'We wanted to create a cosmopolitan space, something new for the city' Gert de Mangeleer and Joachim Boudens have opened LESS Eatery in Bruges. The new ‘eatery’ as they call it welcomes its first guests on Monday March 11 and it is an impressive space. The eatery on one of the main squares in Bruges will be open from breakfast till late dinner with customers able to walk in for a coffee and a pastry in the morning, for bites during the mornings or afternoon and lunch or pre-theatre dinners to late dinners. This is the first time that Gert de Mangeleer and Joachim Boudens have a restaurant in the city centre. They operated Hertog Jan, a three Michelin star restaurant in Zedelgem on the outskirts of this Belgian city as well as the old LESS in the former Hertog Jan spot. The latter is expected to become a traditional Flemish restaurant. Joachim and Gert told Food and Wine Gazette that they wanted to move to the centre because they wanted to create a cosmopolitan space with a … [Read more...]
Exceptional 2016 Bordeaux vintage on show in Antwerp
The 2016 Bordeaux vintage has been billed as the best since 2010 and from a recent tasting of a number of wines in Antwerp that is really the case. The Union des Grand Crus de Bordeaux brought together representatives from over 50 chateaux in Bordeaux for a unique dinner with the trade and press in Antwerp recently. It is not normal for so many representatives of Bordeaux wineries to be present for such a tasting. Among the wineries present for the dinner were Château Figeac, Clos Fourtet, Château Clinet, Château Beychevelle, Château Branaire - Ducru, Château Langoa Barton, Château Leoville Barton and Château Talbot to mention just a few names. For the dinner, I was sitting next to the director general of Chateau Giscours and Chateau du Tertre Alexander Van Beek and his wife Véronique Sanders, the president of Chateau Haut Bailly. They told me this was a really special occasion because it was the largest ever gathering of representatives of Bordeaux wineries they could … [Read more...]
‘We need to be better humans’- Margot Janse
Things were looking bright for Dutch born chef Margot Janse just before disaster struck. Two years ago she decided to quit her job and focus on building her charity which she had set up as part of her work at one of most well known fine-dining restaurants in South Africa, The Tasting Room at the Le Quartier Francais. A change in the ownership of the hotel which housed her restaurant made her adjust her priorities in life. “I stayed to work for another year but then realised this was was no longer my world. It was time for change but the question I had was what would I do about the children I had been feeding through the charity. I thought that the new owners would keep the charity which was connected to the hotel but given my name was so closely associated with it, I feared they might change the emphasis of the project. So I decided to take it with me and started to think what I could do, how I could handle the logistics of serving 200 meals a day from a domestic kitchen and with a … [Read more...]
26 hands Milan dinner at Trippa sells out in 60 minutes
A 26 hands dinner organised by Diego Rossi of Trippa Milano was sold out within 60 minutes. Called Amici Miei (my friends in Italian), the event brings together 13 young and promising chefs from across Italy. This unique event takes place at Trippa Milano on 9 April during Design Week. The chefs taking part in the event are Stefano Terigi, Benedetto Rullo and Lorenzo Stefanini (Ristorante Giglio), Juri Chiotti (REIS Cibo Libero di Montagna), Federico Sisti (Antica Osteria Il Ronchettino), Damiano Donati (Punto Lucca), Francesca Fooders Barreca & Marco Fooders Horseman (MAZZO), Alessandro Miocchi & Giuseppe Lo Iudice (RETROBOTTEGA), Simone Cipriani (Essenziale), Gianluca Gorini (DaGorini Ristorante) who will cook together with Diego Rossi. Trippa is a traditional style trattoria with a modern twist that was created by Pietro Caroli, the man in charge of the … [Read more...]
Vicky Lau welcomes three female chefs for unique lunch at Tate Dining Room in Hong Kong
Hong Kong Chef Vicky Lau has invited three Asian female chefs to cook together at a unique collaboration lunch that will take place at the Tate Dining Room on 27 March. With Asia’s biggest culinary award ceremony just around the corner on 26th March, Hong Kong and Macau are preparing for the arrival of top chefs and esteemed gourmands from around the region. To celebrate this occasion, Chef Vicky Lau is organising a lunch bringing together four powerhouse chefs at Tate Dining Room to prepare a special lunch for discerning guests. The chefs taking part in this lunch together with Vicky are chef Bee Satongun of 1-Michelin-starred PASTE Bangkok (Asia’s Best Female Chef 2018), Margarita Fores of Grace Park (Asia’s Best Female Chef 2016), and Natsuko Shoji of invitation-only restaurant, Été. The undisputed queen of Innovative French Chinese fine dining in Hong Kong, Chef Vicky Lau takes pride in her talent for visual artistry from her previous life … [Read more...]
Sergio Herman set to return back to the kitchen with new restaurant in Cadzand, open Air Republic in Antwerp this year
Sergio Herman is set to return back to cooking with a new restaurant in the Cadzand by the end of 2020 or early 2021. He is reported to have told Belgian news agency Belga at the opening of the Frites Atelier in Brussels that he missed cooking and wanted to have a space where he will cook for an intimate number of guests. "At the end of the day, I am happiest when I cook." He told the agency that he made a langoustine dish for Pure C a few days ago and cut his hand in the process but he liked it. "It was good because I got the feeling of the past. Cooking is what I prefer to do," he said. Sergio said that having become an entrepreneur meant that he had to take part in many management meetings which he did not necessarily find interesting. "By the end of 2020 or early 2021 I want my own place again in the neighbourhood of Cadzand where I can cook," he said. Sergio formerly owned and cooked in one of the World's Best Restauarants Oud Sluis, a three Michelin star restaurant, … [Read more...]
Fundaziun Uccelin opens applications for scholarships
Fundaziun Uccelin, a charitable foundation set up in 2015 by Swiss chef Andreas Caminada in order to promote the quality of cooking and hospitality has opened its application platform till the end of March. Young chefs and people in the service industry are offered the possibility to carry out various training programmes in their respective fields for six months. Andreas Caminada, the chef behind the foundation said “It is very important to me to individually foster ambitious talent in the gastronomic industry by providing financial and mentoring support. By offering this kind of backing, we aim to pave the way for talents so that they have the opportunity to gain insights into the global culinary diversity so that they can safeguard the quality of their wonderful craft in the long run.” While similar opportunities exist in various industries, very few opportunities exist in the hospitality industry. Caminada wants to help future talents to get experience in different parts of … [Read more...]
‘Brussels charity dinners a humbling experience’ – Margot Janse
Margot Janse, the chef who founded Isabelo Charity which focuses on feeding young children in schools in South Africa has described the Brussels charity dinners that were held last month as an 'amazing and humbling experience’. “It was amazing to see all these people in all the three Brussels restaurants (Bon Bon, Le Chalet de la Foret and Bozar) come to cook without any issues. All the chefs arrived, they put their heart into what they did and created amazing food with an added twist of using South African indigenous ingredients,” Margot Janse told Food and Wine Gazette in an interview. For the simultaneous charity dinners, she got over 70 kilos of ingredients with her to Belgium and said that whoever she was thanking for being there were actually thanking her. “It is really humbling that this is possible at this level. It is great for me because I have played on this level with my restaurant for a long time. The exposure was amazing and of course I want to continue,” she … [Read more...]
Rodolfo Guzman’s surprise relocation of Borago
Chef Rodolfo Guzman, has announced that Borago, the renowned Chilean restaurant has relocated. He had been secretly working on the move without publicising it. The new restaurant is at the foot of Cerro Manquehue (Place of Condors in Mapudungun Mankewe), the most important natural landmark of the city and one which demarcates the seasonality in Santiago. Borago is considered to be one of Latin America's best restaurants with Rodolfo introducing many Chilean ingredients, products and techniques to the world for the first time while rewriting his country's culinary rulebook in the process. The restaurant opened in 2006 and like many of today's successful restaurants struggled to survive in the early years particularly since it had to deal with a conservative clientele. Rodolfo Guzman said that 12 years ago he and this team had embarked on a road that seemed crazy at the time. "The place where Boragó was housed and which has been our home for all this time seemed huge. It looked … [Read more...]
The Willows Inn on Lummi Island tops 100+ OAD North American list
The Willows Inn on Lummi Island, Washington, has been named the Opinionated About Dining (OAD) number one restaurant of the OAD Top 100+ North American Restaurants List. This is the third consecutive year that Blaine Wetzel’s progressive restaurant has topped the rankings. The restaurant is known for showcasing local seasonal ingredients ‘fished, foraged, and farmed daily’. Japanese-influenced restaurants have earned the number two and three spots with California’s Single Thread Farm maintaining its position for the second year running. Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare jumped five places into the number three spot. Two important additions to this year’s Top 10 include Smyth, which has ended Alinea’s more than decade run as the top performing restaurant in the Chicago market, and José Andrés and Aitor Zabala’s West Hollywood restaurant, Somni, which by landing in the sixth slot has been named the Best New Restaurant in North America for 2019. … [Read more...]