Within the citadel of Namur, the Belgian city that provides a gateway to the Ardennes, lies a tunnel that for more than sixty years has been quietly ageing the wines of one of Belgium's leading wine 'negociants'. The conditions for holding up to 1,200 oak barrels are near perfect. Temperature is constant between 11C and 12C and the humidity reaches over 90% in these tunnels. Bernard Grafé, the CEO of Grafé Lecocq, took me to visit the impressive cellars within the Namur citadel and explains the story behind this incredible wine house. After our visit to the tunnels inside the Namur citadel, he takes me to the cellars of the Namur cathedral and the Courts of Justice, just opposite the house from where the business had started 130 years ago. There he shows me over 500 square metres of storage space with ideal and stable temperatures where the bottles are aged before they are distributed. The cellars have been used pretty much since the business started and had been built to … [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...]
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...]
Michel Roux Jr: Quality produce is core to my cooking
For many years, Michel Roux Jr was the face of one of the most popular culinary programmes on the BBC. Television, in particular Masterchef, was a significant part of his life but now he is focusing on other projects and on his restaurants. In Britain, the surname Roux is synonymous with the qualities of French haute cuisine. It all started with his father and uncle in 1967 who opened Le Gavroche. Since then, the restaurant has been a London institution marking a 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 loves simplicity and classic combinations. 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. A Frenchman in the UK. You have successfully followed in your father’s footsteps and not only, you … [Read more...]
Interview with Sang Hoon Degeimbre: Creativity comes from constant questioning and keeping an open mind
It was a crispy autumn morning last week when I visited L’Air du Temps for the second time in just a few weeks. This time I had come to interview Sang-Hoon Degeimbre, the chef of this two Michelin star restaurant in Liernu, around 50 kilometres outside Brussels. I was intrigued by his story, particularly because of the inventiveness of his cuisine and also after having listened to his presentation at Chefs Revolution in Zwolle. How could such an inventive and talented chef be self-taught? What was the driving force behind his creativity? I was also wondering what led Sang-Hoon to open the restaurant in Liernu, when he could have moved his restaurant closer to a main city. But driving to the restaurant, I realised that this question would be redundant because of the beauty of the Wallonian countryside and the purity of the air. “Sometimes when I come here early in the morning I just head to the garden and just look at the sunrise and the countryside and that is really something … [Read more...]
Interview with Eneko Atxa (Azurmendi): Putting the guest at the centre of the experience
Eneko Atxa's restaurant Azurmendi retained its 3 Michelin Stars for 2015 when the new classification for Spain was announced on 19 November. The restaurant, perched on a hillside just outside Bilbao does not need any introduction among food connoisseurs. Ranked 26th in the World’s 50 Best restaurants, it is also the winner of the sustainability award. Eneko, the 37-year-old chef of the restaurant told Food and Wine Gazette, when we interviewed him in Cologne during Chef Sache 2014 last month that the most important honour for him is to finish a service and ensure that his guests are happy. "I always say that we have to fight every day to ensure that our guests are happy. If we achieve this every day for 365 days a year, then we win. This to me is the most important honour. Obviously awards are important because they help us to get more people to the restaurant. We are not obsessed with the awards, but with the guest. For us, satisfaction of each guest is the most important," Eneko … [Read more...]
Interview with Mauro Colagreco (Mirazur): Finding good produce will become a luxury
Try as I might, it is difficult to remember the last person I had interviewed before Mauro Colagreco, the Argentinian two Michelin starred chef of Mirazur ranked 11th in the World's 50 Best restaurants and the first restaurant in France. It could easily have been a Prime Minister some 13 years ago on my last assignment as a journalist. It was a completely different world without social media, without blogs or smartphones, Twitter or Facebook, though already back then, my passion for food and wine was already becoming visible. It was therefore with a sense of trepidation that I asked Mauro to be interviewed. After all, who was I to ask one of the World's best chefs to sit down and be interviewed for www.foodandwinegazette.com. He gladly accepted without much fanfare. "Let's do it now," he said without giving me any time to prepare myself. True, I had done my homework earlier with the intention of interviewing him, but still, I was offering to carry out the interview in French … [Read more...]
Interview with Joachim Wissler (Vendôme): Sensational plates always have a story
Joachim Wissler, German chef of Restaurant Vendôme, is considered to be one of the best German chefs if not the best. He heads the 3 Michelin star restaurant in the Schloss Bensberg hotel in Bergisch Gladbach, near Cologne. He is known for his blend of classical cuisine, creativity and modernity. The restaurant is number 12 in the World's Best 50 Restaurants 2014 and also the highest ranked German restaurant. He gave an excellent presentation at Chef Sache recently (more on this in the coming days) and also accepted to be interviewed by Food and Wine Gazette. In this interview he speaks about the importance he attaches to stories behind each dish. How would you describe your cooking style? I´ve had my apprenticeship in classic French cuisine. Over the years you change as a chef. You can hardly use terms like “avant-garde, modern or classic” to describe my style of cooking. My cuisine and style is part of me. I want to express memories, experiences and imaginations that … [Read more...]