Less than a month after the successful second Flemish Food Bash event and the charcoal has to still turn completely to ashes, Belgian and Dutch foodies are in for yet another treat this November. A third, albeit, smaller event has been announced. The event takes place on 15 November in Gent. The location has not yet been revealed but organiser Vincent Florizoone of Grand Cabaret restaurant and host of the event said on Facebook that the third edition will be similar in size to the one held at Café d'Anvers last year. Unlike the recent event which attracted a huge number of international chefs and mixologists, the next event will mainly have Belgian and Dutch chef and mixologists. No further details have been announced but the organisers have promised lots of fun as they get the 'fire started again'. The event will be held indoors. The second Flemish Food Bash turned out to be a huge celebration of gastronomy and fun. It was billed as the most starred restaurant … [Read more...]
Recipe (Anthony Genovese): Rigatoni with smoked aubergine, cardamon powder and chocolate
Anthony Genovese, chef of the Il Pagliaccio in Rome, Italy cooked his version of a pasta all norma giving it a very modern twist with the addition of smoked aubergine, cardamon powder and chocolate at Flemish Food Bash last month. The end result was delicious and a combination worth trying. The Italian chef who spent his childhood in France has been influenced by some of the great French chefs but still has a sound Italian base and believes in the quality of Italian produce which gives Italian cuisine an edge. He enjoyed his time at Flemish Food Bash on the Belgian coast and said it was a good break for the daily routine. "It is a way to relax, joke, meet new people. You need to come with a different kind of philosophy and not take it too seriously like in the restaurant." The following is the recipe. Method Burn the aubergine (300 grammes) on the fire. Remove the flesh from the sin and blend together with olive oil, lemon juice and parsley. Pass through a chinoise … [Read more...]
Weekly round-up of great reads on food and wine #43
In the peak of summer the daily routine tends to get lost. There are times when it is too hot to think, let alone write. You dive into the pool and it is warm, the sea temperature is 28C and not even a cool shower is possible because the water coming out from the shower head is too warm for respite. And that means that writing sometimes becomes harder. It is why this weekly round-up comes a day later. But, nevertheless, there's lots to read. Which is the most expensive city for food? And how do you go about deciding this? Hotels.com has come up with a study called the club sandwich index which looks at the price of hotel dining in major cities around the world. The study looks at the price of a club sandwich, a burger, a glass of house red wine and a cup of coffee in 28 different cities. The most expensive cities in order were Geneva, Paris, Hong Kong, Oslo and London. Elizabeth Auerbach, who reviews restaurants independently and is someone worth following on social media, recently … [Read more...]
Anthony Genovese (Il Pagliaccio): Italian cuisine is easy to understand
Italian cuisine is appreciated everywhere in the world because of the quality of its produce. "It is a cuisine that does not require specific emphasis on technique but rather allows the flavours and colours of the produce to speak for themselves. For this reason, it is also easier to understand at the first impact," says Anthony Genovese, chef of Roman restaurant Il Pagliaccio. The two Michelin star chef was born in France in 1968 from Italian parents and spent a long time in the South of France despite his Calabrian roots. After travelling from France to England, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand he ended up in Ravello at the Hotel Palazzo Sasso and Rossellini's restaurant where he got his first Michelin star. "It was normal to end up in Rome because it is a city I have always loved. When I was called to go there, I had no second thoughts. Unfortunately it did not end well because the restaurant closed. But being a stubborn Calabrian, I decided to stay and try again." An Italian … [Read more...]
Recipe (Stéphane Diffels): Trout with herbs, granita and dill mayonnaise
Here is a perfect summer recipe by Stéphane Diffels, chef of L'Air de Rien which was prepared by him for Flemish Food Bash. Although it might require some time to prepare, it is easy to assemble once you have prepared the different components of the dish. This is a perfect summer recipe and one which works very well. Diffels is the chef of L'Air de Rien, in the pretty village of Fontin, around 20 kilometres away from Liege takes inspiration from the regional produce. He was at Flemish Food Bash with all his team told me “we were coming all together to experience the festival and we only got to know at the last minute that we would participate." This is a restaurant worth discovering. Taking his inspiration from chefs like Sang-Hoon Degeimbre, René Redzepi and Kobe Desramaults, he has also been referred to as Wallonia's answer to the latter Flemish chef. The restaurant has no a la carte menu and the chef has created a 19 course menu (L’Air de Rien menu). The discovery … [Read more...]
Unique dinner featuring chef Edwin Vinke in Amsterdam this October
Edwin Vinke, two Michelin star chef of De Kromme Watergang will be serving an exclusive dinner in the Lloyd Hotel and Cultural Embassy in Amsterdam on 9, 10 and 11 October 2015. The event, in its 10th edition is organised by Steinbesser. The dinner will be entirely plant-based (vegan) with all ingredients coming from biodynamic or organic agriculture sourced in the Netherlands. Edwin Vinke is owner and chef of the restaurant De Kromme Watergang and was awarded chef of the year in 2011 by Gault Millau. For this edition, Vinke will feature historical and curious flowers, herbs and vegetables. This promises to be a special challenge for a chef that takes his inspiration from the sea that surrounds the area of Zeeland in the Netherlands. In this edition, guests will be able to make use of the unforgettable cutlery created by Stian Korntved Ruud and Sarah Hurtigkarl, and the unique dishes made by Patricia Domingues, Matthias Dyer, Tatjana Giorgandse, Deborah Rudolph, Tala Yuan and Valentin … [Read more...]
Recipe (Riccardo Di Giacinto): Fregola with anchovies, butter and orange zest
Some of the best food memories come from simplicity - eating the crunchy part of baked pasta, mopping fresh bread with exceptional extra-virgin olive oil. The recipe prepared by Riccardo Di Giacinto at Flemish Food Bash had all the ingredients of simplicity. A certain type of pasta (or couscous) with butter and anchovies topped with grated orange zest cannot get much simpler. But the explosion of flavours in the mouth is something I will remember. It is not a combination I have tried before (anchovies go extremely well with olive oil but I had never before attempted them in a pasta dish with butter) and maybe it was for this reason that I was surprised. Food and Wine Gazette asked this Michelin star chef why he opted to bring a simple dish to Flemish Food Bash. "I wanted to bring a bit of Rome with me. In Rome, when you are feeling good and someone asks you how you are, you normally use an expression 'come burro e alici' whicih is like butter and anchovies. It means you are feeling … [Read more...]
Riccardo Di Giacinto: Enogastronomy could help Italy, Europe out of the crisis
Enogastronomy has the potential to take help Italy and Europe exit the current crisis, Roman chef Riccardo Di Giacinto, one Michelin star chef of Ristorante All'Oro in Rome said. "Communications have changed the world of gastronomy. But the world has also changed, interest in cuisine is at an all time high and I believe that food and wine could help bring us out of the crisis in Italy and Europe," Di Giacinto told Food and Wine Gazette when we caught up with him at Flemish Food Bash earlier this month. Di Giacinto has trained both in Italy and abroad, spending over 11 years away from Italy. He worked four years under Ferran Adrià of el Bulli fame and Marco Pierre White among others, before opening All'Oro in April 2007. "Experience abroad is always important because you meet colleagues and always take something back home with you. And I also hope that you leave something for your colleagues as well." The chef from Rome sees Italian cuisine today as being great, "in grande … [Read more...]
Weekly round-up of great reads on food and wine #42
While pasta is a simple dish to make, there are many ways to get it wrong. Here are 10 tips from Mario Batali on how to cook pasta. Andoni Luis Aduriz of Spanish restaurant Mugaritz was in San Francisco's Coi as part of the Gelinaz shuffle. Here is an interesting interview with this great Spanish chef. Read what he has to say about creativity. Fine Food Dude has an interview with Yanick Alleno chech of three Michelin star Pavillon Ledoyen and recently named the 2015 Chef of the Year by French restaurant guide Gault&Millau. Here is a list of recipes by Yotam Ottolenghi using cucumber. We must admit that we do not really use this vegetable as much as we should. These recipes may help change our mind. Paul Bocuse is one of the most important French chefs. He is a legend of French gastronomy. There is a restaurant by his own name and also the award Bocuse d'Or which has been instrumental in changing the ways we consider chefs creatives. Here is a very interesting review of … [Read more...]
What do you think if restaurants google you when you make a reservation?
What would you think if restaurants google you after you make a reservation? Two thirds of respondents to a survey in the United States said they would be fine with such a practice which exists. We have not come across any such statistics for Europe so we need to look at a recent survey carried out by OpenTable for a new e-book Technology and Dining Out 2015. 31 per cent said they found the suggestion creepy and intrusive. 40 per cent thought it was no problem and 24 per cent actually said it is a good thing.We can think of many reasons why this would be a good thing but wonder whether the figures for Europe would be similar particular given the difference in views on privacy in Europe. In today's world of social media where anyone has the potential to become a food critic by reviewing restaurants on sharing platforms, it would seem like standard practice for a restaurant to look for information about their clients. Moreover, it also helps to enhance a user experience. Just … [Read more...]