Eleven Madison Park, the restaurant of chef Daniel Humm and Will Guidara has a worldwide reputation. It has won all the accolades from Michelin's 3 stars, four stars in the New York Times, not once but twice and is now ranked as the third-best restaurant in the world. With such a reputation it is difficult to go wrong. The restaurant team and its chef are known for innovation but that innovation does not necessarily come from the cooking which is impeccable but is neither showy nor using the latest tricks to hide behind produce that might not always be exceptional. It rather comes from a boldness to be different and from creating a sense of fun in what some might consider to be the stiff world of high gastronomy. Note: This is a spoiler alert. If you intend visiting Eleven Madison Park anytime soon, you might want to skip reading this as the element of surprise might be ruined. What strikes you when you book a table at the restaurant is that there is the Tock booking … [Read more...]
Einsunternull: Forget everything you have previously tasted, seen, smelt, felt and appreciated
You know that you are in for a ride when the restaurant website tells you to forget everything that you have previously tasted, seen, smelt, felt and appreciated. Einsunternull does just that. The Berlin dining scene may be dominated by Tim Raue, the German chef who features in the third Netflix season of Chef's Table but that should not deter you from exploring what is on offer in this vibrant city with a increasingly interesting dining scene. There are many restaurants worth trying and not necessarily easy to make a choice. I decided to try the intriguing restaurant which was recently awarded a Michelin star despite the fact that the owner and chef ran away from a two Michelin star because they wanted to have the freedom not to use luxury ingredients. The restaurant named Einsunternull (or one floor below in English) is called like this because its dining room (for the evenings) is housed in the cellar. Lunch is however served upstairs in a space next to the open kitchen … [Read more...]
Revisiting L’air du temps: Winter is not a barrier to creativity
The sun is glistening and shining on the snow that is covering the fields in Liernu. Spring is still far away and the vegetable garden at L'air du temps is still resting. The first shoots from the garden will only come in late February though San Degeimbre is already preparing his February menu called "Waiting for the Green". January is not necessary the best month to visit a restaurant. It comes just after the holidays and is the month when you normally try to detox from the excesses of the previous month. And it is not the best month for fresh produce. But a friend who happens to be a Maltese chef is in Belgium and we have planned to visit Wallonia's culinary cathedral. San Degeimbre is a chef in evolution. Today, he has reached a level of maturity that one would expect from a restaurant that is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. But that maturity is not stopping him from experimenting or trying new things. The creative streak is all the more visible even if it does … [Read more...]
BRUSSELS FROM/TO at Bon Bon: Deconstructing Brussels classics and modernising them along the way
What happens when you take Brussels and Brabant classic dishes, deconstruct them and then reinvent them? Can tradition meet modernity? Can humble ingredients steal the show in a top class restaurant? And what happens if you get two foreign chefs from France and Portugal to help you reinterpret these dishes at a six hands dinner. That is what happened last Tuesday at Bon Bon restaurant in Woluwe Saint Pierre, a commune in Brussels.Two Michelin star chef Christophe Hardiquest invited the inventive Inaki Azipitarte, chef of the famous Parisian restaurant Le Chateaubriand and Leonardo Perreira, formerly at Noma and now about to embark on a new journey in Porto as he prepares to open his restaurant there. Bon Bon was recently in the news as it will host 20 of the world's best chefs at the first ever Gelinaz! Headquarters event taking place on 10 November. Inaki certainty needed no introduction. He is famed for starting off the bistronomy movement in Paris which was considered one … [Read more...]
Humphrey Restaurant (Brussels): A welcome addition to the Brussels restaurant scene
Many of today's most influential chefs have one thing in common. They have all spent time working in Ferran Adria's kitchen. Massimo Bottura, Rene Redzepi, Grant Achatz to mention just a few of the most creative chefs around have spent time with the Spanish genius of el Bulli fame. Most of these chefs have gone on to develop their own style, their own philosophies and their own cuisine. There is no question that being mentored by a great chef has a lasting impact on your cooking style and also your philosophy, even if you depart from that approach. The new generation of chefs is also moving around from one restaurant to another gaining as much experience as possible benefiting from the 'globalisation' of haute cuisine. Just like the previous generation developed their own style and approach to cooking, the new generation is also making good use of the experience they have gained to take completely new directions. Chefs who were inspired by the inventiveness of Ferran Adria … [Read more...]
Black Pig Restaurant (Valletta): Where innovation meets seasonality
Time passes and with it some say also comes nostalgia. While there are certain things which take you on a trip down memory lane, there are some memories which are best forgotten. Go back to the 1980s and early 1990s and my memory of most restaurants in Malta is of them serving the same thing. With friends we remember the ubiquitous tortellini with fresh cream, ham and mushrooms or the shrimp or prawn cocktail from those retro years or a steak diane. Everyone seemed to serve the same things. There were few speciality restaurants which were really worth the detour because they were doing something completely different. Maybe they specialised in fish or were serving French classics. At the time, these restaurants were doing something different to what was the norm. Maybe it was hard at the time to go against the current but with the benefit of time, they managed to not only survive but to be successfully copied. What used to be specialised those days is now mainstream. That … [Read more...]
Father and son Eric and Tristan Martin work in symphony at Maison Lemonnier
Father and son Eric and Tristan Martin are passionate about food, wine and the region they live in. It is therefore no wonder that they work together in an idyllic setting in Lavaux-Ste-Anne in the Belgian Ardennes where they run a hotel and restaurant which has been open for 10 years. Eric has been cooking for more than 25 years while his son Tristan who studied at the Paul Bocuse Institute joined him in Maison Lemonnier in spring 2008. The father studied law but had already made his decision that he would be cooking. In his words, his love for nature and the region was such that cooking was the only obvious choice. You can see that passion in the philosophy of their cooking, the love for the region and its ingredients, the need to try and make their gastronomic restaurant accessible to young people (but not only) through a 'subsidised' menu on the chef's table and their hospitality. It was on a sunny Saturday morning that I drove to Maison Lemonnier in Lavaux-Ste-Anne in … [Read more...]
Frites Atelier Amsterdam: New Sergio Herman chain aims to create best ‘fries’ in the world
There is no stopping Sergio Herman, one of the world's most talented chefs. After deciding to stop cooking full time at the end of 2013 when he closed his three Michelin star restaurant Oud Sluis in the Netherlands he has now decided to put his name on a new project with the aim of creating the best 'french fries' chain in the world. After opening Pure C in Cadzand (Zeeland, the Netherlands) and The Jane (Antwerp, Belgium), Herman will launch a new concept called Frites Atelier. The aim behind the new chain is to turn the humble potato and the common fast food into something good. Herman has been researching potatoes to find the best varieties that he will use for the chain and the sauces that will accompany the fries will change according to the seasons. The five first sauces are expected to be basil, pepper, truffle, bearnaise and mayonnaise. The first shop will open in the Hague in July and four others are expected to open in the major cities of the Netherlands including … [Read more...]
A contemporary take on Maltese cuisine at Michael’s in Valletta
Maltese chef Michael Cauchi needs no introduction in Malta. Famous for his former restaurant Il Re Del Pesce, today the chef works together with his son Daniel at Michael's in Valletta. When I was younger (and still living in Malta), the chef was a household name on this small Mediterranean island. He used to be on television showcasing his fish dishes, for which he was renowned even at a time when food was not as in vogue as it is today. Since that time, he has worked in various kitchens on the island but none more important than Aziamendi's 100 day pop-up restaurant two summers ago. Michael and his son Daniel were involved with Eneko Atxa and his team who set up the pop-up restaurant in a historic building in Valletta known as L’Hostel De Verdelin, after Fra Jean Jacques De Verdelin, a nephew of Grandmaster De Verdalle. On a recent visit to this restaurant, we really loved the freshness of the food, the clean flavours, the presentation and also the restaurant itself with … [Read more...]
A final food pilgrimage to In De Wulf
When Kobe Desramaults announced that his restaurant In de Wulf would closed its doors in December 2016 in October last year we knew that the clock was ticking and it was either now or never. The list of places to visit is endless but with closure of the restaurant looming, it was becoming more and more urgent to find the time to visit this restaurant in Dranouter, on the Belgian border with France. You could say that the restaurant is in the middle of nowhere but that is all the more alluring given what this Flemish chef has created. In De Wulf comes with a huge reputation given that the Flemish chef had created one of the top destinations in the world for foodies (it was number 1 in the top 100 European list of Opinionated about Dining in 2014 and 4th in 2015). The restaurant, which has a Michelin star disappeared from the 51-100 list in the World's Best Restaurant list last year but is an incredibly special place to visit. What we experienced was an exceptional … [Read more...]