Things were looking bright for José Avillez six years ago. He had been through two life-changing experiences first as a trainee at Ferran Adria's legendary restaurant el Bulli and then clinching a Michelin star at the oldest and most prestigious Lisbon restaurant. The opening of Belcanto was the culmination of a journey that had seen him move from a business management degree to cooking. The restaurant was fully booked in the first few weeks for lunch and dinner. José's idea was to serve contemporary Portuguese cuisine, something that at the time was not common in Portugal at the time. People were asking him to serve classics but he had other ideas. Then disaster struck. The financial crisis struck in Portugal and it threatened to bring everything down. "I was extremely worried because I had invested a lot into this restaurant. We stayed open and were serving maybe five lunches and 10 to 15 dinners. There were days we were serving no lunches and maybe 5 dinners. I started to get … [Read more...]
Archives for April 2018
A truffle kerfuffle in Provence
Foodies are always on the lookout for the uncommon and the creative. This does not always work out well. I once ate at a truffle-only restaurant in the Var in Southern France. The place was called Chez Bruno and was so pretentious you could only see waiters by appointment. When we turned up and announced we were ‘sans reservation’ the Gallic horror and hand wringing was pure comedy. Had Kim Jong Un sauntered over the border yesterday and told the S Korean president ‘I’m gonna nuke your nuts’, he would have taken it better than them. My wife, who considers über-expensive restaurants to be a form of disinheritance, took one look at the assorted Porsches in the carpark and helpfully suggested we eat what was left of the melted brie sandwiches in the car. But I had spotted something worse than the automobiles: this place had a helipad !! Well, fuck-me-blind I thought, if people fly into the mountains to eat at Bruno’s I want in. Somehow we got a table. Don’t ask how, it was ages ago … [Read more...]
First Belgian Whisky, rum and spirits festival to be held in Brussels in June
Belgium will finally have its whisky, rum and spirits festival. This will take place on the weekend of 1 June to 3 June at the Autoworld at the Cinquantenaire (Jubelpark) in Brussels. This unique festival is open to the general public. It will celebrate whiskey, rum and gin as well as cognac, armagnac, calvados, vodka, tequila, mescal as well as sake, pisco and cachaca as well as some associated products related to the theme such as cigars, chocolate as well as a selection fo Scottish kilts. This event is intended to increase the awareness of the connoisseur, but also to arouse the curiosity of the amateur, who will undoubtedly discover many new products thanks to the range of brands presented. Hundreds of bottles from both the distillery and independent bottlers will be present. There will be around 50 exhibitors, both Belgian and international, with more than 100 stands and more than 180 brands, on more than 1,300 square meters. Throughout the duration of the event, … [Read more...]
The curious incident of the OAD European top 100+ list
When chefs gathered at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London for the launch of the Opinionated About Dining top 100+ European list, they were given a list of the top 100+ restaurants. As one would expect on such occasions, they took to social media to announce their positions and take photos of the list which they posted on their social media profiles. Little did they know that the list they had been given at the dinner was not the correct one. A quick look at the online list showed discrepancies from the 32nd place till the 62nd place. While this may have led to some moments of joy and then deception or vice versa for those concerned, luckily the error did not concern the first places of the list which would have caused the organisers of the event even greater embarrassment. The assumption, given the fact that the list was printed and distributed at "The Great Roast" dinner was that the correct list was the one that was distributed in the hall that evening. Alas this was not … [Read more...]
US chef Dave Chang launches podcast
Majordomo Media, co-founder by US chef Dave Chang has launched its first project featuring the outspoken Korean-American chef. The Dave Chang show is a new podcast that has just been released. The first five episodes feature the chef in conversation with Bill Simmons, founder of The Ringer, the producing partner of Majordomo Media about dining, anger management, living in Los Angeles and the difficulties of opening a new restaurant. Chang, who is mostly known for his award-winning Momofuku restaurant and group recently opened Majordomo, the first restaurant in Los Angeles. He recently also created and hosted a series of Netflix called Ugly Delicious as well as creating what was one of the most iconic food magazines (now defunct) Lucky Peach. He said that anyone who likes food a little bit, is stuck in traffic or sitting on a train and wants to know what really goes into running a restaurant should listen to the podcast. He said listeners may also be people who have heard him talk … [Read more...]
Nick Bril launches his first book
Nick Bril, chef of two Michelin star Antwerp restaurant The Jane has launched his first book 'Nick Bril 33'. At 33, the Dutch chef has been cooking at the highest level for a long time having been the sous chef with his business partner Sergio Herman at Oud Sluis, a 3 Michelin star restaurant that closed at the end of 2013. For his first book, Nick Bril 33, the Dutch chef has bundled together 33 recipes, thoughts and projects from inspiring trips. It depicts a year in the life of this talented chef. The book has been written by Pascale Baelden, a journalist who has worked among others with Weekend Knack, Feeling and Sabato. She can boast of a 20-year career. Her curiosity about life stories and respect for the narrator is central to her interviews. Photographer and designer Jan Mast provided powerful visuals to the book while food photographer Kris Vlegels was responsible for the recipe photos. The book is a unique look into the soul and life of a top chef and passionate … [Read more...]
Andreas Caminada takes top place in 2018 OAD Top 100+ European restaurants
Opinionated About Dining this evening announced the list of the top 100+ European Restaurants for 2018. Andreas Caminada managed to top the list for the first time, surpassing last year's no 1 Alain Passard of L'Arpege in Paris who placed fourth on the list. The second placed was Magnus Nilsson of restaurant Faviken while third place was Etxebarri. Eneko Atxa of Azurmendi placed fifth while Kobe Desramaults who opened Chambre Separee last year in Gent placed 6th. Jonnie Boer from De Librije in Zwolle placed 7th. The OAD list claims to be the only restaurant ranking system that determines the experience level of the people contributing reviews to the site. Each reviewer is assigned a weight that reflects the number of restaurants he/she has visited and those restaurants’ rank on the OAD list. “While this system affords anyone who would like to participate the opportunity to do so, the final rankings reflect the opinions of reviewers who have demonstrated a higher level of … [Read more...]
‘Heroes of Oud Sluis’ to take part in 2018 Foodfest in Cadzand on 4 June
Syrco Bakker and Sergio Herman have announced that this year's Foodfest will take place on Monday June 4 in and around Strandkerk in Cadzand-Bad. This year, Syrco and Sergio have decided to invite a selection of former colleagues who worked with them at Sergio's restaurant Oud Sluis in Zeeland. They call them the 'heroes of Oud Sluis'. Most of these chefs today work in some great restaurants in the Netherlands, Belgium and even further afield such as New York and Singapore among others. Together, they will be working with beautiful Zeeland products that they had used when they worked at Oud Slouis. "We are very much looking forward to working with them on 4 June. During Foodfest, they will all make their own dish with the produce from our region," said Syrco and Sergio. 75% of the tickets for the event have already been sold out. Foodfest is a festival where in addition to art, music and inspiring talks, good food and drink takes centre stage. After two successful early … [Read more...]
Christophe Hardiquest cooks rabbit with gueze at Brussels brewery Cantillon
Rabbit is the type of dish that you either love or you hate. It has a lot to do with culture. Belgium, like France, Italy and even Malta, the country I come from has a certain affinity to this dish. It is a lean meat with lots of nutritional benefits though in some places people are starting to lose the tradition of eating rabbit. Christophe Hardiquest, chef of two Michelin star Brussels restaurant Bon Bon has been on a mission to recreate a traditional rabbit Brussels recipe at his restaurant. Over the past months, he has been working and evolving dishes with rabbit and gueze, a traditional sour Brussels beer that has unique characteristics that are enjoyed by beer lovers from around the world. A gueze beer is a blend of lambics that have been produced during different years which produce a beer that is acidic and fruity with a delicate woody fragrance and a dry finish that lingers on the palate. The rabbit dish at Bon Bon has been evolving. He has served a rabbit tartare … [Read more...]
City of Gastronomy festival to be held in Parma in June
Parma has announced a series of events that will be taking place this year as Italy celebrates "Year of Italian food". The main event is the City of Gastronomy Festival, an event that aims to offer a 'taste experience' and express the creativity of the region. Temporary restaurants, show cooking by chefs from all over the world and a number of meetings and discussions will be held in the heart of Parma. The event takes place in the first weekend of June. It will showcase not just the produce of Parma and the region Emilia Romagna but also those of other Italian and international cities. The festival takes place on Saturday 2 June and Sunday 3 June. The festival aims to give a 360 degrees view of the world of food focusing on traditional produce and on made in Italy with the aim of sharing knowledge and flavours. A workshop for children and young people is going to be organised in collaboration with food museums and it will be linked to food preparation, its origin and … [Read more...]