Pizza is taken very seriously in Campania and especially in Naples and its surrounding areas. The reasons are rather obvious. The area is known for its San Marzano tomatoes which are renowned for their exceptional quality particularly for making tomato sauce and for the Mozzarella di Bufala made from milk from water buffalo raised in the marshlands of Campania. No one really knows where pizza originated from but the 'Napolitani' claim to be those that have invented the pizza we are so accustomed to eating nowadays in many pizzerias worldwide. Maarten Van Steen of Villa Bardon in Gent which serves Mediterranean cuisine has just come back from a two week course organised by the Associazione Vera Pizza Napolitana to learn the secrets to making a good pizza. This afternoon we tasted the results of this two week course and the result was extremely successful. Here he shares the secrets of what he has learned in the two weeks he stayed in the world's pizza capital. It might … [Read more...]
Jigger’s – one of Gent’s best kept secrets
We have been hearing about Jigger's - The Noble Drug Store for quite some time. So it was indeed great that I finally discovered one of Gent's best kept secrets last Wednesday. Without knowing this secret, you will walk past this splendid cocktail bar and not notice it. But if you look out for the stuffed fox which is the the window, then you are bound not to miss it. It opens early so if you are just visiting the city, then head there for an aperitif at around 5pm when it opens. Later, you need to make a reservation. You will have to ring the doorbell and then the cocktail barmen will come to open the door, take your jackets and give you a table or if you are lucky place you in front of the bar where you can watch the barmen making their splendid creations of cocktails. One of the owners of Jigger's was not there when I visited. It is, however, no wonder that he has won the "Best Cocktail Maker of the Benelux" for the second year in a row. The cocktails on the menu, which … [Read more...]