Christian and Manuel Costardi, also known as the CostardiBros, rose to fame for their risotto. Two brothers that are often considered as twins despite an age difference of 9 years where in Ristorante Hangar in Amsterdam on 9 October for a one evening pop up with Peroni Nastro Azzuro. They brought with them a number of iconic dishes that have made them famous not just in Italy over the past few years. Their focus was on rice, serving two main dishes as well as a dessert using rice that is so popular in their region. They presented Diversamente Tonnato by CostardiBros, a dish that is their interpretation of Vitello Tonnato, one of the most famous dishes of Italian and piedmont cuisine. “This dish came about during the opening of our new restaurant in Torino inside EDIT. It is impossible to open a restaurant in Torino without serving vitello tonnato. However, the meat that is served in this dish never appealed to us so we decided to work on the meat and the sauce using a fillet … [Read more...]
Rodolfo Guzman to cook with Hans Neuner at Ocean Restaurant
A trip that Hans Neuner took to Chilean chef Rodolfo Guzman led him to discover how he could use cactus from the prickly pear for one of his dishes. It was an eye opener for Hans and led to the creation of an exceptional octopus dish. The Chilean chef will now be reciprocating that visit spending a few days in the Algarve discovering the produce, the fishermen and what the region has to offer. He will cook with Hans Neuner at the 2 Michelin-star Ocean Restaurant, located at VILA VITA Parc Resort & Spa, in Porches, Algarve and the dinner will take place on 17 November. Guzman is chef of Chile's Borago restaurant which was considered to be the second best restaurant in Latin America in 2015 and one of the World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2018. This is the second event that is taking place at the Portuguese restaurant this year following the visit of Christian Bau, from the 3 Michelin Star restaurant “Victor’s Fine Dining by Christian Bau”. Chef Hans Neuner will be welcoming … [Read more...]
The search for tattoo-free chef and tweezer-free kitchen is on as World Restaurant Awards categories are announced
The World Restaurant Awards which will be held for the first time in Paris on 18 February will have 12 big plate awards and 6 small plate awards that will change on a yearly basis in consultation with the judging panel. The awards, the brainchild of Joe Warwick who is the creative director and Andrea Petrini, the chair of the judging panel has a list of 100 judges which include some of the top names in the restaurant world as well as top international food writers from around the world. Joe Warwick is an editor, writer, broadcaster and co-founder of the World's 50 Best Restaurants. The third edition of his bestselling international restaurant guide ‘Where Chefs Eat’ has just been published. He says we should ‘Expect The World Restaurant Awards to be conducted with complete integrity and make everyone think about the full gamut of the world’s great restaurants – old and new, from luxury destinations to humble institutions – and what makes them so special.’ Andrea Petrini is … [Read more...]
Joan Roca tops list of The Best Chef Awards 2018
In Milan, Joan Roca came top of the Top300 list of the Best Chef Awards 2018, an event that started in 2015. The Spanish chef of restaurant El Celler de Can Roca placed in front of René Redzepi and David Munoz. The results were announced during a gala evening at the Teatro Vetra in Milan. In the presence of more than 300 chefs and industry professionals. Fourth place went to Bjorn Frantzen and 5th to Jonnie Boer. Niko Romito followed in 6th place, Alex Atala in 7th, Massimo Bottura in 8th, Yannick Alleno in 9th and Vladimir Mukhin in 10th place. Nick Bril, of Belgian restaurant The Jane placed 15th in front of Peter Goossens of Hof Van Cleve in 20th place and Gert de Mangeleer of Hertog Jan and Benoit Dewitte in 45th place. The category rankings look totally different from last year, with winners from Italy, Dubai, Puerto Rico, Sweden and the US. The 2018 list includes chefs from 41 countries worldwide. The full ranking of The Best Chef Awards 2018 is available via the … [Read more...]
Riccardo Camanini joins the ‘seven wonders’ of Italian cuisine
Riccardo Camanini, chef of Lido 84 has been working under the radar since he joined his brother at Gardone Riviera. In the latest publication of the Guida Espresso, one of the most influential food guides in Italy, if not the most influential he has won 'five hats' together with the new three Michelin star restaurant St Hubertus del Rosa Alpina of chef Norbert Niederkofler. They join the top five chefs of Italian cuisine, recognised by many guides including the Michelin Guide as well as World's 50 Best Restaurants among others. These are Casadonna Reale of chef Niko Romito in Castel di Sangro, Le Calandre of chef Massimiliano Ajamo in Rubano, Osteria Francescana of chef Massimo Bottura in Modena, Piazza Duomo of chef Enrico Crippa in Alba and Uliassi of chef Mauro Uliassi in Senigallia. While the promotion of St Hubertus del Rosa Alpina was to be expected given the restaurant was recognised with 3 Michelin stars, the recognition for Lido 84 came a bit as a surprise for a chef who has … [Read more...]
Bon Bon sommelier Antoine Lehebel to represent Belgium in Best Sommelier competition
Antoine Lehebel, sommelier of Brussels restaurant Bon Bon will be representing Belgium in the 15th edition of the most prestigious sommelier competition in the world. The Best Sommelier in the World competition takes place in Antwerp in March 2019. Lehebel has already been crowned the best sommelier in Belgium in 2014. Born in 1982, he has vast experience having worked in Longon at Rasoi Vineet bhatia (1 Michelin star) and at three Michelin star restaurant Les Pres d'Eugenie in France. He has also worked at Michel Chabran and Charlemagne (both 1 Michelin star) before moving to Belgium in 2013 to work at Villa Lorraine. He moved to the two Michelin starred Bon Bon in May 2018 to work with one of Belgium's best chefs Christophe Hardiquest. The restaurant has a 19.5 score in Gault & Millau and has two stars. The sommelier has diplomas from WSET as well as Advanced Sommelier from the Court of Master Sommelier. He took part in the competition that was help in Argentina in 2016 … [Read more...]
Going, going, gone: 15,000 euros for a bottle of Riesling
The last bottle in the estate cellar of the Schlossböckelheimer Kupfergrube Trockenbeerenauslese 1921 vintage has been sold for a record EUR 14,992 becoming the most expensive German riesling ever sold. This was the last bottle of the wine that remained in the Rarities Cellar of Gut Hermannsberg, a bottle that that is not only historical but also comes from an exceptional vintage. vintage. The neck of the bottle is decorated with a banderol, where one can read the ornamental script: Presented as a celebratory libation to honour the President of Germany, General Field Marshall von Hindenburg, at the liberation festivities in Cologne, on 21 March 1926. Bidding on the wine opened at 350 Euros, and ultimately found a new owner for 14,992 Euros. Estate GM and cellar master Karsten Peter could barely believe it: ‘That is an unbelievably high price, even for a one-of-a-kind item’. And this coming from the man who set a record price last year with his 2015 TBA which sold for 10,600 … [Read more...]
Perfecting the Hierbas de las Dunas, a liqueur created by chef Syrco Bakker
When Syrco Bakker created Hierbas de las Dunas he did not give it much thought. He combined 18 different types of herbs, flowers and plants from Cadzand’s dunes to create what would turn out to be a versatile drink that had a pure salty-sweet flavour that made it perfect for an aperitif, after-dinner drink or even a cocktail ingredient. The chef of Michelin star restaurant Pure C in Cadzand-Bad who works closely with Dutch celebrity chef Sergio Herman created the liqueur in his kitchen taking inspiration from a drink he had tried in Ibiza but he had no idea how to distribute it or the difficulty to compete with the marketing budgets of the giants in the industry. That naivety may however be the success of this product which is sought after by some of the leading cocktail bartenders. “I spoke with my father and with Charlotte how he would distribute it and we decided to form a company. The beauty of it is that all of us do this in our own free time,” he said. Today, two years … [Read more...]
Loimer to release Langenlois ‘blanc des blancs’ sparkling wine
In 1991, Fred Loimer, the Langenlois winemaker experimented with bottle fermentation to produce Sekt for the first time. Three years later, he launched his first Winzersekt (grower sparkling wine) on the market. Since then he simply cannot resist his fascination with bubbles. He is now set to launch the Langenlois Blanc de Blancs Grosse Reserve, his best yet. It will be released to the market in mid-October 2018 and will be available at the winery (Haindorfer Vögerlweg 23, 3550 Langenlois, weingut@loimer.at) and in the onlineshop (www.loimer-shop.at) or at selected retailers for around 30 euros. A lot has happened since 1991. Loimer set up a winery to give his wines time and space. Then he converted the entire estate to biodynamic farming so that the wines would achieve even more liveliness and authentic expression. And he continued to advance the process of sparkling wine production even further. His two Sekt wines, Extra Brut Reserve and Brut Rosé Reserve, have been on the … [Read more...]
Restaurant Ocean: A view on the ocean and on Portuguese cuisine
Hans Neuner, executive chef of Restaurant Ocean at the Vila Vita resort in the Algarve Ocean loves to travel. When he left Austria to head to Porches in the Algarve he did not know he was going to end up staying there. But the region, the sea, the quality of the produce both from the land and the sea have made him stay. Nothing maybe exemplifies this story more than the Octopus dish that he served me recently at the restaurant. Octupus is a staple in Portugal like in other places on the Mediterranean as is the ‘prickly pear’ plant which is found pretty much everywhere in hot climates. And while it costs a fortune to buy one such fruit in the North of Europe where it does not grow, it is not only abundant but also wild in many countries in the Mediterranean. The prickly pear fruit is considered to be an exotic fruit for some and makes for a refreshing summer fruit but its leaf or cactus is also edible and used in South America. He learned this on a trip to South America and he … [Read more...]