Bookings for next year's seafood season at Noma will open on Tuesday, September 18 at 4pm CET. Bookings will be open for the season that starts of January 8 and will run till June 1, 2019. Noma, the Copenhagen restaurant of René Redzepi will be closed between the Game season which ends on 23 December and January 8. This is the second seafood season after the launch of the new restaurant earlier this year. With the reopening of the restaurant, the Noma team have changed the way they work. They divide the year into three seasons during which the menu changes dramatically to match the type of ingredients that are at their peak at any given time of the year. Currently the restaurant is in its vegetable season. This is followed by the Game season. which starts on 2 October and runs till 22 December. The latter is the only period of the year when the restaurant serves meat. The seafood season brings the best of what Scandinavia has to offer given that the produce from the sea is at … [Read more...]
The chicken piri piri in Algarve
Renowned author Malcolm Gladwell came up with the concept that 10,000 hours of practice are needed to become world-class in any field. That principle seems to hold true for Restaurante Algarve in the sleepy village of Guia. Since the 1960s, the same family (through different generations) have been serving chicken piri piri using the same recipe. There were four generations of the family when we visited, the great-grandmother still supervising the cooking in the kitchen. You will not find much information about the restaurant online. It has been run pretty much in the same way since it opened. If you walk past the restaurant, you may even think twice before entering. It’s like time stood still. The decor is still very 1960s and 1970s, the tables give you the impression that they've remained the same from that time, but the family have been cooking the same chicken piri piri for many years and they have clearly perfected it. The restaurant serves chicken piri piri, a tomato salad, … [Read more...]
The last wine: Going once, going twice…. sold
When Gut Hermannsberg's general manager and oenologist Karsten Peter opened a bottle of the Schlossböckelheimer Kupfergrube Trockenbeerenauslese 1921 vintage in 2017 to replace the cork he was astonished by the concentration, complexity and freshness of the wine. He was heard exclaiming 'the wine is as fresh at the new morning'. This was the last bottle of the wine that remains in the Rarities Cellar of Hut Hermannsberg, a bottle that that is not only historical but also comes from a phenomenal 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. This last wine bottle is being put on auction. The couple who own Gut Hermannsberg, Dr Christine Dinse and Jens Reidel, along with the general manager Karsten Peter, made the decision to auction the 1921er for this … [Read more...]
Earliest harvest in decades for 2018 Austrian wine vintage
Extreme heat and lack of rain and moisture has characterised the 2018 Austrian wine harvest but for the most part, Austria's grapevines were able to withstand the heat. "We had an early and very ripe vintage on our hands, one in which persistent high temperatures led to consistently higher levels of alcohol and lower levels of acidity. Volume will be just above average: we are looking forward to a harvest in the magnitude of some 2.6 million hectolitres," said Johannes Schmuckenschlager, president of the Viticultural Association. The 2018 vintage will be one of the earliest harvests in decades. The vines budded later than usual this year, which in comparison to the previous two years provided the advantage that they suffered no damage from frost. The heat wave that set in just after budding in April and May led to one of the earliest flowerings since records have been kept. In most winegrowing regions, flowering was finished in May, which amounted to an enormous head start in the … [Read more...]
Franco Pepe, the biggest name in pizza, arrives in Hong Kong
Franco Pepe, today's biggest name in pizza worldwide, has ventured outside of Italy for the first time with the opening of KYTALY which he co-owns with Alessandro Bortesi. The pizzeria and first Hong Kong Campari bar has officially opened its doors in the heart of Hong Kong. Born from the perfect harmony between “Ki”, the Japanese symbol of life’s energy, and “Italy”, the cradle of Mediterranean culture, the two values give identity and character to the concept. KYTALY has risen to the global stage for serving the best pizza in the world outside of Italy. Franco Pepe is today the biggest name in Pizza. He and his family of legendary bread-makers were the first to revolutionise the art of pizza making, choosing to create original recipes from scratch following the traditions and methods set out in his family. Working closely with his father, Franco Pepe learned everything there was to know from sourcing the freshest local ingredients to constructing the perfect dough and flour by … [Read more...]
Finger Lakes wine region named best wine region by USA Today
The Finger Lakes wine region has been named the “Best Wine Region” by voters in the USA Today 10 Best Readers’ Choice 2018 Contest. Regions were selected by a panel of wine industry experts with the Finger Lakes topping a list of 20 regions including the Willamette Valley, Santa Barbara County, and Walla, Walla Valley. “We were thrilled to be nominated and would like to thank everyone who voted for the Finger Lakes region in the contest” stated Tracey Dello Stritto, Executive Director of the Finger Lakes Wine Alliance. “To top this list of excellent wine regions is an honour. We would also like to recognize the local wineries, restaurants and hotels who received nominations in many other categories. These nominations show the depth of our region. Our committed growers, talented winemakers and passionate hospitality personnel have shared their excitement for the region for decades so receiving the ‘best wine region’ accolade is very rewarding.” With its glacier-sculpted … [Read more...]
Return leg: Christophe Pauly to visit three Belgian chefs
Christophe Pauly who hosted three Belgian chefs last year at his restaurant Le Coq aux Champs in Soheit-Tinlot, Belgium, is returning back to cook in their kitchens in the second leg of an interesting round trip After the success of these four-hands dinners at his restaurant, it was always the intention of the Belgian chef to reciprocate the visit by visiting the chefs in their restaurants. The dates for these dinners have now been announced. He will cook with Dimitry Lysens in Tongres at his Michelin star restaurant Magis on 20 September at 8pm. This will be followed by a visit to Filip Claeys' De Jonkman in Bruges on 18 October at 8pm and to Brussels to cook with Karen Torosyan at restaurant Bozar on Sunday 18 November for lunch. Moreover, Pauly has also inited a former mentor René Mathieu, the creative and passionate chef of La Distillerie at Chateau de Bourglinster in Luxembourg to cook at his restaurant. The latter, who focuses on vegetal cuisine and was the first ever … [Read more...]
What I have been up to this summer
I’ve spent over a month in Malta and writing went on the back burner for a few weeks. Despite the good intentions, including the desire to wake up early morning to write and exercise, the tiredness and heaviness of the previous months took their toll. I did not realise the extent till I found myself waking up late in the morning on the first days of my vacation without any energy and desire to do anything other than cook and be lazy. Add to that a WIFI free house and the stifling heat of a Maltese summer and you will sympathise with my plight. But that’s the point of summer after all. Most of the time was spent cooking (and sourcing ingredients), reading, swimming and recharging energies which should enable me to get back to the usual routine. Cooking this summer was spontaneous depending on what I found in the shops close to home without much planning or following recipes. This spontaneous cooking meant that I didn’t even bring out the barbecue this summer since I … [Read more...]
Hans Neuner: The Austrian chef who fell in love with Portugal
It has been a hot summer’s day in Portugal. Temperatures have soared to 43 degrees celsius at the Herdade dos Grous farm in the Alentejo region which we visited with Hans Neuner, chef of two Michelin star restaurant Ocean and Kurt Gillig, the managing director of Vila Vita Parc who has invested in this 1700-acre farm to produce organic products for its hotel and restaurants. The heat is stifling. It is like nothing I’ve experienced before. But the evening promises to be cooler as we head to the Atlantic Ocean to fish for calamari. We set foot in the cold sea to board the fishing boat outside the idyllic beach in front of Vila Vita Parc and we are off to get a taste of what its like to fish for mackerel and calamari. We’re on a small fishing boat with Hans Neuner who never imagined he would still be in Portugal when he arrived here in 2007. “When I arrived, I had given it two three years to try it out and see how it goes. But I fell in love with it and stayed. You will not … [Read more...]
‘We are here to preserve what we have’ – Jorge Raiado of Sal Marim
Jorge Filipe Raiado of Sal Marim knows his salt. Since taking over the salt business in 2007 he has been perfecting the art of flor de sal or (sea salt) in the idyllic surrounding of Castro Marim, a nature reserve in the Algarve. “We are here to preserve what we have,” he tells us on a visit to harvest salt together with Hans Neuner chef of the two Michelin star restaurant Ocean at the Vila Vita Parc in the Algarve. The salt pans have been there since the Romans with canals which bring in the sea water on a daily basis especially during the hot summer months. The sea salt is drawn into the salt pans and the water is allowed to evaporate. Most of the water goes to the bottom of the salt pans and becomes ordinary sea salt but some salt crystals float on the surface of the water forming a delicate crust of crystals which is collected by hand. This type of salt called flower of salt can only be collected when it is very sunny , dry and with slow, steady winds. It is a … [Read more...]