Eneko Atxa's restaurant Azurmendi retained its 3 Michelin Stars for 2015 when the new classification for Spain was announced on 19 November. The restaurant, perched on a hillside just outside Bilbao does not need any introduction among food connoisseurs. Ranked 26th in the World’s 50 Best restaurants, it is also the winner of the sustainability award. Eneko, the 37-year-old chef of the restaurant told Food and Wine Gazette, when we interviewed him in Cologne during Chef Sache 2014 last month that the most important honour for him is to finish a service and ensure that his guests are happy. "I always say that we have to fight every day to ensure that our guests are happy. If we achieve this every day for 365 days a year, then we win. This to me is the most important honour. Obviously awards are important because they help us to get more people to the restaurant. We are not obsessed with the awards, but with the guest. For us, satisfaction of each guest is the most important," Eneko … [Read more...]
De Superette (Gent): The bakery with a difference
I still remember the days when I was a child and I used to go with my father to buy bread at a bakery close to our house in Malta. The baker would be visible in the background, all white and covered with flour. At times, it was he who would serve his clients. The oven used to be at the back of the bakery, visible to clients and one could get a whiff of the bread baking in the oven as soon as you turned the corner of the street where the bakery was. Alas these days it is difficult to find a bakery making its own bread. Memories have a great impact on our interaction with food. So a visit to De Superette in Gent last weekend triggered a lot of nostalgia. De Superette is the brainchild of Kobe Desramaults of restaurant In De Wulf, who dreamt up the concept together with Rose Green and Sarah Lemke. It centres around the bakery. The stone oven and the baker's work space are at the heart of De Superette. It is a place where you go to buy bread but it is also one where you … [Read more...]
Rene Redzepi (Noma): Taking care of his customers long after the bill is paid
In a few days time, the restaurant Noma will be celebrating its 11th anniversary since it opened its doors in Copenhagen and changed the culinary world in Scandinavia. There is so much to say about this chef and it has taken a while to get down to writing about Rene Redzepi's exceptional presentation on his food philosophy at Chef's Revolution in Zwolle organised by Jonnie and Therese Boer of De Librije. Rene Redzepi needs no introduction. His restaurant in Copenhagen is number one in the world and he is not only a chef but also a great innovator. Like many of the best chefs on the scene today, he also spent some time working at Ferran Adria's elBulli, but while the latter was innovating with techniques when the restaurant was still open, Redzepi is mainly innovating with new flavours and also heavily experimenting with fermentation. Last year, at Noma they invested in what they call "fermentation bunkers". Instead of building a state of the art facility which would have cost 5 … [Read more...]
Mauro Colagreco (Mirazur) showcases three great dishes using collagen
Mauro Colagreco, chef of Mirazur, the highest ranked restaurant in France, according to the World's 50 Best restaurants, likes to showcase the ingredients that come from his location in Menton just on the border with Italy. At Chef Sache in Cologne, he presented three fish based dishes to showcase the quality of the ingredients of the area. He opted to use collagen in different ways to show how this natural 'gelatine or glue' from fish can be used to bring out not only flavour but also creativity. He therefore uses fish or some pieces of fish, such as the offal, which might otherwise be thrown away. Colagreco said collagen could be used either as a glue or as an emulsion. The first dish he presented was a classic fish soup which was turned into a gelatine and served with a langoustine from San Remo which is very typical of the region. The Argentinian chef made a classic fish soup using onions, fennel and garlic. He aromatised it with saffron and, like in bouillabaisse, … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #10
From the wines of Mount Etna in Sicily, to wine writer ethics, how to boil an egg, food as a political issue, restaurant trends for 2015, a guide to Brussels or how one of the most renowned chefs claimed a rival sabotaged his new restaurant's opening night, this is my weekly roundup. Many thanks to my readers who send articles or links from time to time. These are always welcome. The wines of Mount Etna in Sicily have been exciting interest of wine lovers over the past few years like no other wine region in Italy. Jancis Robinson writes about the wines from this active volcano and picks 5 of her favourites. But while there were only 5 wineries producing Etna wines 15 years ago, most Sicilian notable wine companies have all invested in land on the mountain and some have even built wineries. But the locals claim only they know how to work in these really special vineyards Max Allen writes on www.jancisrobinson.com about wine writer ethics. He speaks about conflicts of interest and … [Read more...]
The impact of social media on the food and wine world
Social media is becoming more and more influential in today's world and, whether you like it or not, no sector of the economy is spared. What is the impact of social media on restaurants? How do some people use the power of social networking to their benefit? And what do you do if you find yourself in an embarrassing situation like having a blogger who refuses to pay the restaurant bill? This topic was the subject of a very interesting panel discussion at Chef Sache in Cologne animated by Ralf Bos. It is not an easy subject and the same issues also apply beyond the food and wine world. In many cases there is no right or wrong answer. The panelists were German chef Thomas Buhner, Giovanni Zanetti, the Wine Punk, Dr Ingo Scheuermann, a professor of finance who is crazy about food and fine-dining and writes about food on www.culinary-insights.de and Sebastian Wussler who created the Chefstalk Project. Giovanni Zanetti has a winery in Italy and sells pretty much all his wine … [Read more...]
Alain Ducasse redefines haute cuisine by serving just fish, vegetables and cereal
Alain Ducasse doesn't need any introduction. He is considered to be one of the world's greatest culinary artists and is only one of two chefs to have held 21 Michelin stars in his career. He was also the first chef to have three Michelin star restaurants in three different cities. He has inspired the cuisine of many of today's contemporary chefs and his books on cooking and desserts and pastries are considered to be reference books. Recently, he reopened the restaurant Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée after several months of refurbishment of the hotel. His newest creation tells a very personal and radical story and as he himself says in the above video. He does not know whether this this should be considered as today's cuisine or tomorrow's cuisine. But he is building on the work he began more than 25 years ago and presents cuisine in its simplest form inspired by a trio of ingredients: fish (from sustainable fishing), vegetables and cereals. He says this cuisine is … [Read more...]
Marie’s Garden in Overijse: a great place to pick up your own vegetables
Partially inspired by the theme from our previous post Henri le Worm (by the way, my children loved the app) and in view of the fact that today was a public holiday, I decided to take the children to a field in Overijse, 10 minutes away from Brussels Marie's Garden is a great concept and a perfect example of a farmer who brings his clients closer to nature. Started in 2012, it was inspired by the farmer's visit to Switzerland where he discovered a similar farm. When you arrive at the farm, you find a large notice board telling you what you are able to find in the fields and what you are allowed to cut. Afterwards, you pick up a wheelbarrow (we could only get a small one because the rest were taken) and then you head to the fields in search of your fresh vegetables. They have nearly 10 hectares with over 30 varieties of fruits, vegetables and flowers to pick. The price of all the bio-certified fruit and vegetables is marked on the board as soon as you enter the field. You are … [Read more...]
Henri Le Worm – a great app to teach children about food
Anyone who has children knows how difficult it is to get them to eat their vegetables. As our doctor once said, the golden age for children is up to the age of 18 months following which their love affair with vegetables abruptly comes to an end. From then onwards it becomes a struggle to get them to eat their greens. In an age where a lot of emphasis is being placed on food provenance and where knowledge of where our food comes from is not so common, an app was launched earlier this year featuring Henri Le Worm. The app aims to teach children about food in an entertaining way. It is a really well made interactive application (available for Android and IOS devices) aimed at children aged between 2 years and 8 years and features a number of characters including Henri Le Worm, Derek the Ladybird, Sebastian the Intelligent Slug and Texas Lou the Spider. The colours are vibrant and app is very interactive. It allows children to click on vegetables in a garden and get interesting facts … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #9
This week I have come across two great stories on two of the most creative chefs in the world. One is about el Bulli and Ferran Adria. The other is about Rene Redzepi of Noma. In the first you can read about whether el Bulli can be considered as a work of art. Adria has often said that "Being the first in not what's important. What's important is conceptualising". In fact that is what happened with elBulli. The restaurant is gone but the concept remains. And it has left behind a trail which could be compared to many artistic movements. If you are interested in creativity, this is a must read. The second article from The Wall Street Journal is about Noma's Redzepi who is another chef that never stops experimenting. It is a fabulous read about a chef who was on top of the world but had a bad year in 2013. He termed last year an 'avalanche of disaster' to the extent that he was thinking of writing a book about how to deal with a bad year. He says "we work as intensely and as … [Read more...]