Bo Bech, the Danish chef of restaurant Geist in Copenhagen was the first to inaugurate this year's series of four hands dinners with two Michelin star chef Sang-hoon Degeimbre at L'Air du Temps in Liernu, and what a great evening it turned out to be. When I had interviewed San in November, he had mentioned Geist as one of his favourite restaurants in the world, so I was incredibly curious to experience what the Danish chef and San could combine together. Bo Bech needs no introduction in Denmark. He is well known for having closed a Michelin star restaurant to open Geist, which is more like a brasserie. The cuisine is still impeccable but he wanted a less formal ambience. In Copenhagen, he was also well known for having a bakery without a name which made only one type of bread, and for many years he was a television personality who presented the Danish version of 'Kitchen nightmares'. When you meet Bo, you can actually feel his energy. We were invited to experience this … [Read more...]
Jack O’Shea Chophouse in Brussels finally open
The much awaited Jack O'Shea Chophouse has opened in central Brussels a few days ago. Judging by the page views and searches on this site, this looks like it will be another top foodie destination in Brussels. Jack O'Shea is the second butcher in Belgium to open a restaurant this year. The first, Dierendonck, has opened Carcasse in January on the Belgian coast. The chophouse has opened in the Place St. Catherine area just a few metres away from his second butcher shop in the Belgian capital city. There is no question that the quality of the meat at Jack O'Shea. The meat which you get from this butcher whether it is a Wagyu beef t-bone steak, an Angus beef ribeye, an aged t-bone steak or just sausages from his large range (which includes mustard and spinach, Italian, beef and guiness, chorizo), are all exceptional. For those who have not heard about Jack O'Shea, he is probably one of Europe's leading butchers, though maybe not as famous as the much talked about as Dario … [Read more...]
Quique Dacosta: The idea is what matters
Where there is a will there is a way. That could be the title of the story of Quique Dacosta, a self-taught Spanish chef of a restaurant that is called by his name. Today, Quique Dacosta is considered to be one of the leaders of avant-garde cuisine in Spain. He has won awards and accolades from being in the top 50 list of the World's Best restaurants to having three Michelin stars. It is hard to believe that he started working as a chef in the restaurant which he now owns at the age of 17 and never cooked or trained anywhere else. It all started in 1989, when he joined a family restaurant by the name of El Poblet in 1989 without any previous experience as a chef. 10 years later, he bought the restaurant in Denia, close to Alicante and Valencia. He says that he owes his success to his team. "I am lucky to have a fantastic team that can help me to turn ideas into reality. They can focus on everything from the largest to the smallest of details. I always say that it is better to … [Read more...]
A few pinches of salt and the loss of a third Michelin star
Michelin has a lot of power despite the fact that reviews of restaurants are a few sentences long. Amid the many announcements of new classifications in France on 2 February 2015, came a decision which surprised many on Twitter. It was Michelin's decision to downgrade the Côte Saint Jacques from its 3 Stars in the next edition of the Michelin 2015. Many were asking why the restaurant had lost its third Michelin star. It seems a few pinches of salt (some flaws in seasoning) may have been the reason. Chef Jean-Michel Lorain left a statement on the hotel's Facebook page which we feel should be highlighted because it illustrates the pressure that chefs face on a daily basis. By the time of writing this post, his comment had received over 800 likes and shared more than 200 times. There were also many comments all encouraging the French chef to continue his great work. Lorain noted that during the last meeting with the director of the Michelin guide in November, he was told that … [Read more...]
Kobe Desramaults: Using humble ingredients to create something special out of nothing
Kobe Desramaults, is a conscious Belgian chef with a conscious cuisine. He has a strong character and knows what he wants. His cuisine may appear simple because of its focus on pure flavours but there is a certain complexity to it. "When I am cooking I like to go back to the roots and try to extract as much flavour from the ingredients I use. When I go to eat somewhere the most important thing is memory. It is all about the food. And if you want to remember the food you eat, you cannot have many different flavours going on in a plate. You cannot have a 20 course tasting menu with each dish having six or seven flavour combinations, because you would go crazy and would not remember anything," he tells me when I interview him in Cologne at Chef Sache. "So what I like to do is to focus on one ingredient. The reason I do this is that when people read the menu, they can remember what they have eaten just by remembering that one ingredient. This is what I like in food and this is what I … [Read more...]
Kobe Desramaults: An inspirational story of hard work and success
"We worked from 8am till 2am every day and just kept going" There is no question that Kobe Desramaults is one of the rising stars of European cuisine. His story is inspirational because he had to work against all odds to turn a debt-ridden restaurant owned by his mother into the success story it is today. We met Kobe Desramaults at Chef Sache 2014 in Cologne. You can read our full interview with this Flemish chef, famous for his Michelin starred restaurant In De Wulf in Dranouter, his bakery De Superette and his second restaurant De Vitrine in Gent. In the interview, Kobe speaks about why he opened the restaurant in this Flemish village in West Flanders just on the border with France. Why did you open a restaurant in the middle of nowhere, I ask him. "People are now coming to visit the restaurant in the countryside," he tells me with a smile. "The reason is simple. My heart is there. My heart and my food. This is the area where I grew up. It is where I played in the fields with … [Read more...]
Salon du Chocolat in Brussels on first weekend of February
http://youtu.be/L7i4rl5QRCc The Belgian Salon du Chocolat will take place between 6 February and 8 February at the Brussels Expo. Over 70 Belgian and international participants from France, Germany, Hungary and Luxembourg among others will be participating in this chocolate show. They range from artisans to iconic brands, chefs and cocoa experts. They all share their passion for chocolate with the public and will demonstrate some of their favourite chocolate recipes. Among the participants are some of Food and Wine Gazette's favourite Belgian chocolatiers such as Pierre Marcolini, Van Dender, Laurent Gerbaud and Joost Arijs to mention a few names. Visitors will be able to taste fine chocolates and can also be able to follow many activities related to the world of chocolate including live demonstrations, talks and tastings, pastry workshops for adults, Chocoland with activities for children aged between 4 and 10, a bookshop dedicated to chocolate and the famous Chocolate … [Read more...]
France to promote its cuisine worldwide on 19 March
France will be celebrating French gastronomy with a worldwide initiative on 19 March aimed at raising awareness of French cuisine. Over 1300 chefs from all the five continents are expected to join the Goût de / Good France event. Dinners will be served simultaneously in participating restaurants worldwide to honour the merits of French cuisine, its capacity for innovation and its values: sharing, enjoying and respecting the principles of high quality. This initiative was taken by the French foreign ministry as a way to promote French tourism and to send a message to the culinary world that French cuisine is also contemporary. In a way, it is a response to many food guides which have recently tended to ignore France in favour of other gastronomic destinations in the world. The great French chef Auguste Escoffier, who is the father of modern French cuisine, created Epicurean dinners in 1912 where he chose one menu on a given day and served it in cities around the … [Read more...]
De Librije opens its doors in new location in Zwolle
De Librije, the three Michelin starred restaurant of Jonnie and Therese Boer in Zwolle, has opened the doors in its new location within the Librije's hotel today, 20 January 2015. Jonnie and Therese Boer told Food and Wine Gazette that after more than 28 years, in their restaurant they wanted to change. "We wanted to get new energy and new inspiration. Moreover the building which housed the old De Librije was old and required major changes. So instead we opted to change the restaurant and move it to De Librije's hotel which is an old prison from the 1700s," said Therese Boer, who leads the front of house and is a trained viticulturist and wine specialist. The Dutch chef is known for putting the Netherlands on the culinary landscape with his love of ingredients and his consciousness for food waste. After his presentation at Chef Sache in Cologne I ask him how he finds inspiration and comes up with new ideas. He told me that a lot of inspiration comes from experience and … [Read more...]
Interview with the Master Chef: ‘Ask questions and never give up’
For many years, Michel Roux Jnr has been the face of one of the most popular culinary programmes in the UK, becoming a mentor to many young chefs who competed every year to reach the pinnacle of Masterchef: The Professionals. In Britain, the surname Roux is synonymous with the qualities of French haute cuisine. He has followed in the footsteps of his father and uncle who opened Le Gavroche in 1967 and instantly marked the revolution of restaurants in London. An award-winning chef, Michel Roux is known for his deep respect for the classical foundations of French cooking. He now has three restaurants in London. Le Gavroche, which he took over in 1991 from his father, is classic French with a lighter modern twist and his two recent openings are Roux at Parliament Square and Roux at the Landau. In the coming days, Food and Wine Gazette will feature an interview with the "Master Chef". Michel speaks about how challenging it was to take over Le Gavroche from his father in the early … [Read more...]