on a job or career, you need to like it and continue moving forward. Younger people today say that they are great but they don't compare to previous generations. Machines are more advanced now and everyone has embraced that … [Read more...]
Hélène Darroze named female chef of 2015 by World’s 50 Best Restaurants
The World's 50 Best Restaurants have announced that the Veuve Clicquot World's Best Female Chef of 2015 is Hélène Darroze. She is a fourth-generation chef born into a family of chefs who has been cooking since the age of six. She has opened two highly acclaimed restaurants in Paris and London after three years of training under Alain Ducasse. After winning the award, Hélène spoke to The World's Best 50 website (see full interview here) saying that she was not expecting the award. She speaks about the hardships of being a chef and the fact that there are so few women at the top level in this industry. "There's one day in this job when you have to choose between being a wife and a mother and being a chef. The two things are very, very difficult to combine and most of the really talented young women in my kitchen stopped because they wanted to be a mum and a wife and they thought it was not compatible - which is probably not true but for them it was." Hélène who adopted two children … [Read more...]
Tim Raue: Bold character, bold flavours
It is not unusual for Asian chefs, especially Japanese to serve French style cuisine in Europe. But it is not really common to find a German who is well-known for his 'Asian' cuisine and also has two-Michelin stars for this. When Tim Raue took the stage at Chefs Revolution there was no question that his presentation reflected not only his bold character but also his bold cuisine. He kept the audience in awe as he recalled his story of how he moved from cooking a random mix of food to Asian food. In 2007 he won the Gault Millau chef of the year award but as he himself put it "I was cooking randomly from Spanish molecular cuisine to French inspired shit. But it was not me and I always believe that you need to find yourself in a plate." He says that after a lot of soul-searching to find what he liked he managed to create a unique style of cuisine which is bold with lots of flavours. "I have now found the right balance," he said. At 40 years he is one of the most prominent … [Read more...]
Bjorn Frantzen: An impressive feat preparing 19 dishes in 44 minutes
There is no question that one of the most impressive cooking performances I have ever seen was Bjorn Frantzen's show at Chef's Revolution in Zwolle organised by Jonnie and Therese Boer of De Librije earlier this year. Together with his team, they prepared 19 dishes which are normally take three and a half hours to prepare in just 44 minutes. He assured the audience that 'we have not trained for this before,' which made it all the more impressive. The Swedish chef who has two Michelin stars for his restaurant Frantzen in Sweden and is listed 23rd in the World's Best 50 restaurants said that he ends up traveling too many times to tell the restaurant story and what he really wanted to do was cook so he was trying a new experiment which is to showcase the dinner they prepared in the restaurant the previous Saturday. Frantzen serves one tasting menu of 19 dishes and it is changed every day according to what is fresh, local and seasonal. Anyone who follows this Swedish chef on Twitter … [Read more...]
Andree Köthe: Vegetables are not just a side dish
Andree Köthe is the chef of two Michelin starred German restaurant Essigbraetlein. He is known for keeping a very low profile. When the organisers of Chef Sache announched that Köthe would be presenting his philosophy and dishes at Chef Sache many food enthusiasts exclaimed "at last". I have to admit that I had heard very little about what many consider to be the German answer to Alain Passard before his presentation at Chef Sache. An internet search did not help because little is written about this very interesting chef in English and my German skills are pretty non-existant. The restaurant in Nuremberg, Germany, is called Essigbraetlein and looks like an ordinary Gasthaus or tavern from the outside. Until recently, the restaurant did not even have a website and is not even very active on social media. But behind this facade lies a 25-year-old story which Köthe started together with Yves Ollech. "My story is also his story and his thinking. He has a lot of ideas and courage so … [Read more...]
Rene Redzepi (Noma): Taking care of his customers long after the bill is paid
In a few days time, the restaurant Noma will be celebrating its 11th anniversary since it opened its doors in Copenhagen and changed the culinary world in Scandinavia. There is so much to say about this chef and it has taken a while to get down to writing about Rene Redzepi's exceptional presentation on his food philosophy at Chef's Revolution in Zwolle organised by Jonnie and Therese Boer of De Librije. Rene Redzepi needs no introduction. His restaurant in Copenhagen is number one in the world and he is not only a chef but also a great innovator. Like many of the best chefs on the scene today, he also spent some time working at Ferran Adria's elBulli, but while the latter was innovating with techniques when the restaurant was still open, Redzepi is mainly innovating with new flavours and also heavily experimenting with fermentation. Last year, at Noma they invested in what they call "fermentation bunkers". Instead of building a state of the art facility which would have cost 5 … [Read more...]
Kobe Desramaults (In de Wulf): A bold and unique cuisine
Kobe Desramaults of In de Wulf is considered to be one of the brightest young chefs in Europe and definitely one of the most high-profile Belgian chefs. His Michelin star restaurant in Dranouter, a village in West Flanders on the border with France is in the middle of nowhere. There is a reason why it is there, however, since it is the place he remembers from his childhood and also where his mother's restaurant was. The restaurant has become a major culinary destination. Desramaults won the best restaurant award in the OAD (Opinionated about dining) in 2014 and has become in a way similar to Noma in that this is a unique cuisine without cliches, classic produce or sauces. Desramaults was the first chef to take the stage at Chef Sache 2o14 . He showed how his cuisine focuses on all sorts of produce and it was no wonder that the presenter spoke about Kobe’s cooking as being a light cuisine for a conscious eater prepared by a conscious cook. The Belgian chef said that vegetables … [Read more...]