There is something special about the Tuscan countryside. It may sound like a cliché but everything about the region is special. From the landscape to the food and wine, you are always in for a treat. It is therefore no wonder that it is one of the most sought after regions in Italy if not the world. There is a lot on offer and no matter how many times you visit, you will always discover new things. On our last visit, we decided to head to the new Antinori cellars in Bargino, San Casciano in Val di Pesa. The cellars of this renowned Tuscan (and Italian) winemaker were inaugurated on October 25, 2012 and are a homage to the family's historic ties with the region. For Italian wine lovers, Antinori needs no introduction. The have been producing wine for over 20 generations with the last generation improving on the winery's already stellar reputation with the creation of high-end wines with a story like Tignanello and Solaia. Their new cellars and headquarters in Bargino are unique in … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2015
Nuno Mendes in groundbreaking attempt to crowdfund top restaurant
A chef is offering the possibility for people to fulfil their dream and partly own what promises to be one of the most talked about restaurants in the world. Nuno Mendes is a chef who is loved by his peers. What he is attempting to do is completely new. As he himself says in a video to promote a crowd funding campaign to fund his new restaurant, there has never been a restaurant with this kind of ambition to reach out to its public, audience and friends for support. The Portuguese born chef says "I believe what we are doing is ground breaking. This is a chance for people to participate in something that they can be proud of and that will add culture and creativity to the London restaurant scene." Mendes says that crowdfunding will allow him to fulfil his vision of making the new Viajante one of the best restaurants in the world. He has been endorsed this morning by one of the world's best chefs René Redzepi who said on his twitter feed that this was one of the coolest ways … [Read more...]
Yet another case of food fraud: Extra virgin olive oil in the spotlight
A scandal has erupted in Italy. It may have been obvious to some but olive oil is being passed as extra-virgin olive oil by some of Italy's best know brands. It has only come to light now following an investigation by Raffaele Guariniello. The olive oil being sold in supermarkets is neither extra-virgin nor Italian, despite the fact that it is marketed and sold as such. This will not come as a surprise to some who have always questioned how some extra-virgin olive oil is sold at prices as low as three to five euros per litre, when to buy 'real' extra virgin olive oil from producers or olive oil presses (frantoi in Italian) it could cost easily up to 10 euros per litre if not more. Extra-virgin olive oil is made by cold-pressing olives that are freshly picked. On a trip to Tuscany just a few days ago, we could see many, from small producers to families, picking olives from their fields to be turned into extra-virgin olive oil. These are normally pressed within 4 to 8 hours of … [Read more...]
Sang-Hoon Degeimbre is Belgian chef of the year for Gault & Millau 2016
Sang-Hoon Degeimbre, chef of L' Air du Temps in Liernu and the recently opened San in Brussels, has been nominated by restaurant guide Gault & Millau as the Belgian chef of the year for 2016. The award is a deserved accolade for the self-taught chef who brought molecular gastronomy to Belgium. The Belgian-Korean chef cooked professionally for the first time on the day of the opening of his restaurant and had told Food and Wine Gazette that this was the 'biggest bluff of his life." In an interview with Food and Wine Gazette last year, he had said “cooking without any training means that you have no boundaries. When you are at school, you learn to follow a right way. They give you recipes which you have to follow and you do not have time to reflect on why you are doing something. Being self-taught means that you are constantly asking questions. When you are not in the kitchen, you start to question why something must be done in a particular way. In the kitchen you try … [Read more...]
Noma: My Perfect Storm to be released on 18 December
"Do I believe there is a best restaurant in the world? Of course not. It is ridiculous. But, it changed our restaurant for ever." This is what René Redzepi, chef of award-winning restaurant Noma says in a soon to be released documentary. Noma, My Perfect Storm will be released in theatres, on demand and on iTunes on December 18, 2015. The documentary is written and directed by Pierre Deschamps. The latter had 'automatic access to genius'. Noma, My Perfect Storm is being termed as a creative journey into the unique mind of René Redzepi. Deschamps looks into how Redzepi managed to revolutionize the entire world of gastronomy, inventing the alphabeth and vocabulary that would infuse newfound pedigree to Nordic cuisine and establish a new edible world while radically changing the image of the modern chef. His story has the feel of a classic fairy tale. The distributors Magnolia Pictures say that his story has the fell of a classic fairy tale: the ugly duckling transformed into … [Read more...]
Dirty but good: Winemaker hit by floods sells wine bottles covered in mud in five days
An Italian winery, which was flooded in Campania following heavy rains on October 15, has managed to sell all its 'damaged' wine bottles thanks to a clever campaign on social media. The campaign was called, Prendici cosi! Siamo #SporcheMaBuone (Take us how we are, we are dirty but good) was launched by the winery Cantina di Solopaca. It aimed to sell over 60,000 bottles that had been covered with mud following the flooding. In the poster to accompany the campaign, the winery said that 'behind this glass bottle, there is the fruit of the earth that has tried to wash us away." The bottles, covered in mud, were put on sale in the same condition in which they had been found. All bottles were sold within five days. The winery said that they were happy and sad at the same time to communicate that they had sold all the 'muddy' bottles of wine. "We would like to thank you for your generosity. Within five days, we have sold all the bottles that we recovered. You have been simply … [Read more...]
Too cheap to be true: One out of three fish bought in Brussels is not what consumers have paid for
DNA tests carried out by Oceana have found that 31.8% of all fish served in Brussels has been mislabelled. But the figure reaches a shocking 95% for bluefin tuna. Oceana carried out DNA testing on 280 fish samples collected from major restaurants and EU institution canteens in Brussels. Tests focused on commonly served fish species like cod, sole and bluefin tuna. The samples, which were analysed by the Laboratory of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Genomics from the Catholic University of Leuven, found 31.8% clear cases of mislabelling based on information gathered from either the menu or from restaurant staff. More than 77% per cent of samples were taken from popular restaurants in the EU district and the city centre. The results indicate that there is widespread mislabelling in Brussels. There is 95% fraud when it comes to bluefin tuna which is normally substituted by cheaper and more common yellowfin tuna in 72% of cases and the overfished bigeye tuna in 22% of cases. There … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #55
This week's main news in the restaurant world was the ease with which René Redzepi of Noma Restaurant sold out all covers of a 10 week pop-up in Australia in less than two minutes. If you've missed the news, you may want to read about it here. Foodiva has an interview with chef Yannick Alleno. The French chef explains the reason why he never cooks anything above 88C. He says that once you go above this temperature you have a huge deterioration in flavour. Even his sauces are never cooked higher than this temperature. Here is a good list of 10 food market stalls from around the world. Former newspaper editor Tony Gallagher went to work in his favourite restaurant Moro, in London, after he was sacked. Here he writes about his experience in a restaurant kitchen. It is a very interesting perspective. We've written before about the 50 World's Best Restaurants. The New Yorker has a great article about the history of the list and how what started off as a one-off has become one of the … [Read more...]