All roads lead to Lyon next weekend as the city welcomes European chefs from for attable festival, a prototype edition that starts on Wednesday but culminates in a series of events and dinners on Saturday and Sunday. The young Austrian collective for a progressive society will take over the Le Bistrot du Potager Gerland for what promises to be a unique dinner at Florian Remont's restaurant. The Austrian chefs need no introduction, they have all featured in GELINAZ! Does Upper Austria last summer. They are Konstantin Filippou, Felix Schellehorn, Lukas Nagl, Milena Broger and Lukas Mraz. The other Austria rising star Philip Rachinger, the one who was master of operations with his father at GELINAZ will feature in a dinner at Café Sillon on Friday evening together with Nicolai Norregaard (of Kadeau fame in Copenhagen), Mathieu Rostaing-Tayard and Joanna Figuet, both of Café Sillon. Lyon, the world's gastronomic city par excellence is organising what is being called a 'prototype' … [Read more...]
Noma opens bookings for vegetable season which runs from June to September on 5 March
If you are tempted to visit Noma, which reopened on 16 February, Monday 5 March is your opportunity to try and secure a table for the vegetable season which runs from late June through to mid-September. Cooking with vegetables has always been a favourite of Noma but it is the first time that they are daring to create a menu entirely out of vegetables and to make it as delicious as one with meat. Noma will be offering a vegetarian menu and a vegan menu. You can attempt to secure a table for 2, 4, 6 or 8 on the Noma website at 4pm (Copenhagen time). During the season, Redzepi and his team will move from the Ocean menu to the Vegetable menu. They will be exploring the plant kingdom and everything that is edible; cooking with what they can find underground, above ground, near the water and in the trees. "We will forage for the freshest ingredients in every lake, river, stream, meadow and woodland, work closely everyday with our collaborators to harvest their best crops, and grow … [Read more...]
André Chiang gets lifetime achievement award for Asia
André Chiang, the acclaimed chef-owner of Restaurant André in Singapore (which closed its doors for good on 14 February) and Raw in Taipei has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for Asia. Part of the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants Programme, the award is voted for by members of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy, comprising over 300 leaders in the restaurant and culinary industries throughout Asia. Acknowledging the honour, Chiang said: “While I was thrilled to be the first Chinese chef to appear on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, I am equally honoured to be the first Chinese chef to receive this prestigious award. My focus has always been to put Asia on the culinary world map and this recognition reinforces that goal. I will remember this moment forever.” William Drew, Group Editor of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants said: “André Chiang is among the world’s most respected, prominent and successful chefs, and the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award is an honour that … [Read more...]
Inside the new Noma where René Redzepi has reinvented the restaurant
Twenty builders were still working frantically a few minutes before the opening of the new Noma in Copenhagen on 16 February. For the past weeks, René Redzepi and his staff had to pull up their sleeves, buy safety hats and help the workers with the finishing touches. The creative process had been finalised by then, the menu was ready to serve the first customers but the building works were delayed. The stress was palpable but there was no time to relax because further delays would have meant bankruptcy as René Redzepi himself told Richard Vines on Bloomberg last month. Today, just a week after the restaurant opened you would barely notice that this was a construction site until a few days ago. Sure there are still signs as you walk in to the restaurant such as the green houses which are yet to be completed but inside that frantic rush to get the restaurant ready is not visible. Guests are greeted in the Noma style and the service and the kitchen works like clock-work despite … [Read more...]
Jose Avillez of Belcanto restaurant in Lisbon to cook at Brussels restaurant Bon Bon
José Avillez, the Portuguese chef of two Michelin star restaurant Belcanto in Lisbon will be the second chef to cook at the Bon Bon Origins collaborative dinner series which takes place on Thursday March 29. Christophe Hardiquest, chef of the two Michelin star restaurant Brussels restaurant Bon Bon launched Bon Bon Origins out of the desire to rediscover traditional Belgian recipes that have stood the test of time but deconstructing them and bringing them to life again in a contemporary way, he will be organising collaborative dinners with different chefs that are focused on their own terroirs. After the first dinner with Belgian chef Gert De Mangeleer of Hertog Jan, the Brussels based chef will be cooking with the acclaimed Portuguese chef. As a Portuguese chef, José Avillez’ main focus is to promote Portuguese gastronomy and to contribute to making Portugal a top gastronomic destination. He is considered as one of the great references of gastronomy in Portugal and has … [Read more...]
Bee Satongun named Asia’s best female chef for 2018
Bongkoch ‘Bee’ Satongun, chef of Paste restaurant in Bangkok, has been named Asia’s Best Female Chef 2018. A self-taught chef, Satongun honed her culinary skills while working in her family’s local restaurant. Since opening the original Paste in 2013 with her Australia-born chef husband Jason Bailey, Satongun has committed herself to educating diners on the complexity, layers and refined flavours of Thai cuisine. The couple went on to open the current incarnation of the restaurant in Bangkok’s Gaysorn Village luxury mall in 2015. Dedicated to honouring culinary traditions, Satongun references centuries-old Thai cookbooks to revive long-forgotten recipes and rare ingredients. Drawing inspiration from royal Thai cuisine, Satongun brings an artisanal approach to her cooking. As well as sourcing fresh produce from local growers, curry pastes are made in-house and food is smoked with lychee wood, coconut husks and coconut meat. Renowned for her technical expertise and creative flair, … [Read more...]
Bruges to host JRE congress in 2019
The Belgian city of Bruges will host the 2019 congress of the Jeunes Restaurateurs Europe (JRE), the new president of the Belgian association Olivier Massart announced. This is the second time that the event is being organised in Belgium, the first congress was held in Brussels in 2005. Massart, the chef of O de Vie in Juprelle said the congress will focus on the theme the Gift of Good Food - never ending passion and is expected to attract over 300 chefs together with their partners from all over Europe. The association JRE groups chefs between the age of 23 and 49 and has around 30 members in Belgium. The new president said that he will be following in the footsteps of his predecessor Steven Dehaeze who carried out sterling work over the past years while introducing new activities and introducing new members to the association. “I would like to thank him for his work,” he said at a press conference organised at Le Coriandre, a Brussels restaurant that forms part of the … [Read more...]
Two of the World’s best female chefs to cook in Berlin for first NEU dinner series
The brand new NEU dinner series will kick off on Tuesday February 27 bringing Ana Roš, the World's Best Female chef 2017 and Roman star-chef Cristina Bowerman to the German capital to cook a unique and collaborative multi-course dinner alongside Sebastian Frank, Berliner Meisterkoch 2017 and best European chef of the year 2018 as well as young chef-prodigy Lukas Mraz who featured in GELINAZ! last year. 60 diners will experience the collaborative work of these four chefs at the dinner hosted at legendary Anomalie Art Club in the Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg. The first edition hinges around the the culinary cornerstones of the Amber Road - a historical trade route that started at the Baltic Sea and extended throughout Western Europe, tying all the common areas of the participating chefs’ kitchens together. Wines for the evening will be provided by partner Viniculture. By uniting cultures that for many centuries have been natural, geographical collaborators … [Read more...]
Nine top chefs to cook at Sven Elverfeld’s Aqua in Wolfsburg
Nine chefs of three Michelin star restaurants will be cooking in separate events at the restaurant of Sven Elverfeld, Aqua in Wolfsburg, Germany. The German chef of the the three Michelin star restaurant announced the events to celebrate 10 years of 3 Michelin stars on his Instagram page. The chefs are Jan Hartwig of Restaurant Atelier in Germany, Niko Romito of Reale in Italy, Andreas Caminada of Schauenstein in Furstenau, Switzerland, Rasmus Kofoed of Geranium in Denmark, Jonnie Boer of De Librije in the Netherlands, Norbert Niederkofler of Restaurant St Hubertus in Italy, Gert De Mangeleer of Hertog Jan in Belgoium, Paolo Casagrande of Restaurant Lasarte in Barcelona and Corey Lee of Restaurant Benu in the United States. "Unfortunately, we tried to get women from three Michelin star restaurants but we did not manage," he said with Maria Canabal, of Parabere Forum saying that unfortunately there are too few women at the helm of 3 Michelin star restaurants. "I hope there will … [Read more...]
Michelin Guide accepts decision of Sébastien Bras to hand back stars
Sébastien Bras who runs the three Michelin star restaurant Le Suquet restaurant in Laguiole, France has announced that the Michelin Guide has accepted his request to remove the restaurant from its 2018 selection for France. "I would like to thank them for accepting my decision," the French chef wrote on his Facebook page. "I will now open a new chapter in my professional life without the Michelin stars but with the same passion for cooking. We will continue, together with our team, to ensure that our customers experience the magic of the Aubrac in our restaurant with the same quest for excellence. We are actively preparing for the annual reopening of the restaurant on 5 April with a lot of entusiasm and we are also working on a number of different projects," he said. Sebastien Bras's Le Suquet restaurant in southern France held Michelin's three-star rating for 18 years. In September last year, he announced that he wanted to give away the three stars because he did not want … [Read more...]