LIERNU: Fresh from a visit to Peru with Belgian NGO Iles de Paix last December, chef Sang Hoon Degeimbre of restaurant L’Air du Temps is organising a charity dinner later this month. The aim of the fundraising activity is to raise funds for farmers who are working to create an independent, stable and sustainable life. Together with the gardener of L'Air du Temps, Benoit Blairvacq, San travelled to Peru to meet with families of producers from the Huánuco region. During their visit, San and Benoit discovered their methods of cultivation and production. They discussed how to work with some of their products. For San and Benoit, who are used to working with a fully organic garden which supplies their restaurant, it was a real lesson in life and nature. “It is for this reason that we wanted to support and organise this fundraising activity,” San and Carine, the co-owners of L'Air du Temps said. Iles de Paix was set up in 1962 with a general mission to contribute to the research … [Read more...]
First two courses by René Redzepi’s MAD Academy announced
COPENHAGEN: The first two courses organised by the MAD Academy will be held in the fall of 2020. These will be the first courses of the Academy that is fully funded by the Danish government and run by the MAD Academy which was set up by chef René Redzepi. René Redzepi said that together with Magnus Faviken, the director of the school, he hoped to meet the applicants in person in autumn in Copenhagen. The first two programmes focus on Leadership & Business and Environment & Sustainability. The leadership and business course will run from October 5-9 and on October 19-23 and will focus on the need for functioning leadership in hospitality and understanding restaurants as businesses. The environment and sustainability course runs from 7-11 September or September 21-25 and focuses on understanding our place as parts of the food system. MAD Academy is a school that aims to support the hospitality and food industry with tools and knowledge for making positive change. In 2020 … [Read more...]
A trip to Japan as Kawate, Shimizu are first guests of Gert De Mangeleer for Chef’s Invitation
BRUGES: Without a shadow of doubt, LESS Eatery in Bruges was among Belgium’s most exciting restaurant openings last year. The restaurant of Gert de Mangeleer and Joachim Boudens has been designed in a way that gives the restaurant a certain buzz that could fit well with a metropolitan city such as New York or Tokyo. They decided to open it in Gert’s hometown. After clinching a star within less than a year under the helm of young Ruige Vermeire, Gert de Mangeleer is inviting chef friends from around the world to cook at the restaurant and allow his young team to learn new techniques. The first such event called Chef’s Invitation took place last week in Bruges on Wednesday 29 and January 30. The first two chefs to cook were Hiroyasu Kawate of Florilege (not his first time cooking in Belgium) and Susumu Shimizu of Anis, both restaurants in Tokyo. Florilege has 2 Michelin stars and is no. 5 in Asia’s 50 Best Gert was very satisfied after the first event. “We … [Read more...]
Valeria Piccini: ‘It is a good moment for Italian cuisine’
Chef Valeria Piccini from Da Caino restaurant in Montemerano, Tuscany had never been to Asia when she got a call from Angelo Agliano to be the first of five female Italian chefs to cook at Tosca di Angelo at the Ritz Carlton Hong Kong. She immediately accepted because she is always of the view that she can always learn something from such events. But the shock of the first few days in a new continent and a new reality was very evident. “I am not used to the chaos of the city. I come from a tiny village where there are probably more chickens than people. It is chaotic but you could say the same about Rome, Florence or any other city in the world particularly when you live in the countryside,” she tells Food and Wine Gazette. Valeria is a self-taught chef having studied sciences and has a degree in chemistry. But she was born into a family of lovers of good food, her mother and grandmother used to cook for pleasure. And it was her mother in law that gave her the opportunity to … [Read more...]
The Sicilian on top of the world in Hong Kong
HONG KONG: If Angelo Agliano’s parents had their way, he would not be cooking today. For five years, while he was at school he would go to work in a restaurant in the weekends and also during the evenings. “They were against me working in a restaurant but I finally won my battle because that is what I really wanted to do.” It was not his perseverance when he was young that marked his career. For that, you need to fast forward some years when at the age of 26 he was asked to cook for French legendary chef Joël Robuchon’s 60th birthday. It is an evening he still remembers very vividly and not because he had to change four times such was the stress. ‘I remember that evening when Philippe Gobert, who was director for the Robuchon group told me he was giving me this present of bringing 13 chefs who worked for Robuchon to the restaurant for a private dinner. At table, I was cooking for chefs that were responsible for around 30 Michelin stars. I thought to myself this was not a present … [Read more...]
Face to face with snake soup in Hong Kong
HONG KONG: No one spoke a word of English when we walked in to She Wong Lam, one of the last remaining snake butchers in Hong Kong. We are early. She Wong Lam serves soup normally from 11am till 4pm but Andrea Petrini had promised us a breakfast that starts with what he called a ‘snake cappuccino’. We fill the small room which has been serving snake for more than 125 years. The air is heavy. Some say there is an intense smell of snake. If I had to be honest, I cannot really smell it. But there are cages with snakes at the entrance to the restaurant all marked as poisonous. Before we sit at table, three men who are working inside the shop show us the snakes that are in the wooden boxes that fill the shop. One opens a few of these drawers to show us the different varieties of snake which will eventually be butchered at the back of the shop. There is every variety of snake and on every box there is a mark that they are poisonous. Now, this is definitely not the place for anyone … [Read more...]
Low Food starts first gastronomic lab of the Netherlands
ALMERE: The Low Food Lab launched recently in Almere in the Netherlands. This open-source platform is an initiative of the Low Food movement – set up by chefs and food entrepreneurs Joris Bijdendijk, Samuel Levie and Joris Lohman. It investigates how gastronomy can offer solutions to societal challenges in the food system. Chefs, farmers, food producers and scientists will work together in the next two years in the Low Food Lab to explore the potential of new, forgotten, not-yet-explored and undervalued products in the Netherlands. Low Food Lab is powered by Flevo Campus. It will get a physical space at Floriade Expo 2022 in Almere. Multi-year programme The first ideas for the programme were presented on Friday 29 November at the Stadsboerderij in Almere in the presence of Alderperson Roelie Bosch. In a world where food security and the sustainability of the food and agricultural systems are two big themes, Low Food believes that the food movement – and specifically … [Read more...]
Paul Bocuse’s loss of three Michelin stars is no surprise
LYON: In Lyon, France's capital of gastronomy, the city is waking up to news that Restaurant Paul Bocuse will lose its third star when Michelin announces its results on Monday 27 January. The news was published exclusively by Le Point who called the news 'an electrochoc' and the effect of a bomb in gastronomy. The restaurant in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or in Lyon had three stars continuously since 1965. But the news comes as no surprise because it has been rumoured since last year when Marc Haeberlin (L'Auberge de l'Ill), Marc Veyrat (La Maison des bois) and Pascal Barbot at L'Astrance all lost their three stars. Le Point said that Gwendal Pullennec, the Michelin Guide director was in Lyon yesterday morning to announce the decision to the restaurant team telling them the decision 'was taken collectively'. For many months now, there have been rumours going around about the increasing possibility that the restaurant would lose its three stars following the death of Paul Bocuse … [Read more...]
The 12 trends that are likely to shape the 2020s
At the risk of making a fool of myself, the start of a new decade is normally a time for establishing what will be the trends in the next decade. And in this case, here are a few thoughts on where I think the world of food and wine and gastronomy is heading in the next decade. Looking back, it is hard to believe that things we take for granted today did not exist a few years ago. It would be hard to believe today that Instagram did not exist at the start of the previous decade. Today, the social media app has become the most important tool for chefs and restaurants. It is a force for what’s good and what’s bad in the world of food today. Nordic cuisine was barely on the radar though the world was starting to learn about Rene Redzepi’s work at noma, Spain was just rising in the ranks of gastronomy thanks to the work of Ferran Adria which put the country in the spotlight. And then came the announcement that el Bulli would close in 2012. We had the rise and rise of the World’s 50 … [Read more...]
Kawate from Florilege, Shimizu of Anis to cook at LESS Eatery for ‘Chef’s Invitation’
BRUGES: Inspired by his culinary discovery trips through Asia, Gert de Mangeleer is launching a new concept this year. Under the name Chef’s Invitation, Gert de Mangeleer of the Hertog Jan *** Restaurant Group will regularly invite his friends from all over the world to cook together in one of his restaurants. Two such events are already on the calendar for 2020. The very first ‘invitation’ takes place at LESS Eatery in Bruges on 29 and 30 January with chef Susumu Shimizu of Anis and chef Hiroyasu Kawate from Florilege (two Michelin stars and no 5. in the Asian 50 best). Both chefs have restaurants in Tokyo. This is not the first time that Hiroyasu Kawate from Florilege cooks in Belgium as he had already been guest of Gert de Mangeleer at the three Michelin star Hertog Jan before it closed. Japan is in the spotlight this year particularly because of the Olympic Games that take place this summer. But next to this sporting side, Japan is also a culinary destination that continues … [Read more...]