HONG KONG: Despite current restrictions, chef Vicky Lau has opened a new restaurant together with co-founder Romain Herbreteau and head chef Percy Ho. The new restaurant Mora, an intimate 28-seater French-Chinese restaurant will showcase one of Asia's oldest culinary traditions: soy food. It has opened in the historic street if Upper Lascar Row in Sheung Wan. The location connects Mora to Hong Kong's fascinating history with a Chinese character that represents texture. Mora pays tribute to the humble yet versatile ingredient soy which is a pillar of Asian cuisine and culture. Not only does it play an important role in Asian diets, it is a driving force for heritage, tradition and mindfulness. Its fragility in cuisine can endure time and temperature while being fleeting and subtle. When paired with other ingredients in cooking, the possibilities with soy food are surprising as they are abundant. "Tofu, bean curd and other foods derived from soy have always been such an integral … [Read more...]
Sergio Herman to open Blueness in Antwerp
ANTWERP: After the success of Blueness in Cadzand, Sergio Herman has announced that he will open Blueness Antwerp in spring 2002 in a classic building on the Lange Gasthuisstraat in the heart of the fashion district. The project will be in the hands of chef Jaclyn Kong and Maitre Dorine van den Eydne who both share a common professional past and a healthy dose of ambition. Both women used to work with Sergio Herman at Oud Sluis and The Jane. While Jaclyn has been part of the Pure C team and later was one of the two chefs at Blueness Cadzand, Dorine went to the UK to work at Dinner by Heston Blumnethal before going to Restaurant 108 in Copenhagen. The Blueness project focuses on modern French cuisine with Japanese accents and the two promise to provide a unique hospitality experience. The concept is based on a fine casual approach in which the bar plays a prominent role for signature cocktails, special wines and exclusive sakes. Opening hours and the actual date of the open … [Read more...]
Nick Bril gives helping hand to Thijs Meliefste with two week pop-up at Upper Room Bar in The Jane
ANTWERP: Chef Nick Bril has offered the Upper Room Bar of The Jane Antwerp to Thijs Meliefste and his team for an unusual and unique two-week pop-up in Antwerp. Like other restaurants in the Netherlands, Meliefste in the Netherlands are still closed. "After last Friday's news we have decided to help our northern neighbours and reach out a hand to our dear friends from restaurant Meliefste. As from Thursday 27 January, Thijs Meliefste, the acclaimed Dutch chef will takeover the Upper Room Bar for a temporary pop-up from Thursday to Sunday for lunch and dinner. There is still uncertainty as to when restaurants will be allowed to reopen and also in what form. "Will we be allowed to open until 5pm? Nobody knows." Meliefste said that this was a strange time but they had come up with this fun idea together with good friend Nick Bril. "This way we can still do what we love to do, which is to make our guests happy. We want to see that smile on our guests face again and we want to … [Read more...]
Michelin postpones launch of Belgium and Luxembourg guide to May
The Michelin Guide for Belgium and Luxembourg will be released on May 23. The announcement of the new guide and stars had to be made on 21 February but the current health crisis has led to The new Michelin stars for Belgium and Luxembourg will instead be presented on May 23 at the Royal Theatre in Mons. Physical meetings for the time being are not possible due to the rules in Belgium. By postponing the 2022 star ceremony by three months, the Michelin Guide wants to try and do everything in its power to ensure that a physical event can be organised in a friendly and warm celebration of the new Michelin stars. “Around the world, the past year has been extremely difficult for the restaurant industry. Nevertheless, despite the challenges that professionals continue to face, our teams have been impressed by the level of commitment, dedication and creativity shown by the chefs and their teams, while continuing to offer gourmet experiences of great value” said Gwendal Poullennec, … [Read more...]
Paco Morales: Let there be ‘Light’
CORDOBA: To have missed out on the first four seasons of Noor is akin to having started watching Games of Thrones directly in its fifth season. That’s an analogy Paco Morales, chef patron of Noor makes as he now enters the age of discovery or exploration as the 15th century is often known. Today you can say Paco is riding the crest of the wave. For five years, since opening his restaurant Noor, or Light as it is translated into English, he has constrained himself to explore his city’s glorious past limiting the scope of space and time while following a clear time path. Since 2015, when the restaurant opened, he has served guests a taste of Cordoba's culinary history researching past centuries starting from the 10th century, Paco chose a suburb where he grew up to open his restaurant. It is a modest neighbourhood that also reflects Paco's modest past. The neighbourhood was build in the 1950s and it would take years before it had power, telephones and paved streets. It is in this … [Read more...]
New year’s resolution for 50 Best: Hope for Hospitality 2022
50 Best has set out its resolution and ambitions for next year by launching the 50 Best Hope for Hospitality manifesto amid an ambitious programme of events which culminates with the World's 50 Best Restaurants award ceremony in Moscow. It is using the holiday season to reflect on the unprecedented nature of events of the last two years while looking ahead with renewed spirit and optimism for 2022. In 2020 and 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 50 Best pivoted from publishing its annual ranking and hosting live events to focus on fundraising and supporting the hospitality sector through its 50 Best for recovery programme which included raising $1.29m with the support of its partners. 50 Best distributed grants to more than 200 restaurants and bars in 53 countries and donated to a series of non-profit organisations in the food and drink sector. 50 Best also launched its first charity e-book, Home Comforts: simple lockdown recipes from the world's best chefs and bartenders, the … [Read more...]
Thierry Theys of Nuance in Duffel is Gault & Millau 2022 Belgian chef of the year
BRUSSELS: Thierry Theys, the chef of restaurant Nuance in Duffel was named chef of the year by the Gault & Millau Belgian guide to a digital audience on Monday, December 13. “With his sense of nuance - what’s in a name - this chef has reached new heights in 2021. His cuisine has a signature that is visible from the appetisers down to the desserts and coffee. Not a single detail is missing from the luxurious interior to the bread and butter selection,” the guide’s CEO Mark Declerck said when announcing the awards. He succeeds Christophe Pauly who was last year's Chef of the Year. This year’s young chefs off the year were Martin Volkaerts of L’Amandier in Genval for Wallonia, Martian Defauw of Rebelle in Kortrijk for Flanders and Francois Xavier Lambory of Stirwen for Brussels. The highest newcomer in Belgian and Flanders was Hertog Jan at Botanic with a score of 18/20. For Wallonia, two restaurants scored 16/20. These were Toma in Liege and Le Grand Verre in Durbuy. The … [Read more...]
Niko Romito fulfills dream of opening restaurant in Paris
Niko Romito, one of Italy's greatest contemporary chefs has fulfilled a dream of opening a restaurant in Paris. The restaurant called Il Ristorante Niko Romito has opened in the Bulgari Hotel in the French capital. "To open a restaurant in Paris is the dream of every chef," said the self-taught chef of Reale, a three Michelin star restaurant in Abruzzo. "If I could speak to those young guys who 20 years ago were beginning their adventure in a tiny village nestled in the Abruzzese mountains totally unaware of what they were doing and completely self taught I would say go for it, trust yourselves and believe in what you do always," Romito said. Romito said that dreams can become true thanks to endeavour, patience, passion and identity. "I am proud that guests of Bvlgari Hotel Paris can delve into my vision of Itlaian cuisine, into my professional and personal life story which is profoundly Italian. Together with my entire team we want to bring and share the most authentic values … [Read more...]
Moscow to host 2022 World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards in July
The ceremony for the The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022 awards will be hosted in Moscow, Russia in July 2022. This was announced by 50 Best earlier this week. The world’s most renowned chefs, restaurateurs and culinary icons gathered last month for the return of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2021 which was held in the Belgian city of Antwerp. It was the first in-person awards programme since 2019, representing an important milestone in the ongoing recovery of the restaurant sector. This will be the first time that the awards takes place in the city of Moscow. An extensive event programme hosted throughout the city will culminate in the awards ceremony in Moscow, as the much-anticipated reopening of the international restaurant sector continues and worldwide travel resumes once more. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience the superb restaurants, heritage and culture of Moscow, casting a spotlight on the city as an exciting and emerging culinary hotspot. William Drew, … [Read more...]
If it is dark enough you can see the stars
Go back some years and no one would have bet a dime on Eric Vildgaard. Maybe neither Eric believed that if it got dark enough he would be able to see the stars. Except Tina Kragh Vildgaard. She saw potential and she believed they could not just create a family together but also a restaurant. She had fallen in love with Eric despite his troubled past. "The most attractive part about Eric is that he is so passionate," she said as she looked him in the eyes. "He does everything at 100 per cent. That is what I fell in love with and I am still in love with. It is his passion and never being one to compromise." The minute Tina took Eric to the room which would end up being the highly acclaimed Jordanaer restaurant on the outskirts of Copenhagen, he thought it was a joke. He had other ideas and it certainly was not a restaurant outside the centre of the Danish city. She had walked home from a business meeting and told him that they were going for a drive. "We arrived in this place and she … [Read more...]