The fourth edition of the Flemish Food Bash, an event organised by chef Vincent Florizoone, returns at the end of this month at the Belgian beach resort of Koksijde. The event, in its fourth edition, will be more Belgian than the previous event which attracted chefs from around Europe. Florizoone, the organiser said the event promises to be an explosion of creativity where foodies are immersed in an amazing world of music, street art, tattoo culture and barber art. The line up of chefs and cocktail masters have now been completed and includes some of the rising stars of Belgian cuisine including Brussels based Yannick Van Aeken and Alex Joseph, Matthias Speybrouk of Va e Vient. Two Michelin star chef Bart de Pooter has also confirmed his presence together with Dennis Broeckx and Laurent Smallegange among others. Some 2,500 attendees are expected to take part in the event that starts at 12 noon. The chefs that have confirmed their participation are: Dennis Broeckx - … [Read more...]
Dierendonck, one of Belgium’s best butchers to open in Brussels
Hendrik Dierendonck, one of the most well known butchers in Belgium with shops and a restaurant in the Belgian coast has announced this morning on his Facebook page that he will be opening an Atelier in Brussels. He wrote it is the start of a new adventure, a dream come true. "The artisanal approach, terroir and passion are the focal points of our butcher shops and these are the values that I have picked up from my father Raymond Dierendonck," Hendrik said. The new atelier in Brussels will follow on this approach and will be open in autumn. It will replace the Jack O'Shea shop close to Place St Catherine that closed abruptly in the past weeks. He thanked his entire team because he said he would not be able to do this without their support. Just before summer this year, Hendrik Dierendonck was in Brussels collaborating on a number of one off pop-up events. Dierendonck raises the Belgian Red breed in their own farm. This is an extremely rare breed of cattle and a … [Read more...]
Big blow to Brussels culinary scene as Jack O’Shea butcher shops and restaurant close indefinitely amid bankruptcy speculation
Jack O'Shea one of Belgium's best butchers that used to sell meat to some of the best restaurants in Brussels and beyond has closed its doors indefinitely. According to Belgian newspaper La Derniere Heure, the three butcher shops in Brussels and the Chop House restaurant closed indefinitely this week. They said that the chain faces significant financial problems and a bankruptcy could be on the horizon for the company. Jack O'Shea made a name for himself when he opened his first shop in the European district of Schuman in Brussels in 1998. A long-time proponent of nose to tail cooking he opened the Chophouse restaurant restaurant last year was part of a strategy to eliminate waste. A 10th generation Irish butcher, O'Shea expanded his business in recent years opening a butcher shop in central Brussels together with the Chop House restaurant and also opened a butcher's shop instead of Slabbinck, a famous poultry butcher who had died tragically in a traffic accident in … [Read more...]
Lineup for this year’s Chef Sache taking place on 25 and 26 September announced
The 8th edition of Chef Sache, the avantgarde Cologne culinary festival will take place on Sunday 25 and Monday 26 September in Cologne with a very interesting line-up of world class chefs. This year's theme is winds of change and features some of the world's top chefs who will showcase their ideas. Among the chefs that have been announced for this year's edition of Chef Sache are Albert Adria of the Adria empire which includes Tickets, Pakta, Bodega, Hoja Santa, Niño Viejo and Enigma in Barcelona Spain, Jonnie Boer (De Librije) and Poul Andrias Ziska from Koks in the Faroes Islands which has been considered as the best Nordic Restaurant. On Monday, chefs on stage will include Andre Chiang from Restaurant Andre in Singapore, Andreas Döllerer from Restaurant Döllerer in Golling, Austria, Alexandre Gauthier from La Grenouillère, Jordi Roca, the pastry chef and one of the three brothers who create magic at El Celler de Can Roca and Joachim Wissler of Restaurant Vendôme in … [Read more...]
Sous-vide cooking is coming to the home kitchen with Joule created by ChefSteps
Sous-vide cooking, once the domain of high-end chefs is coming to households very soon with the launch of Joule, a small sous-vide machine that can be used with the pots and pans you have in your homes. Sous-vide cooking means cooking in a water bath to a set time and temperature. It is only now starting to gain popularity among home cooks but has been used by professional chefs in restaurants for decades. It is relatively simple to cook and removes unnecessary stress from cooking by ensuring that what you are cooking is perfect all the time. The launch of Joule, a sous-vide machine that is less than half the weight of even the smallest consumer sous vide device available at the moment is set to launch in September in the United States. Created by ChefSteps, a Seattle-based startup, the machine will not immediately ship outside the United States though the company hopes to make this machine available elsewhere in the world as soon as possible. Joule is housed in a sleek cylinder … [Read more...]
More details announced for Autumn event that replaces Culinaria in Brussels
More details have been announced for the event that will replace Culinaria. Named Autumn, the event changes format and will be held between 18 October and 30 October in Brussels. Over the past years Culinaria has made a name for itself as the top food event in Brussels. Autumn, this year, will feature a food market, a cocktail bar and a restaurant. Organisers have said that there will be le Mercato, a food market created by chefs. There will be le Club which will bring together some of the best bartenders and cocktail masters from Belgium and Europe and le Gastronomique, a restaurant which where four chefs will be cooking every evening. The location has not yet been announced but the organisers have said that the place does not exist and will cease to exist after the event which indicates it will be a pop-up location. Every evening four chefs will create a unique eight course meal. Guests can exceptional service with a maitre d'hotel in attendance, sommeliers, chefs in the … [Read more...]
‘Foam is for shaving and not to go on top of food’ – Gordon Ramsay during AMA on Reddit
"Foam should be used for shaving and not to go on top of food. When foam hits a plate, unless you eat it within three or four seconds, at the end it looks like sort of toxic scum on a stagnant pool," said Gordon Ramsay during an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit today. The British chef said that he had started to use foam in the 90s and is amazed that it is still around. "We need to get rid of the foam and keep the foam for shaving," said the chef to a Reddit user. Ramsay launched his first ever mobile game #GordonRamsayDASH where gamers get to build their own restaurant empire with Ramsay as their guide. The game is available on iTunes Store and Google Play and has already received some great reviews. The award-winning chef and restaurateur has 30 restaurants world wide and has presented television programmes like Hell's Kitchen, MasterChef, MasterChef Junion and Hotel Hell. Asked what was the easiest dish to get wrong and how to avoid it, Ramsay said that the easiest dish that … [Read more...]
Third edition of Chefs Revolution, the Dutch Avant Garde Cuisine Festival to be held in September
The third edition of Chefs Revolution, the Dutch Avant Garde cuisine festival will take place in Zwolle, the Netherlands on 18 and 19 September. The event is organised by Jonnie and Thérèse Boer of three Michelin star De Librije in cooperation with the team Port Culinaire Thomas and Carola Ruhl. The first chefs that will participate in this third edition have already been announced. These are two Michelin star chef Magnus Ek from Oaxen Krug in Stockholm, Sweden, two Michelin star chef Tanja Grandits from Stucki, Switzerland who was also Gault Millau chef of the year for 2014. Virgilio Martinez, chef of Central in Lima, Peru will be travelling to the Netherlands to present his cuisine. Having a Michelin star, he is no 4 in the World's 50 Best and also no 1 in the Latin America list. The other chefs are Eneko Atxa, three Michelin star chef of Azurmendi (16th in the World's 50 Best list), Joachim Wissler, three Michelin star chef of Vendome (35th in the World's 50 Best), … [Read more...]
Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana is No 1 in the World
On the night when Italy was celebrating an unexpected victory against Belgium at the Euro 2016, in New York, Massimo Bottura, chef of Modena based restaurant Osteria Francescana had just been named as the World's Best restaurant by the 50 World's Best Restaurants. This was the crowning of a wonderful year for Bottura who has not only pushed the boundaries of fine dining but has now created the Food for Soul foundation with the aim of raising awareness on food waste and feeding the world's poor. In his first word's after winning the award in New York, after thanking his wife and team, he encouraged all chefs present to go to Rio and help him with the soup kitchen there during the Olympics. That is also Massimo Bottura. The award crowns a slow but steady ride to the world's top position and crowns his perseverance for taking tradition and twisting it with his creativity and culture. That was no easy task in a country where no one can mess with football, religion and … [Read more...]
‘Travel is a great source of inspiration’ – David Kinch (Manresa)
Travel is a great source of inspiration for David Kinch who is back in the United States after his trip to France where he was the first of 10 guest chefs to cook at Mirazur in celebration of Mauro Colagreco's restaurants' 10 year anniversary. "In recent years, I had the opportunity to travel a lot. This has meant not only having the opportunity to eat in the restaurants of my peers but also to get a grasp of the culinary culture of the places I visited. When you travel somewhere for a long way, you suffer from jet lag, you wake up very early in the morning because you cannot sleep. What better opportunity then to go and check out the early morning markets? For me the markets tell you almost everything you need to know about a town or city you are visiting, the ingredients, the people who are shopping for them, the seasonality. It tells you many different things. If you have to create a menu, most of the work will be done with a visit to the market," Kinch … [Read more...]