LONDON: The success that Jeremy Chan has had over the past few years has been nothing short of astonishing. Nevertheless, it is not surprising given his determination to improve in every step of his journey. His restaurant Ikoyi opened in 2017 and he has been winning one accolade after the other. Spotted first by the World Restaurant Awards in 2019, the restaurant was named the One to Watch by the World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2021 and this year was awarded two Michelin stars. But, the self-taught chef who graduated in languages and philosophy and worked in finance before he started cooking is just getting started. When I spoke to him a few weeks after he had clinched a second Michelin star earlier this year, Jeremy told me that since opening his restaurant he has kept his head down and worked on doing the same thing but trying to do it better and better. “I’ve only started to become good at what I do this year and last year. What I will do in the next five years will be at another … [Read more...]
Archives for June 2022
Orfali Bros: We are talking layers of culture
DUBAI: Three brothers Mohamad, Wassim and Omar Orfali from Aleppo, Syria have been working to reinvent Aleppo's cuisine in a 60-cover restaurant in Dubai, Orfali Bros, that is open every single day from midday to midnight. Their work has been awarded with a Bib Gourmand in the first Dubai Michelin awards released earlier this week. Mohamad Orfali paved the way for his brothers fighting against all odds to convince his mother that cooking was ultimately the right decision for him. Today, the three have created their own brand of cuisine comprising of food they love to eat. But what Mohamad has been doing is not just studying Aleppian cuisine but he has been working hard to showcase elements like sustainability, seasonality. But that did not come instantly. At first he was focusing on international cuisine but it was an encounter with a Spanish chef that opened his eyes to his country's potential when it came to food. From then on there was no turning back. This is Mohamad's … [Read more...]
Karime Lopez and how she shaped Gucci Osteria into what it is today
FLORENCE: Karime Lopez and her husband Takahiko Kondo, often called Champion Taka worked in sync inside Tenuta Val di Biano in Tuscany when they were asked to reinterpret a dish for a GELINAZ! event last year. At the time, they were one of the world’s top culinary couples working with the Francescana family group. Karime was executive chef of Gucci Osteria, a collaboration between world famous Italian chef Massimo Bottura and Italy’s luxury brand par excellence Gucci. Taka, her husband was one of Bottura’s right hand man. Heavily pregnant with her first child, Taka had been helping her for the previous two months at Gucci Osteria Florence, one of four restaurants to open in the past few years around the world. Sitting in the back of a car on the way to the way to the hills of Lucca, the question I asked Karime seemed obvious. Will there come a time when you work together? That question seemed a bit intrusive given the two formed an important part of the Francescana family. But it … [Read more...]
Al Meni circus tent food festival returns to Piazza Fellini in Rimini for 2022 edition
RIMINI: Wherever you walk in Rimini, the Italian coastal town on the Adriatic Riviera in Emilia Romagna made famous by one of the greatest film directors of all time Federico Fellini you see the mark he has left on the city. The cinema, the Grand Hotel Rimini, the museum, shops all pay tribute to the Italian legend. Al Meni, the food festival that started nine editions ago in Rimini under the hospices of Massimo Bottura, has Fellini and poet Tonino Guerra as its inspiration. Held under a circus tent called Circo 8 e 1/2 like Federico Fellini’s film, the name Al Meni is the title of a poem by Guerra which means Hands in Romagnolo dialect. Under the circus tent, 24 chefs from Italy and the Mediterranean basin came together to present dishes from their restaurants at street food prices. After two years in the city centre, the Circus tent went back to its original place in Piazza Fellini just in front of the Grand Hotel Rimini and the Mediterranean sea. Massimo Bottura, chef of … [Read more...]
Noma to travel again in autumn and winter and evolve completely after 2023
COPENHAGEN: René Redzepi, chef of Noma, one of the most influential restaurants in the world and currently the world's top restaurant according to The World's 50 Best Restaurant will not reopen Noma in Copenhagen after the summer season. He said on social media that the vegetable season will be the last season for the year in Copenhagen. he and his team will be travelling again somewhere else in the world to cook and learn. The place has not been announced yet but he said that the entire team will be going somewhere else. This is not the first time that Noma reopens somewhere else in the world. Previously, it has been to Japan, Australia and Mexico. Redzepi, one of the most influential chefs in the world said that about three years ago a plan had started to take shape in his mind and today was the day that he was beginning to take action to make it happen. He also said that entering the 20th year of the restaurant, 2023 will be the final year of Noma as we know it. "We … [Read more...]
Bottura to take Al Meni to the United States
RIMINI: Massimo Bottura, Italy's most recognised chef said at the opening of this year's edition of the Al Meni Food Festival that he wants to take the festival across the Atlantic to New York. "We have been working on this for more than two years and I wouldn't speak about it if this was not concrete," he told Food and Wine Gazette. The Italian chef who created this food festival under the circus tent made so famous by Italian film director Federico Fellini nine years ago is ready to embark on a new project taking a bit of Emilia Romagna to the US. "To me New York is home away from home. To take the circus to the Central Park or the High Line of New York would be a dream and it is what we have been working for," he said. "The High Line in New York is the essence of the refettorio of architecture, they have taken an abandoned train line in the meat packing district and turned it into something beautiful. Taking the circus there is a way to plant the future. Artist Joseph Beuys … [Read more...]
AM by Alexandre Mazzia is World’s 50 Best Restaurants one to watch for 2022
AM by Alexandre Mazzia, the restaurant by former basketball player turned chef has been named as the American Express One to Watch by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. While the restaurant is well-known in France and has won many national accolades, this is the first time that the restaurant and its team are recognised on the World’s stage. In a dining space that echoes the creativity of Marseille, AMhas become the emblem of the revival of the city’s culinary scene. Chef Mazzia was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he lived until the age of 14. The scents of burnt woodsmoke, African spices and shellfish from the port near his home had a profound and long-standing effect on the chef. Upon moving to France as a teenager and experiencing something of a culture shock, he sought refuge in basketball, playing for the France U15 team, before ultimately gravitating towards cooking. He then trained and worked alongside some of Europe’s most renowned chefs, … [Read more...]
Wawira Nijiru of Kenya’s Food for Education wins World’s 50 Best Restaurants Icon Award for 2022
Wawira Njiru, founder and director of Kenya’s non-profit organisation Food for Education has won the Icon Award presented by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022. The award celebrates an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the food world worthy of international recognition and who has used their platform to raise awareness and drive positive change. Njiru believes no child should have to learn on an empty stomach. In Kenya, it is estimated that 80% of children do not receive a school meal. After majoring in food science at university in Australia, she founded Food for Education in 2016 at first preparing 25 meals a day. The organisation now feeds 40,000 children daily providing nutritious meals to those in schools across Kenya helping to boost attendance at primary level and also combat hunger. It has delivered over 7 million meals to date leading to improved nutrition, academic performance and higher high school transition rates. By sourcing fresh food … [Read more...]