French chef Alain Passard was voted as the chef of the year by his peers in a list of 100 top chefs published by the magazine Le Chef. The list, in its third edition, was compiled taking into account the opinion of 534 chefs that have 2 or 3 stars around the world who had to answer the following question. "Who are the five international chefs that represent the values of the profession, have a unique cuisine and is worth visiting?" The first choices the previous year were Pierre Gagnaire and Michel Bras. This year, its the chef of L'Arpege, Alain Passard who is top of the list. There are only two women in the list, Anne Sofie Pic and Nadia Santini. Among the main chefs missing from last year's list are Joel Robuchon, Heston Blumenthal, Davide Scabin and Elena and Juan Mari Arzak, Guy Savoy and Corey Lee. The full list is the following: Alain Passard, L'Arpege, France Martin Berasategui, Rest. Martin Berasategui, Spain Pierre Gagnaire, Pierre Gagnaire, France … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2016
The questions Michelin refuses to answer
Michelin is at the centre of criticism for its decisions relating to the publication of the Michelin guide in Belgium and Luxembourg. But, given the opportunity to set the record straight, it has refused to answer questions put by Food and Wine Gazette. Questions addressed to the company that publishes the Michelin Guide were left unanswered with Samuelle Dorol, the PR manager responsible for the Michelin Guides worldwide saying "Thank you for giving us the opportunity to react to your article but I have to decline. You are free to express your opinion regarding the selection which is something we fully respect." The questions sent to Michelin were not aimed at contesting the selections but rather at setting the record straight and giving the opportunity to Michelin, to give its side of the story and explain its policies on transparency, restaurant visits, how many inspectors it has, and whether it is true that some cities and countries pay for a guide to be published among … [Read more...]
Albert Adrià and the new Enigma restaurant: ‘An enigma for me, for my staff and for my clients’
Mention the surname Adrià to any food lover and they will immediately think of el Bulli, the iconic restaurant of Ferran Adrià near the town of Roses, in Catalonia, Spain. In that same restaurant, his brother Albert was working magic in the pastry section. Together they helped put Spanish cuisine on the world gastronomy map creating what is probably the most famous restaurant in the world. At its peak, it had 400 requests for every table in the restaurant which opened for only six months per year. They shocked the culinary world when they decided to close the restaurant in 2011 but as Albert says, "we had to kill the monster before it killed us". That restaurant, which defined molecular gastronomy and influenced most of the leading chefs in the world today closed its doors in 2011 and was running at a loss each year. The roles today have changed. Albert, is the face of el Barri, their restaurant empire in Barcelona that has opened a number of highly successful including the … [Read more...]
Third edition of Vini, Birre, Ribelli in Brussels this weekend
The third edition of Vini, Birre, Ribelli takes place this weekend on Saturday and Sunday at the prestigious garage Citroen Yser in Brussels. The event brings together over 160 wine makers, 25 brewers, 13 Slow Food restaurants with the collaboration of Slow Food France and 12 ethical and other stands. The winemakers in attendance hail mainly from France and Italy with six wine makers from other countries. As for the first two editions of the event, the exhibition will be exclusively craft, sustainable, organic and mostly natural products. It brings together in a single location the better and wine's alternative worlds and food that is good, clean and fair. Last year, the event welcomed 3,200 visitors. This year, the organisers aim to have 4,500 visitors attending the Citroen Yser building which was recently acquired by the city of Brussels to become the Museum of Contemporary Art in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou. The exhibition opens on Saturday and Sunday at … [Read more...]
Michelin’s guide for Belgium exposes problem of consistency and credibility
To understand what is truly happening in the Belgian gastronomy scene today you would need to at least visit five restaurants, one in Brussels, three in Flanders and one in Wallonia. The restaurants of Christophe Hardiquest (Bon Bon in Brussels), Peter Goossens (Hof Van Cleve, Kruishoutem), Gert de Mangeleer (Hertog Jan, Zedelgem), Kobe Desramaults (In de Wulf, Dranouter - the restaurant will close next month and the chef opens a new restaurant in Gent next year) and Sang-Hoon Degeimbre (L'Air du Temps, Liernu) have over the past years left a significant mark on Belgian cuisine. Any foreigner visiting Belgium or looking to learn about Belgian cuisine would discover five chefs and restaurants with a distinct culinary style and a cuisine that is varied, territorial and innovative. But Belgium's culinary scene does not stop here. It is also home to The Jane in Antwerp, for example, a restaurant owned by Sergio Herman and Nick Bril which has been fully booked since the first day … [Read more...]
Childhood memories and food – a new series
Childhood memories are the source of inspiration of many a chef. Some chefs can be at their most creative when they recreate dishes out of their childhood memories or the flavours that they remember from when they were young. Memories and storytelling are what makes us human beings. We are the stories that we tell ourselves and others and our memories have a way of stirring our emotions and connecting us to our history and to where we come from. Recalling our earliest childhood memories is not always easy. How often are our memories real and how often are they the stories that we have been told by our families and friends. This is particularly true for our earliest childhood memories. What is your first memory? And are you sure it is your memory or is it a story that you have been told? An old photo may trigger a memory, or else it may trigger the memory of your mother or father explaining the context to you. I recall my mother say that whenever she used to try and give … [Read more...]
No new two or three Michelin stars in Belgium
There were no new two or three Michelin star restaurants in Belgium when Michelin released its new Michelin guide for 2017. This means that Belgium's number of three Michelin star restaurants has gone down from 3 to 2 with the closure of De Karmeliet in Bruges in the past few weeks. The two restaurants that have three stars are Gert de Mangeleer's Hertog Jan in Zedelgem and Peter Goossens Hof van Cleve in Kruishoutem. On the other hand, nine new restaurants have been awarded a Michelin star. The three new Michelin star restaurants in Brussels are Bozar Brasserie, La Villa Emily (owned by Serge Litvine of La Villa in the Sky and Villa Lorraine among others), and Wine in the City. (See full list of new one star restaurants below). Pundits during the past week had been speculating that Bon Bon in Brussels and L'Air du Temps in Liernu could receive the coveted 3 stars. Brussels will have to wait at least another year to see whether it will eventually get a three star restaurant. … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #97
Anthony Bourdain explains why, even after touring 80 countries, his favorite destination will always be Japan: Over the course of 15 years and four travel shows, Anthony Bourdain has toured 80 countries, delving into their histories and eating as much of their food as possible. If you ask him, as Business Insider did earlier this year, what his favorite destination is, he will immediately tell you it's Japan. Why is airline food so bad: So, you just peeled back the plastic off a freshly-delivered tray right off your airplane’s trolley cart and the mess looking back at you is a grim one. The fault may not lie with the chef, though, but in the plane’s design. The very nature of air travel, as well as how the plane is built and how it adjusts to high altitudes, make food preparation fundamentally more difficult. A wildly popular Japanese restaurant chain where diners eat alone in meditation opened its first US location: If you were eating at an Ichiran restaurant right now, you … [Read more...]
Rene Redzepi announces noma will go to Mexico in 2017
Rene Redzepi, the chef of world famous Copenhagen restaurant noma announced that they will be travelling to Mexico to open a pop-up restaurant before they open their new restaurant in Copenhagen. This will be the third consecutive year that the full team of noma travel to a different country and open a restaurant there. After the success of the pop-up restaurants in Japan and Australia, Redzepi said that the Mexico location was a very special one for him. "I consider it to be my adopted home, one filled with almost a decade of cherished memories from vacations with my family. The place that I dream about. Home to one of the most exciting cuisines I have ever tasted: as old as time and yet so relevant. Full of ingredients I never knew existed. This cooking inspires the team and I constantly here in Copenhagen. It is safe to say that there is already a touch of influence from Mexico in the food at noma," he wrote on the restaurant website. 2017 will see an addition to their … [Read more...]
Lunch with Fulvio Pierangelini: The main ingredient of a perfect tomato sauce is love
The main ingredient of the perfect tomato sauce is love. It is love for the main ingredient, the tomato, and love of the process and what it takes to make a perfect sauce. The colour, texture and taste of a tomato varies. It depends on the variety, it also depends on the sun and the season when it is picked. Making a tomato sauce might sound like the most trivial thing to do. Most would not even hesitate to open a tin of tomatoes to make a sauce. Spaghetti with tomato sauce is the food of childhood memories. If there is one dish that takes us back in time it is this. And today, it is also a staple on children's menus in restaurants. The spaghetto al pomodoro by Fulvio Pierangelini is legendary. Some years ago, when his restaurant Gambero Rosso was still open, he had lectured university students in Bologna about the significance of a great tomato sauce. He had told students that he had a responsibility to cook a great tomato sauce because ultimately everyone could cook a … [Read more...]