The father and son duo Helmut and Philip Rachinger yesterday evening presented the three original upper Austrian Matrix recpies for the GELINAZ! DOES UPPER AUSTRIA event that takes place on Sunday. From a Goulasch and bread of potatoes to wild caught freshwater fish and foraged ingredients from the forest and summer venison, the 22 chefs that will join the Rachingers have already started work and brainstorming to see what and how they will prepare their deconstructed and reconstructed dishes. René Redzepi and Magnus Nilsson (freshly shaved for the occasion after having stopped shaving since June) arrived in the afternoon. Meanwhile, Mauro Colagreco who missed the early morning flight to Austria arrived late in the evening with the slow train to the idyllic Mühltalhof in Neufelden. The last remaining chef to arrive will be Lima based Virgilio Martinez who is set to arrive this morning to join the rest of the group. David Chang with his team composed of Lukaz Mraz, May Chow … [Read more...]
GELINAZ! event in Austria starts with lunch at Konstantin Filippou
The GELINAZ! DOES UPPER AUSTRIA event started with a lunch hosted by the chef of Michelin starred Vienna restaurant Konstantin Filippou at his second restaurant O'Boufe. Among the chefs that were present for this first lunch were Momofuku Ko in New York, Ana Roš of Hiša Franko, Kobarid in Slovenia and voted the World's 50 Best Female chef for 2017, SLOVENIA – W50BR 2017 Best Female Chef, May Chow of Little Bao, Hong Kong and the ASIA50BR 2017 Best Female Chef, Antonia Klugmann, L’Argine di Vinco, Cividale, Italy, Colombe Saint-Pierre, Chez Saint-Pierre, Le Bic, Canada and Bo Songvisava of Bo.lan, Bangkok, Thailand. The chefs are in Austria for a four day Austrian discovery which started on August 16th and ends with a final show on Sunday August 20th at the restaurant of father and son duo Helmut and Philip Rachinger, the Mühltalhof. In total 24 chefs will be taking part in the event. These hail from all corners of the world and will work in teams of three or four around 3 … [Read more...]
VILD MAD Festival in Copenhagen encourages people to take up foraging
In August, Danish chef René Redzepi has become been accustomed to organise the MAD Symposium in Copenhagen though sometimes it is organised on alternate years. This year, the team behind the world famous restaurant noma is organising VILD MAD, a wild food programme with a public festival in Copenhagen on Sunday 27 August. And for people who will not be in the Danish capital on that day, the team behind noma is encouraging people to find a local expert anywhere in the world and try out foraging for the first time. The VILD MAD team say that if you are in Copenhagen that weekend they would love to see you there because entry to is free and the event is aimed for the general public. It will be a day of foraging, sampling wild food and enjoying the outdoors in the company of rangers and chefs in Naturpark Amager (Amager Fælled). Visitors to the festival will be able to wander the trails, snack on and sip wild flavors, or bring their own picnic to enjoy with friends and family. … [Read more...]
50 Top Pizza: an initiative to find the best pizza in Italy
Pepe in Grani in Caserta is top pizzeria If you are heading to Italy any time soon and are looking for the best pizza that you can eat anywhere in the world, then you need to take a look at 50 Top Pizza. This is the name of a new website and initiative to discover the best pizzerias in Italy and therefore the world. The website, that has just been launched, is the brainchild of Albert Sapere who believes that the pizza movement in Italy is like the NBA for basketball. Sapere is curator of the site together with Luciano Pignataro, a journalist and Italian foodblogger as well as Barbara Guerra who with Albert created Le Strade della Mozzarella or On the Mozzarella roads which aims to raise awareness about mozzarella di bufala campana around the world. According to Sapere, Italian pizzerias play a 'world championship' between them because not only are they exceptional artisans but also because Italy is the country which has the best produce for pizza. In total 100 inspectors, … [Read more...]
San Degeimbre to open third San in Gent in October
San Degeimbre chef of two Michelin star restaurant L' Air du Temps in Liernu and creator of two successful Brussels restaurants called San will be opening the third 'San' restaurant in Gent in October. The news had been in the air for a long time but it has now been confirmed. The Belgian chef had said on the opening of the first San in Rue de Flandres, Brussels that he wanted to take the concept to other Belgian cities and if possible also outside Belgium. After the successful opening of the restaurant in the Brussels centre and then a second one in the area of Sablon, the 'bowl' concept will also be available in Gent. The current chef of San Sablon will be taking the lead at the new restaurant in Gent which is expected to be close to popular Gent restaurant Vrijmoed. Gent is therefore set to welcome another of Belgium's top chefs after the successful opening of Kobe Desramault's Chambree Séparée. With his bowl and spoon concept, the Belgian-Korean chef is going back to … [Read more...]
The story of Villa Louise: a private kitchen aiming to reach 100 stars
Since 2012, Villa Louise, an offshoot of asset manager Creutz and Partners has been inviting some of the world's best chefs into its private kitchen to collaborate, cook and share their creativity with their clients. Now, in its sixth season, it has welcomed chefs like Sergio Herman, Alain Passard, Rasmus Kofoed, Gert De Mangeleer, Sang Hoon Degeimbre, Pierre Gagnaire, Christian Bau, Sven Elverfeld, Virgilio Martinez, Peter Goossens, Joachim Wissler and many others. Today, the total number of Michelin stars has reached 65 but that number grows each year and the aim is to reach at least 100, Yves Creutz, executive member of the board of directors told Food and Wine Gazette in an interview. But how did the idea start, how difficult was it to start this and what leads chefs to go and cook at Villa Louise? How did you come up with the idea to start Villa Louise and in particular to invite chefs over to cook at your premises? We are an exclusive Asset Manager (Creutz & … [Read more...]
Maria Canabal and the difficult plight of women in the food and restaurant world
Maria Canabal, journalist and founder of Parabere Forum is on a mission to raise awareness on the importance of gender balance in the food industry. She has the figures to prove that the plight of women in the restaurant as well as the food industry is not something that would make any industry proud. Women are paid 28 per cent less than men in the industry making it the second worse industry of all. Only the IT industry fares worse. She was speaking at the first ever congress of the W Food Festival organised in Namur for the first time by Generation W, the collective of chefs from the Belgian region of Wallonia. Food events have a tendency to miss women. Only MAD, the conference organised by Danish chef René Redzepi every two years in Copehagen achieves gender balance. Most of the other conferences have a very dismal female representation with Taste of Paris having just 5% and Omnovore 14%. Only 2 per cent of judges in the San Pellegrino Young chefs are women and there are … [Read more...]
Bread is Gold, Massimo Bottura’s second book, to be published in November
Bread is Gold, by Italian chef Massimo Bottura, is the first book to take a holistic look at the subject of food waste, presenting recipes of three-course meals from 45 of the world's leading chefs. It is Massimo Bottura's second book that will be launched worldwide on 6 November. Massimo Bottura, considered by many to be one of the world's best chefs, prepares extraordinary meals from ordinary and sometimes 'wasted' ingredients inspiring home chefs to eat well while living well. 'These dishes could change the way we feed the world, because they can be cooked by anyone, anywhere, on any budget. To feed the planet, first you have to fight the waste', Massimo Bottura said. The recipes, which number more than 150, turn everyday ingredients into inspiring dishes that are delicious, economical, and easy to make. In reviewing the book being published by Phaidon, Pope Francis says "Throwing away food is like stealing from the table of those who are poor and hungry." On the other … [Read more...]
A leap in the dark for Mélanie Englebin but plans to take Cecila to next level
Restaurant Cecila in central Brussels may be closing its doors on 26 August but will return in a new location, the Brussels Gault & Millau young chef of the year 2017 Mélanie Englebin told Food and Wine Gazette. She may have become famous for sending out a Brussels politician from her restaurant when the pedestrian zone threatened to kill many businesses in central Brussels but this is not the sole reason why she has decided to move on. “The kitchen I have is small and therefore places certain constraints on me. I would like to have a bigger kitchen to be able to develop my cooking and also add staff in the kitchen. I want to also increase the amount of covers to around 30 to 35,” she said. Known for her love of seasonal ingredients and in particular fish she showcased some of her favourite all time creations during a press lunch recently (see our Instagram feed for more). These dishes are the ones that will be served over the coming weeks. “I might change a few dishes in … [Read more...]
noma 2.0 still on track to open in December. Pop-up restaurant to open in the meantime
Noma 2.0 is still on track to open in December. In an email sent to their subscribers, the team at noma led by René Redzepi said that the creative team was currently traveling through the Nordic region to meet their friends and collaborators, and to seek out new ones. But the rest of the team, about 30 of them, will be opening their own popup restaurant in Copenhagen. The sous chefs and restaurant managers have joined forces to create an outdoor, family style, open fire restaurant. noma said their team was from all parts of the world; will this influence our menu? It certainly will. "The noma team will be serving the the freshest food of the day cooked how they want to, not necessarily how it would be at noma. The essence of it is that while we are waiting for the new noma to open, the noma staff will be collaborating on a menu of simple delicious food that they would eat themselves on a summer night," said the noma team. The pop-up restaurant will be a collaboration … [Read more...]