Tickets for GELINAZ! DOES UPPER AUSTRIA will be out for sale on Thursday 13 July at 10am. After the acclaimed 'restaurant swap' in 2016, the Grand Gelinaz! Shuffle (2) and Brussels Headquarters involving 60 of the world's most pioneering and cutting edge chefs, Gelinaz will be back with an even more daredevil project that takes place on 20 August. GELINAZ! DOES UPPER-AUSTRIA is an itinerant and experimental culinary performance, articulated through seven varying spaces within the restaurant of legendary Austrian father & son Helmut and Philip Rachinger, of restaurant Mühltalhof at Neufelden (Mühlviertel). The spirit of the event is collective. Philip and Helmut will choose 3 core ‘Matrix’ dishes. Working in small teams of three and four, these dishes will be deconstructed, dismantled, cut into pieces and remixed by the 24 participating international and Austrian chefs. Chefs will be asked to freely reinterpret every dish, but will be allowed to change some of the original … [Read more...]
First cookbook for Nadine Levy Redzepi
Nadine Levy Redzepi, an enthusiastic home cook, a mother of three and wife of one of the world's leading chefs René Redzepi is launching her first cookbook 'Downtime - Deliciousness at Home'. The book is being published on 24 October. According to the blurb on Amazon the recipes blur the line between everyday and special occasion cooking and Nadine elevates simple comfort food flavours to elegant new heights in this recipe book. When you’re married to Noma’s Rene Redzepi you never know who might drop by for dinner…So Nadine Redzepi has developed a stripped-down repertoire of starters, mains, and desserts that can always accommodate a few more at the table, presenting them in a stylish yet relaxed way that makes guests feel like family--and makes family feel special every single day. Gone are the days when the cook is expected to labor alone in the kitchen while family or guests wait for their meal. In the Redzepi home everyone gravitates toward the kitchen to socialize, help, or … [Read more...]
Michelin and Robert Parker join forces but it is still unclear how collaboration will work
The Michelin guide and Robert Parker, one of the most influential wine guides if not the most influential over the past years have announced that they have joined forces. It is still unclear what the collaboration will mean though Michelin and Robert Parker have been collaborating since 2016 in Singapore and Hong Kong Macau to offer unique dining experiences based on pairing fine cuisine and wine. Michelin has announced that initially they will be focusing on markets in Asia and North America before pursuing their deployment in Europe and others regions of the world. "We are very excited to inform our readers that Michelin, the globally renowned tire company and name behind the world’s leading guide to quality restaurants, MICHELIN guide, announced today its acquisition of a 40% stake in Robert Parker Wine Advocate and RobertParker.com, the world’s most widely read independent consumers’ guide to fine wine," said Lisa Perrotti-Brown, editor in Chief of Robert Parker's wine … [Read more...]
The importance of human relations takes centre stage at first W Food Festival
Behind every restaurant success or every artisan there is great produce but there is also the human element which is exceptionally important. This was the underlying message of the first ever W Food Festival congress that took place in the historic citadel of Namur. The festival, organised by Generation W, a collective of chefs and artisans from the Belgian region of Wallonia had been dreaming of organising such a festival for the past two years. That dream culminated in a successful weekend where people could meet the chefs and artisans of Generation W on the grounds of the Citadel. On Monday 3 July, it was the turn of professionals in the field to attend a congress which brought to the fore the importance of management, of bringing the best out of people, of communicating and of letting go if you want to grow your business. Filip Claeys, the first speaker at the event, chef of Restaurant De Jonkman and founder of North Sea Chefs spoke about the need to educate customers … [Read more...]
Mélanie Englebin to close restaurant Cecila in August as she looks for restaurant with larger kitchen
Mélanie Englebin, the chef of Brussels restaurant Cecila has decided to close her restaurant at the end of August. The young chef who was awarded the Gault & Millau 2017 Young chef of the year for Brussels explained that there were various reasons for the closure of this restaurant. " It is true that the pedestrianisation of the Brussels centre has made it difficult for a gastronomic restaurant to do well in central Brussels but this is not the only reason why I have decided to close Cecila." "In the four years since I have opened Cecila, my cuisine has evolved and I know exactly what I want. I need a restaurant with a larger kitchen, with a bigger dining room in a house that has character like at Cecila. I also need a terrace or garden," she said. Leaving the current location will enable the young chef to create the restaurant of her dreams enabling her to continue her road to cook with great produce and discovering new perfumes and flavour combinations. Just before she … [Read more...]
René Redzepi launches foraging app called VILD MAD (wild food)
René Redzepi, the Danish chef behind one of the world's most successful restaurants noma, has launched an app and website aimed at help you to forage. The app is called VILD MAD, Danish for wild food and is designed to teach you to read the landscape and to discover its culinary potential. Redzepi is known for introducing foods that had been foraged to the fine dining restaurant scene and now he wants to help people to learn what is edible and what is not. The aim behind the app is to help people explore their program cataloguing wild ingredients found in the Danish landscape, and the many ways to cook with them. The app is a comprehensive and free resource designed to help the Danish public sustainably explore and cook with wild food. René Redzepi announced VILD MAD during the anniversary celebration for the World’s 50 Best Restaurants earlier this week. The initiative includes a website and app, a curriculum for Danish schools, and foraging workshops led by fifty park … [Read more...]
Tokyo meets Alba in unique four hands dinner between Enrico Crippa and Zaiyu Hasegawa at Piazza Duomo
When Zaiyu Hasegawa went to Alba the first time it was just a very short visit lasting less than 5 hours. He had been at an event in Milan and couldn't resist a visit to the temple of the white truffle. Little did he know that some time later he would be invited to cook with one of his idols Enrico Crippa, chef of the three Michelin star restaurant Piazza Duomo in Alba. Collaboration and sharing knowledge is one of the secrets to success in life. And when this happens in the kitchen of one of the best restaurants in the world, then magic is bound to happen. That was the case of the four hands dinner between Crippa and Hasegawa in Alba last week. That this would be a match made in heaven was to be expected. The Japanese chef of Den is known for his playful style of modern kaiseki. He also has access to produce grown in his sister's garden which supplies his restaurant. On the other hand, Enrico loves Japan and Japanese culture and has worked for three years there in the past so … [Read more...]
GELINAZ! strikes back: this time it does Upper-Austria
GELINAZ!, the collective of chefs which each year organises ambitious events across the globe is returning in the summer month of August with an event at Mühltalhof (Neufelden) in Upper Austria. Details of the event have not yet been fully revealed but the lineup of 24 cutting edge chefs (12 men, 12 women) that will first head to Vienna and then to Mültahof has been announced. What is maybe unique about the event is a huge lineup of female chefs that will take part in this 'itinerant foodart performance'. The organisers are promising a tribute to Upper Austria and the Austrian culinary scene and will bring with them 8 contemporary artists and a global sound installation. It will be about Generative Thinking, Generative Music and Generative Cooking. The chefs taking part in this summer retreat in Austria are Lukas Nagle of Bootshaus (Das Traunsee, Austria); Bo Songivsava of Bo Lan (Bangkok, Thailand); Felix Schellhorn of Hansi Hansi (Bad Gastein, Austria); Magnus Nilsson of … [Read more...]
Share a moment of generosity with Brussels chef Pierre Balthazar in aid of Operation Thermos
On 18 September, chef Pierre Balthazar of The Restaurant in Brussels will welcome 70 guests for a charity gastronomic dinner. The proceeds from the event will go to the not-for-profit association Operation Thermos. Reservations for the event have opened now. The event is expected to finance 2,000 meals for those most in need. This is not the first charitable gesture of chef Pierre Balthazar. After organising the Belgian Christmas tree Design gala dinner for two years in a row, and having himself contributed to Operation Thermos food distribution efforts, it was important for him to do even more. Operation Thermos was set up in Brussels in 1987 on the initiative of a few young scouts who were affected by street poverty. A non-profit association of several hundred volunteers was created. The aim of Operation Thermos is to help the homeless and other disadvantaged people, in particular through the daily distribution of full hot meals at the Botanique Metro station in Brussels … [Read more...]
Belgian Blenders: bringing Belgian coffee roasters to the fore
Ine Vanheyste, founder and CEO of Belgian Blenders is on a mission to introduce Belgian coffee and its roasters to the world and bring them to the fore. Italy may be world famous for its coffee and its coffee culture but few people know that the Antwerp harbour in Belgium is store to the world' largest coffee warehouses in the world with the capacity to store 350,000 tonnes of coffee beans in over a million square metres of space. Out of this international trade from Antwerp, over many years, small Belgian coffee roasters have emerged using an artisanal method and low temperatures to roast the coffee beans and make high quality coffee known by coffee lovers. Building on the knowledge of her father who has been working in the sugar business and who knew many of Belgium's top coffee roasters, Belgian Blenders have selected coffee from 7 Belgian coffee roasters to offer a range of 14 different coffees. The seven artisanal coffee roasters of Belgian Blenders each ensure an … [Read more...]