Kobe Desramaults, is a conscious Belgian chef with a conscious cuisine. He has a strong character and knows what he wants. His cuisine may appear simple because of its focus on pure flavours but there is a certain complexity to it. "When I am cooking I like to go back to the roots and try to extract as much flavour from the ingredients I use. When I go to eat somewhere the most important thing is memory. It is all about the food. And if you want to remember the food you eat, you cannot have many different flavours going on in a plate. You cannot have a 20 course tasting menu with each dish having six or seven flavour combinations, because you would go crazy and would not remember anything," he tells me when I interview him in Cologne at Chef Sache. "So what I like to do is to focus on one ingredient. The reason I do this is that when people read the menu, they can remember what they have eaten just by remembering that one ingredient. This is what I like in food and this is what I … [Read more...]
Archives for January 2015
Kobe Desramaults: An inspirational story of hard work and success
"We worked from 8am till 2am every day and just kept going" There is no question that Kobe Desramaults is one of the rising stars of European cuisine. His story is inspirational because he had to work against all odds to turn a debt-ridden restaurant owned by his mother into the success story it is today. We met Kobe Desramaults at Chef Sache 2014 in Cologne. You can read our full interview with this Flemish chef, famous for his Michelin starred restaurant In De Wulf in Dranouter, his bakery De Superette and his second restaurant De Vitrine in Gent. In the interview, Kobe speaks about why he opened the restaurant in this Flemish village in West Flanders just on the border with France. Why did you open a restaurant in the middle of nowhere, I ask him. "People are now coming to visit the restaurant in the countryside," he tells me with a smile. "The reason is simple. My heart is there. My heart and my food. This is the area where I grew up. It is where I played in the fields with … [Read more...]
Salon du Chocolat in Brussels on first weekend of February
http://youtu.be/L7i4rl5QRCc The Belgian Salon du Chocolat will take place between 6 February and 8 February at the Brussels Expo. Over 70 Belgian and international participants from France, Germany, Hungary and Luxembourg among others will be participating in this chocolate show. They range from artisans to iconic brands, chefs and cocoa experts. They all share their passion for chocolate with the public and will demonstrate some of their favourite chocolate recipes. Among the participants are some of Food and Wine Gazette's favourite Belgian chocolatiers such as Pierre Marcolini, Van Dender, Laurent Gerbaud and Joost Arijs to mention a few names. Visitors will be able to taste fine chocolates and can also be able to follow many activities related to the world of chocolate including live demonstrations, talks and tastings, pastry workshops for adults, Chocoland with activities for children aged between 4 and 10, a bookshop dedicated to chocolate and the famous Chocolate … [Read more...]
France to promote its cuisine worldwide on 19 March
France will be celebrating French gastronomy with a worldwide initiative on 19 March aimed at raising awareness of French cuisine. Over 1300 chefs from all the five continents are expected to join the Goût de / Good France event. Dinners will be served simultaneously in participating restaurants worldwide to honour the merits of French cuisine, its capacity for innovation and its values: sharing, enjoying and respecting the principles of high quality. This initiative was taken by the French foreign ministry as a way to promote French tourism and to send a message to the culinary world that French cuisine is also contemporary. In a way, it is a response to many food guides which have recently tended to ignore France in favour of other gastronomic destinations in the world. The great French chef Auguste Escoffier, who is the father of modern French cuisine, created Epicurean dinners in 1912 where he chose one menu on a given day and served it in cities around the … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #18
We have written many times about the subject of food waste but there is nothing more shocking than photos to show the extent of the problem. Rob Greenfield writes in civileats.com about what he calls America's food waste fiasco. He says that every year, Americans throw away $165 billion dollars worth of food. He has been hosting food waste fiascos in major cities in an effort to raise awareness about the grand scale of the food waste problem. The photos of waste he has rescued from rubbish bins are shocking to say the least. This morning we followed a very interesting debate about anonymity of restaurant critics on Twitter. This was partly related to the prolific LA Times critic Jonathan Gold who is making himself public one week ahead of the Sundance debut of an upcoming documentary City of Gold, which follows the critic over the course of four years as he eats his way through the city. The question being asked is whether there is such a thing as anonymity and what happens when a … [Read more...]
Michel Roux Jr: Quality produce is core to my cooking
For many years, Michel Roux Jr was the face of one of the most popular culinary programmes on the BBC. Television, in particular Masterchef, was a significant part of his life but now he is focusing on other projects and on his restaurants. In Britain, the surname Roux is synonymous with the qualities of French haute cuisine. It all started with his father and uncle in 1967 who opened Le Gavroche. Since then, the restaurant has been a London institution marking a revolution of restaurants in London. An award-winning chef, Michel Roux is known for his deep respect for the classical foundations of French cooking. He loves simplicity and classic combinations. He now has three restaurants in London. Le Gavroche, which he took over in 1991 from his father, is classic French with a lighter modern twist and his two recent openings are Roux at Parliament Square and Roux at the Landau. A Frenchman in the UK. You have successfully followed in your father’s footsteps and not only, you … [Read more...]
Trailer of Sergio Herman documentary released
Sergio Herman, chef of 3 Michelin star Oud Sluis decided to close the restaurant last year to follow his dreams. In March, a documentary Fucking Perfect will be screened for the first time at the International Film Festival of Berlin. The film is included in the Culinary Cinema programme with others including a documentary on Italian chef Massimo Bottura. The documentary shows the pressures of a 3 Michelin star kitchen and the chef's search of perfection. It is a story of ambition, perfection and sacrifices. In the trailer, you can see why Sergio Herman decided to close Oud Sluis. He says: "And then you are not kind, you are not the father you should be or the friend or the husband you know." The visuals of the film are stunning. The documentary also shows the preparations for the opening of The Jane which Herman opened together with chef Nick Bril in Antwerp. In November, the restaurant, which has become incredibly popular since its opening, earned its first Michelin … [Read more...]
Why you should eat less meat but of better quality
Have you ever wondered why food can be so memorable when the quality of ingredients is high? When that is the case, you do not need to add many ingredients for a spectacular meal. A humble tomato, grown and picked when it should, during a hot summer in the Mediterranean, can stir up incredible emotions and memories of childhood. Just add olive oil, some basil, salt and you have the makings of something extremely special. The same goes for meat. Are you curious why meat can taste so different? Price in this case really matters. But if you are concerned about the price, you can also think that buying something better and then making the most of that ingredient will enable you to take it further. We therefore want to bring to your attention a campaign by Slow Food UK "Less is More" which advocates 'Slow Meat Better, Less'. It suggests we should stop asking why real food is expensive and instead start asking ourselves why processed food is so cheap. The Slow Meat campaign is aimed … [Read more...]
De Librije opens its doors in new location in Zwolle
De Librije, the three Michelin starred restaurant of Jonnie and Therese Boer in Zwolle, has opened the doors in its new location within the Librije's hotel today, 20 January 2015. Jonnie and Therese Boer told Food and Wine Gazette that after more than 28 years, in their restaurant they wanted to change. "We wanted to get new energy and new inspiration. Moreover the building which housed the old De Librije was old and required major changes. So instead we opted to change the restaurant and move it to De Librije's hotel which is an old prison from the 1700s," said Therese Boer, who leads the front of house and is a trained viticulturist and wine specialist. The Dutch chef is known for putting the Netherlands on the culinary landscape with his love of ingredients and his consciousness for food waste. After his presentation at Chef Sache in Cologne I ask him how he finds inspiration and comes up with new ideas. He told me that a lot of inspiration comes from experience and … [Read more...]
Interview with the Master Chef: ‘Ask questions and never give up’
For many years, Michel Roux Jnr has been the face of one of the most popular culinary programmes in the UK, becoming a mentor to many young chefs who competed every year to reach the pinnacle of Masterchef: The Professionals. In Britain, the surname Roux is synonymous with the qualities of French haute cuisine. He has followed in the footsteps of his father and uncle who opened Le Gavroche in 1967 and instantly marked the revolution of restaurants in London. An award-winning chef, Michel Roux is known for his deep respect for the classical foundations of French cooking. He now has three restaurants in London. Le Gavroche, which he took over in 1991 from his father, is classic French with a lighter modern twist and his two recent openings are Roux at Parliament Square and Roux at the Landau. In the coming days, Food and Wine Gazette will feature an interview with the "Master Chef". Michel speaks about how challenging it was to take over Le Gavroche from his father in the early … [Read more...]