BRUSSELS: Toshiro Fujii, known as Toshi, who has worked for more than 10 years with San Degeimbre at L'Air du Temps as his sous-chef and who has been at the helm of the SAN group of restaurants in Brussels and Gent for the past four years will open his own restaurant together with chef Sang Hoon Degeimbre this month. This will be the third Brussels restaurant of Sang Hoon Degeimbre though this time he will be partnering and supporting Toshiro in creating and developing his own identity and cuisine. The restaurant will open its doors on 26 March in Saint Gilles instead of restaurant INADA which closed following the chef's retirement. Inada was a well known restaurant run by Japanese chef Inada who cooked French cuisine with a Japanese twist. Toshi has been running the SAN restaurants in Brussels and Gent since the first San restaurant opened in the Saint Catherine area in 2015. The Japanese chef from Kyoto worked in various kitchens in the south of Belgium after leaving … [Read more...]
Sergio Herman becomes first international mentor of Fundazion Uccelin
CADZAND: Sergio Herman has become the first international mentor for Fundazion Uccelin, a foundation set up by Swiss chef Andreas Caminada to support new talents and help them gain experience internationally both in kitchens, in front of house and with artisans and producers.. "When I created the Foundation, there was nothing like it. This industry has given me a lot and I wanted to give back by helping young talents find their way through facilitating training." he told Food and Wine Gazette. In Cadzand, at Air Republic, one of Sergio Herman's restaurants, the Swiss chef announced that he was welcoming the Dutch chef as the first mentor to support this initiative. "We are very happy and thankful that Sergio has taken the time to engage with the Foundation. He was one of the first chefs to support us when we organised a charity event and he is the first international mentor. With his experience and knowledge, Sergio is a perfect ambassador for our industry," Andreas … [Read more...]
MAD Symposium to set up gastronomic academy in Denmark
The Danish Government and MAD, the Symposium set up by chef René Redzepi have announced the setting up of a gastronomic academy in Denmark. The Prime Minister of Denmark, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, and the Danish Minister of Environment and Food, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, have declared that they will support MAD (food in Danish) with a commitment of DKK 25.2 million (USD 3.8 million) over the next four years. Rene Redzepi said we want to make the academy a place to learn all the things we don't seem to learn when we are becoming cooks. Melina Shannon di Pietro who runs the MAD Symposium said the work begins now. "With this new funding we will begin planning and designing the Academy and its course of study. Later this year, we’ll be hosting two intensive pilot programs to begin shaping our curriculum with an eye on the future, when we will accept applicants for immersive courses focused on topics such as leadership and management, environmental sustainability, and how to run a … [Read more...]
New LESS Eatery by Gert de Mangeleer and Joachim Boudens in Bruges
'We wanted to create a cosmopolitan space, something new for the city' Gert de Mangeleer and Joachim Boudens have opened LESS Eatery in Bruges. The new ‘eatery’ as they call it welcomes its first guests on Monday March 11 and it is an impressive space. The eatery on one of the main squares in Bruges will be open from breakfast till late dinner with customers able to walk in for a coffee and a pastry in the morning, for bites during the mornings or afternoon and lunch or pre-theatre dinners to late dinners. This is the first time that Gert de Mangeleer and Joachim Boudens have a restaurant in the city centre. They operated Hertog Jan, a three Michelin star restaurant in Zedelgem on the outskirts of this Belgian city as well as the old LESS in the former Hertog Jan spot. The latter is expected to become a traditional Flemish restaurant. Joachim and Gert told Food and Wine Gazette that they wanted to move to the centre because they wanted to create a cosmopolitan space with a … [Read more...]
26 hands Milan dinner at Trippa sells out in 60 minutes
A 26 hands dinner organised by Diego Rossi of Trippa Milano was sold out within 60 minutes. Called Amici Miei (my friends in Italian), the event brings together 13 young and promising chefs from across Italy. This unique event takes place at Trippa Milano on 9 April during Design Week. The chefs taking part in the event are Stefano Terigi, Benedetto Rullo and Lorenzo Stefanini (Ristorante Giglio), Juri Chiotti (REIS Cibo Libero di Montagna), Federico Sisti (Antica Osteria Il Ronchettino), Damiano Donati (Punto Lucca), Francesca Fooders Barreca & Marco Fooders Horseman (MAZZO), Alessandro Miocchi & Giuseppe Lo Iudice (RETROBOTTEGA), Simone Cipriani (Essenziale), Gianluca Gorini (DaGorini Ristorante) who will cook together with Diego Rossi. Trippa is a traditional style trattoria with a modern twist that was created by Pietro Caroli, the man in charge of the … [Read more...]
Vicky Lau welcomes three female chefs for unique lunch at Tate Dining Room in Hong Kong
Hong Kong Chef Vicky Lau has invited three Asian female chefs to cook together at a unique collaboration lunch that will take place at the Tate Dining Room on 27 March. With Asia’s biggest culinary award ceremony just around the corner on 26th March, Hong Kong and Macau are preparing for the arrival of top chefs and esteemed gourmands from around the region. To celebrate this occasion, Chef Vicky Lau is organising a lunch bringing together four powerhouse chefs at Tate Dining Room to prepare a special lunch for discerning guests. The chefs taking part in this lunch together with Vicky are chef Bee Satongun of 1-Michelin-starred PASTE Bangkok (Asia’s Best Female Chef 2018), Margarita Fores of Grace Park (Asia’s Best Female Chef 2016), and Natsuko Shoji of invitation-only restaurant, Été. The undisputed queen of Innovative French Chinese fine dining in Hong Kong, Chef Vicky Lau takes pride in her talent for visual artistry from her previous life … [Read more...]
Sergio Herman set to return back to the kitchen with new restaurant in Cadzand, open Air Republic in Antwerp this year
Sergio Herman is set to return back to cooking with a new restaurant in the Cadzand by the end of 2020 or early 2021. He is reported to have told Belgian news agency Belga at the opening of the Frites Atelier in Brussels that he missed cooking and wanted to have a space where he will cook for an intimate number of guests. "At the end of the day, I am happiest when I cook." He told the agency that he made a langoustine dish for Pure C a few days ago and cut his hand in the process but he liked it. "It was good because I got the feeling of the past. Cooking is what I prefer to do," he said. Sergio said that having become an entrepreneur meant that he had to take part in many management meetings which he did not necessarily find interesting. "By the end of 2020 or early 2021 I want my own place again in the neighbourhood of Cadzand where I can cook," he said. Sergio formerly owned and cooked in one of the World's Best Restauarants Oud Sluis, a three Michelin star restaurant, … [Read more...]
Fundaziun Uccelin opens applications for scholarships
Fundaziun Uccelin, a charitable foundation set up in 2015 by Swiss chef Andreas Caminada in order to promote the quality of cooking and hospitality has opened its application platform till the end of March. Young chefs and people in the service industry are offered the possibility to carry out various training programmes in their respective fields for six months. Andreas Caminada, the chef behind the foundation said “It is very important to me to individually foster ambitious talent in the gastronomic industry by providing financial and mentoring support. By offering this kind of backing, we aim to pave the way for talents so that they have the opportunity to gain insights into the global culinary diversity so that they can safeguard the quality of their wonderful craft in the long run.” While similar opportunities exist in various industries, very few opportunities exist in the hospitality industry. Caminada wants to help future talents to get experience in different parts of … [Read more...]
‘Brussels charity dinners a humbling experience’ – Margot Janse
Margot Janse, the chef who founded Isabelo Charity which focuses on feeding young children in schools in South Africa has described the Brussels charity dinners that were held last month as an 'amazing and humbling experience’. “It was amazing to see all these people in all the three Brussels restaurants (Bon Bon, Le Chalet de la Foret and Bozar) come to cook without any issues. All the chefs arrived, they put their heart into what they did and created amazing food with an added twist of using South African indigenous ingredients,” Margot Janse told Food and Wine Gazette in an interview. For the simultaneous charity dinners, she got over 70 kilos of ingredients with her to Belgium and said that whoever she was thanking for being there were actually thanking her. “It is really humbling that this is possible at this level. It is great for me because I have played on this level with my restaurant for a long time. The exposure was amazing and of course I want to continue,” she … [Read more...]
Garima Arora of Gaa is Asia’s Best Female Chef 2019
Garima Arora, executive chef and founder of Gaa in Bangkok, has won Asia’s Best Female Chef 2019. Arora will be presented with her award at the ceremony for Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, on Tuesday 26th March 2019 in Macao. Arora worked briefly as a journalist before pursuing her interest in the culinary arts. After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu Paris in 2010, she worked at Noma in Copenhagen, learning alongside chef René Redzepi. Recalling her two-plus years of experience at Noma, she said the experience changed her approach to cooking forever. “I learnt how to think about food more intelligently. I started looking at cooking more as a cerebral exercise, thinking about what you do, why you do it and understanding your place in a community.” Returning to Asia in 2016, Arora was appointed sous chef at Gaggan, the award-winning Bangkok restaurant that has held the No.1 position on the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list for four consecutive years. In April 2017, the chef opened Gaa, a … [Read more...]