Christophe Pauly, chef of restaurant Le Coq aux Champs in Soheit-Tinlot, Belgium will be welcoming Filip Claeys, chef of the Bruges restaurant De Jonkman and the face of the collective North Sea Chefs for a special four hands dinner on 16 October. The dinner, the second in a series of three dinners being organised by the chef from Wallonia will be an unusual dinner which brings together 'the farm' and 'the sea'. This is because the chef, who has his restaurant in the middle of the Wallonian countryside will be inviting Bruges based chef Filip Claeys whose focus is mainly fish. Over the past years, Filip Claeys has been working to raise awareness about the need to use all the fish that are caught by fishermen and not just the ones which are fashionable. When he started, he lost 30 per cent of his customers in the process at his gastronomic restaurant but now, nearly 10 years after founding North Sea Chefs he has managed to convince many of Belgium's best chefs to follow … [Read more...]
Archives for September 2017
I was young and silly. Today, I would do things differently – Joe Warwick on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list
There is one thing that seems to be common in many restaurants I visit or in libraries of chefs that I have seen. They all seem to have the book Where Chefs Eat which is written by food, drink and restaurant writer Joe Warwick. Who doesn’t want to go and eat in the places where chefs eat? He is of course an authority when it comes to food and restaurants. After all, he was involved in the birth of the World's 50 Best Restaurants list which today has become a household name in the world of gastronomy. Taking inspiration from el Bulli, which used to provide customers with a list of places to eat in the area, the book reveals the places where chefs like to eat (though as he himself says, the breakfast places are not something chefs are good at recommending). "The reality is that the fancier the chef or the fancier the restaurant is, they normally crave for something that is simple and delicious. Of course, when they travel they like to go and visit their peers but that is not where … [Read more...]
Magnus Ek: ‘The pace of innovation in food is incredible and is becoming faster’
Swedish chef Magnus Ek is a pioneer in many ways. He started using edible plants and foraging for food more than 20 years ago when it was still unheard of at the time. He did it without much fanfare and you could say that he is one of the early pioneers of the new Nordic cuisine. He is conscious of the fact that the ecosystem surrounding food is set to change but he cannot tell the direction it will go. "If I look at the kitchen of 20 years ago to how it looks now, it is completely different. The pace of invention and innovation has been incredible. And the curve is building really fast," he says. Magnus Ek opened his restaurant Oaxen Krog in Sweden more than 20 years ago at a time when foraging what not what restaurants did. Today, he still forages almost every day. He actually says he has more time for it now than in the past because things have become easier. “It used to be very difficult to find the vegetables I needed in summer. I used to have to go to different farms and … [Read more...]
Is Sebastien Bras’ decision to give back his Michelin stars a one-off or the start of something bigger?
In France, the Michelin guide is big, bigger than anywhere else in the world. It is the benchmark by which chefs and restaurants are judged. And for the French public its a bit like the bible. So when Sébastien Bras took to Facebook to announce that he wanted Michelin to take back his three Michelin stars and did not want to be listed any longer in the Michelin guide he shocked many. In France, and in many other places in the world, no one has the audacity to counter the red guide. They have the ability to make or break you. And they also have an impact on the bottom line. Moving from one star to two stars or from two stars to three stars means an increase in turnover for the restaurant. Some restauranteurs calculate this at 20%. On top of it, three Michelin stars are also scarce. He is one of only 27 chefs and restaurants that have been awarded the coveted three Michelin stars in France. And many more aspire for that accolade. But away from the fanfare is another reality and … [Read more...]
Cala in San Francisco to organise charity brunch in aid of Mexican victims of earthquake
Cala, the restaurant of chef Gabriela Camara will be organising a charity fundraiser this Sunday to help victims of the earthquake in Mexico. Camara, who made a name for herself in Mexico City before opening Cala, her first U.S. restaurant in San Francisco is half Mexican half Italian and was recently one of the chefs at GELINAZ! DOES UPPER AUSTRIA. Named Fuerza Mexico, the restaurant will organise a brunch to support relief efforts after this week's devastating earthquake in Mexico City. The restaurant said that the brunch will be a celebration of Mexican food and culture to help victims of the earthquake. The brunch will be held between 11am and 4pm and there will be an unlimited selection of tostados, bottomless micheladas and margaritas. Guests are expected to donate $100 dollars direct to charity at the door. There will be a life performance by Diana Gameros. Yesterday, it was the turn of René Redzepi to announce a charity dinner in Copenhagen in aid of Red Cross … [Read more...]
Charity dinner in aid of Red Cross Mexico at noma Under the Bridge
René Redzepi, chef of Copenhagen restaurant noma is organising a charity dinner on 26 September at the pop-up restaurant Under the Bridge. All proceeds from the dinner will go towards the Red Cross Mexico after the horrible earthquakes that devastated the country earlier this week. Dishes will be prepared by friends of René Redzepi from Hija De Sanchez, Geist (Bo Bech), Taller, Kodbyens Fiskebar and the Noma team with bread prepared by the Hart Bakery. The Danish chef said that the best natural wines in Denmark will be served during the dinner which have been kindly donated by Rosforth&Roshfort, Petillant and Lieu-Dit. 100 per cent of the ticket price will be donated directly to Red Cross Mexico in support of relief efforts that are taking place following the devastating earthquake. Bookings can be made here. Earlier this week, Redzepi announced that because of a delay in building works due to an archaeological find, the pop-up Under the Bridge would continue for … [Read more...]
Michelin enters unchartered territories as French chef asks to be stripped of three Michelin stars
A French chef, Sébastien Bras who runs the three Michelin star restaurant Le Suquet restaurant in Laguiole, France, has asked the Michelin guide to be stripped of the prestigious ranking because at 46, he wants to give a new meaning to his life and to redefine what is essential. "I have reflected on a quote and it captures my current spirit to focus on what is essential in life. I want to give a new meaning to my professional and personal life away from the constraints and pressures," the world renowned chef said. This has placed Michelin in unchartered territories. There has never been a French chef who has asked the guide to strip the restaurant of its stars. In previous cases, the restaurants had changed considerably and therefore Michelin was forced to recognise such a change. The French chef that he took the decision together with his family. "I took over the restaurant from my father 10 years ago and the restaurant has been a source of great satisfaction for us. Since … [Read more...]
Anne Sophie Pic and David Sinapian: Putting human resources at the centre of their business
More and more professionals such as lawyers and engineers are showing an interest in gastronomy says David Sinapian, CEO of Anne-Sophie Pic and president of Les Grandes Tables du Monde. "We have found that staff that do not necessarily have culinary training are not only interested but also capable of following their dreams. They want to be creative and do something different," David told Food and Wine Gazette after his presentation at the congress organised by the collective of chefs from Wallonia, Generation W. "What matters most is their motivation and not their training. We have also found that diversity is extremely important for our business. What people might lack in technical skills can be compensated by other skills such as management skills," he said. David took over the family business with his wife Anne Sophie Pic more than 20 years ago. Since then, they have grown the Pic group to include not only the three Michelin star restaurant (they got the three Michelin … [Read more...]
Archaeological find delays opening of Noma 2.0
Noma 2.0 which had to open in December will have its opening delayed due to an archaeological find, chef René Redzepi announced in a Facebook post. He said that to cut a long story short, the builders found an old wall in the ground during the works and archaeologists had to be called in. After a month long inspection, the works could continue following the granting of an approval but this means that the opening will be delayed to 2018. Redzepi said that because of this delay, the team at Noma will be extending their pop-up Under the Bridge by another 6 weeks until November 12. Joining the Noma team for the extended run to help develop a new menu for October and November, will be two of Noma's friends Torsten Vildgaard, most recently head chef of Studio, and bread will be made by Richard Hart, the former head baker of Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. Richard Hart will be opening a bakery in Copenhagen next year. "We are so excited to be working with both of them," Redzepi … [Read more...]
David Chang on GELINAZ! “It is stressful but it is a small price to pay for hanging around with friends”
David Chang has done it all. He exploded to the scene in 2004 with his first Momfuku Noodle bar in East Village. Since then he has turned street food into haute cuisine winning all type of accolades in the process. He won the Outstanding Chef of the year at the James Beard award, opened one restaurant after another in different cities and countries becoming a highly successful restauranteur in the process. He’s written best selling books, reinvented how a culinary magazine should look like with Lucky Peach (now defunct) and is also a television personality. In a few words, he is a big figure in the world of gastronomy and that is not just in a literal sense. So why take part in events like GELINAZ! which are bound to cause him lots of stress? Why head to Austria for the GELINAZ! DOES UPPER AUSTRIA event when he does not even know most of the chefs that are taking part in the event? “I have not done a GELINAZ! event for some time because I have been busy. But there are two reasons … [Read more...]