The Gelinaz! gang, a collective of chefs that was formed by Italian food journalist Andrea Petrini, is back with another unique event after the successful organisation of Gelinaz shuffle last year. 14 chefs will be teaming up in pairs in an event called Walk with Us London. The event, which has been a sell out, takes place on 28 February. The chefs will be randomly teamed-up. Each Gelinaz! chef-duo will create four dishes (two starters, a main-course and a dessert). They will interpret and remix two original four-course menus specially created for the event by Isaac Mchale of The Clove Club and James Lowe of Lyle's. The restaurant in which each chef-duo is placed will only be revealed on the evening of the event. The organisers have promised the service will be 'a little shaken-up'. "Expect the evening to be interrupted, to leave the premises and....Walk with Us!" Gelinaz have said. The organisers have said that because of the concept, they are unable to cater for dietary … [Read more...]
Spectacular start to Brussels Salon du Chocolat
The 2016 edition of the Salon du Chocolat took off to a spectacular start yesterday evening with the now traditional chocolate fashion show. Belgian designers joined forces with chocolatiers to create spectacular outfits which were paraded by television and radio personalities from Bel RTL. Among the chocolatiers that created the outfits were Didier Smeets, Ducobu, Leonidas, Van Dender, Valentino, Jean Philippe Darcis, Philippe Close, alderman for tourism for the City of Brussels said this was the third edition of the Chocolat du Salon and it was great that French living in Switzerland had created such an event. "Brussels and Belgium needed an event like this particularly when the country is known for waffles, beer and chocolate," he said. Mr Close added that chocolate and patisserie have become very important for the Belgian economy. "Chocolate is Belgium's caviar," he said. Sylie Douce, one of the two organisers and founders of the event said that this promised to be a … [Read more...]
Salon du Chocolat taking place in Brussels this weekend
The third Salon du Chocolat in Brussels will take place this weekend from Friday 5th to Sunday 7th February in Hall 1 of the Brussels Expo. The event promises to be a celebration of Belgian chocolate. Two Belgian chocolate makers have prepared something special for the salon. Joost Arijs and Didier Smeets are considered to be two of the rising stars in the world of Belgian chocolate. Over 30 chocolatiers from the commercial to boutique shops will be present for what promises to be a great gastronomic event. Arijs, who has recently opened a second shop in Antwerp (the first one can be found in the city of Gent) has created a matcha tea macaroon. "For the Salon du Chocolat, I wanted to create an amazing macaroon which was totally out of the ordinary," he said. Didier Smeets, who represented Belgium at the Milan Expo in August last year created a praline that he will be offering until Valentine's Day. It is ironically called 'Le Solitaire'. This year, the Salon du Chocolat in … [Read more...]
Massimo Bottura is European Chef of the year
Italian chef Massimo Bottura has been awarded the title of European chef of the year at Madrid Fusion 2016 for his work at Refettorio Ambrosiano, the soup kitchen he created on the occasion of the Milan Expo last year. The Italian chef may be known for his avant-garde cuisine at the award winning restaurant Osteria Francescana, which is ranked second in the World's 50 Best Restaurants list. But, the award was not won for his creative cooking at his restaurant, but rather for a more noble project, one which has seen him create a 'soup kitchen' to feed Milan's poor during the Milan Expo. Bottura received the award, sponsored by Silestone, during the Madrid Fusion even held earlier this week. The Italian chef used the theme of the Milan Expo 'Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life' and created, together with Caritas, a soup kitchen which served food to children and Milan's poor. He managed to raise awareness on the issue of food waste by using food that would be otherwise thrown … [Read more...]
Hof Van Cleve in Belgium named best restaurant in the world by WBPStars
The website WBPstars.com has named Belgian restaurant Hof Van Cleve by chef Peter Goossens the top restaurant in the world. Hof Van Cleve was awarded 94 points with more points than Spanish restaurant El Celler de Can Roca and Le Restaurant de l'Hotel de Ville in Switzerland. It is the second list to be released within the space of a week following the announcement last week about the Chef's choice for the top 100 chefs in the world which was published by Le Chef. The list joins a number of other lists that try to rank the best restaurants in the world. While this is an impossible task, the lists have some similarities and it should be up to the reader to try and make sense of these lists and judge for themselves. Three Belgian restaurants figure in the top 60 list. Apart from Hof Van Cleve, there is Hertog Jan with 90 points and L'Air du Temps with 88 points. The greatest surprise is the failure of Rene Redzepi's Noma to make the list. The list of 60 top restaurants … [Read more...]
1000 Cookbooks award Fergus Henderson for his book Nose to Tail Eating
Some of Britain's top chefs, food producers, food writers, critics, publishers and restauranteurs recently met to celebrate the no 1 cookbook of all time as voted by industry insiders. The event was organised at Quo Vadis in London, Soho to pay tribute to Fergus Henderson, whose book - Nose to Tail Eating (published by Bloomsbury) was voted as the most valued and influential cookbook ever. You can browse all the results of those who voted as well as the choice of Food and Wine Gazette on the following link. A delighted Fergus Henderson said on the occasion that he was touched to find that a book written ten years ago is still read, used and enjoyed. Henderson is an English chef who founded the famous St John restaurant on St John Street London. He is often noted for his use of offal and other unpopular cuts of meat. He is most famous for his nose to tail eating philosophy. He trained as an architect and has had no training in cooking or cooked under any other chef. 1000 Cookbooks … [Read more...]
Chef’s choice: Michel Bras tops list of top 100 chefs for 2016 released by Le Chef
The magazine Le Chef has released the list of top 100 chefs for 2016. French Michel Bras of restaurant Le Suquet is the top choice this year. The top 10 includes no less than 6 French chefs including Pierre Gagnaire, Alain Ducassee, Pascal Barbot, Eirc Frechon, Emmanuel Renaut. Another, Benoit Violier is French/Swiss. The magazine consulted 528 2 and 3 Michelin star chefs between October 2015 and January 2016 from around the world to come up with the list. The question they asked the chefs was "Which are the five chefs that you have to visit?" The third placed chef in the list is Seiji Yamamoto from Japan. Two Spanish chefs, Martin Berasategui and Joan Roco also feature in the top 10. However, no details of the chefs who voted in this selection was given or which was the nationality of the chefs that were voting. There is an evident French bias in the list. Belgium is represented by Peter Goossens, Sergio Herman (for the Jane) and Gert de Mangeleer. Only four women … [Read more...]
Vivino, popular wine app used by 13 million users, raises additional funding
Vivino, a Danish-founded wine community and application yesterday announced that it has raised an additional $25 million to continue its expansion. The company, which currently has 13 million users from all over the world is an application that allows its users to scan any wine label and get results of how that wine ranks among its users. It also allows users to build a repository of the wines that they have tried and rated. The company's founder said that the news cements the company's position as a dominant leader in the global wine industry. Heini Zachariassen, Vivino Founder and CEO said "Our mission to help people, all around the world, find great wine requires significant resources across the wine and technology industries. Thanks to the incredible investment and insights of Christophe Navarre, we're incredibly well suited to continue to attack our mission in unprecedented fashion." To date the company has raised $37 million dollars. The new round of funding was led by … [Read more...]
Sergio Herman announces new project in Cadzand for next year
Sergio Herman, one of the world's most talented chefs who decided to stop cooking full time in 2013, has announced a new project in Cadzand that is set to open next year. After the success of The Jane in Antwerp and Pure C in Cadzand, Sergio Herman is opening a new harbour restaurant, pavillion and takeaway in Cadzand. The restaurant is set to open on 16 September 2016. The seaside resort in the Netherlands has been made popular by his restaurant Pure C. It will now welcome the new harbour restaurant, pavillion and takeaway for boats as can be seen by the architects' impression published on Herman's Instagram feed. Sergio Herman is the former 3 Michelin star chef of Oud Sluis. He decided to close his world famous restaurant in 2013 to seek more balance in his life and to pursue other projects. Since closing his restaurant in this small village close to Cadzand he has focused on his two restaurants The Jane in Antwerp and Pure C in Cadzand but had told Food and Wine Gazette … [Read more...]
Two Swiss restaurants in Top 5 of La Liste, Hof Van Cleve is highest Belgian entry
La Liste, a new collective of 1,000 top restaurants in the world was launched for the first time in Paris on 17 December and there are a few surprises. Two out of the top 5 restaurants are Swiss with one of the top 5 restaurants being French. The top restaurant on the list is Swiss Restaurant de l'Hôtel de Ville. It is followed by US based Per Se, Japanese Kyo Aji, French restaurant Guy Savoy and Swiss restaurant Schauenstein Considered to be the French answer to the World's 50 Best Restaurants, La Liste is being called the guide of guides as it compiles the results from 200 gastronomic guides such as (Michelin, Gault&Millau, Zagat), websites like TripAdvisor and Open Table as well as lists like the 50 Best and the Daily Meal apart from reviews of press critics. A quick look at the top 3 restaurants in the World's 50 Best Restaurants list reveals some remarkable differences particularly for the third restaurant on the list Noma. While Cellar de Can Roca is placed in sixth … [Read more...]