The evening that Michelin awarded Bozar Brasserie with a Michelin star was the day that Karen Torosyan knew that he would become the master of his own destiny. His fate changed that day, he knew he was about to make the investment of a life time. It was not the star that changed everything but rather the realisation that now was the moment to turn his dream of owning a restaurant into reality. Since he started cooking in Georgia at the age of 13, he always dreamt that he would one day own his own restaurant. “The moment we clinched a Michelin star it became clear in my head that I needed to become independent. This would be the final step in my career, to have a project with my wife, a project that we could call a family project,” Karen Torosyan, chef of Bozar Restaurant in Brussels told me in an interview. Earlier this year, the Armenian chef who was born in Georgia bought the Bozar restaurant from David Martin of La Paix and an investor. One of the first changes he made was … [Read more...]
New restaurant and noodle bar by the Bun team in Antwerp
Huibrecht Berends and Hoa Truong, the duo behind Bun Vietnamese Street Food, the popular food bar in Antwerp have announced new plans to expand their business and bring more authentic Vietnamese food to the Flemish city of Antwerp. Their current Bun Vietnamese Street Food restaurant which is on Sint Jorispoort will be turned into a Vietnamese noodle shop from 12 June 2018. Hoa Truong and Huibrecht Berends have announced that they will also be opening a new bar and restaurant in summer on Volkstraat in Antwerp. Hoa and Huibrecht told Food and Wine Gazette that the Bun Bar and Restaurant in Volkstraat will open in August and will have 35 covers in the restaurant and 20 at the bar. "The restaurant will have an open kitchen, we will be serving the same style cuisine but they will no longer serve big bowls of noodles at the restaurant. Our idea is to have more smaller dishes and main courses to share. Our new restaurant will enable reservations and have all the comfort of a … [Read more...]
Noma to open bookings for Game and Forest season on June 6
Bookings for the Game and Forest season which starts on 2 October and runs till 22 December at noma will open tomorrow June 6 at 4pm (Central European Time). This is the only period of the year when René Redzepi will be serving meat at noma. Since the restaurant reopened in a new location in February, the restaurant has been working with three fixed seasons. The first focused on seafood and the vegetable season will follow when the restaurant reopens after a short break later this month. Redzepi said that meat will be playing a key role during this season and they will serve anything that they can get their hands on from a teal to goose, a leg of moose, reindeer tongue or wild ducks. The restaurant has assured their Instagram followers that they will spare their friendly duck neighbours who are constantly featuring on their Instagram stories. The Game and Forest Season also pays homage to everything that grows in the forest from berries to mushrooms, nuts and also wild … [Read more...]
Great lineup of chefs for this year’s Flavour Fair in Vilvorde on 10 June
The third edition of the Flavour Fair organised by Big Green Egg Belgium and Luxembourg will be held at Kruitfabriek in Vilvorde on the outskirts of Brussels on Sunday 10 June, 2018. The Flavour fair offers an interesting list of chefs who will use their culinary talents to cook on the Big Green Egg. Among the chefs taking part are San Degeimbre of L'Air du Temps, Bart de Pooter of Pastorale, David Martin (La Paix and Ateliers de la Mer), patissier Joost Arijs, North Sea Chefs Broes Tavernier, Piet de Vos of Arto, Nicolas Decloedt of Humus Botanical GastronomyBruno Timperman of Bruut, Karen Torosyan of Bozar RestaurantJohan Yon and Olivier de Vinck of Kommilfoo, Sander Van de Walle of Sel Gris among others. Apart from the chefs who will cook for the guests taking part in the event, there will be a number of demonstrations as well as courses on different themes. Through tips from experts and chefs, guests will be able to improve their knowledge of cooking using the Green … [Read more...]
Carbonara king Luciano Monosilio quits Roman restaurant Pipero
Luciano Monosilio, known for his legendary spaghetti carbonara which is considered to be one of the best if not the best in Rome announced on Facebook today that he has quit Pipero, a restaurant he has been chef of for the past eight years. The chef from Albano said these past eight years had been intense starting at Rex than moving to the new restaurant at Chiesa Nuova. "I have grown professionally and also personally but the cuisine at Pipero was becoming smaller and smaller for me. Many have asked me over the past years whether I felt the need to be independent as happened with many of my colleagues. I don't hide the fact that I had thought about it but it was not the right moment." "Today, is different. I thank the people who helped me in this journey and I leave the restaurant with a lot of experience which I can use in the forthcoming adventures." Alessandro Pipero, the owner and front of house announced that the decision was taken jointly. He said the new chef will be … [Read more...]
SingleThread in California is restaurant to watch in World’s 50 Best
SingleThread farm restaurant in Sonoma County, California, a farm restaurant has been named this year’s Miele One To Watch by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Founded in December 2016, SingleThread is a partnership between husband-and-wife team Kyle and Katina Connaughton, comprising a restaurant, inn and farm built on the ethos of Japanese omotenashi — the spirit of selfless hospitality— bringing an infusion of Eastern philosophy and culture to the farm-to-table concept. SingleThread’s founders will be presented with this highly coveted award at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards in Bilbao on 19 June. The One To Watch Award celebrates emerging global talent and recognises a restaurant that is outside the main 50 Best list,with strong potential to rise up the ranking in the near future. William Drew, Group Editor of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, said: “SingleThread is the perfect example of a forward-thinking restaurant with a strong narrative at its heart, which serves … [Read more...]
How Bozar chef Karen Torosyan became the ‘pie king’ of Belgium
To understand Karen Torosyan you need to understand his love affair with the pâté en croûte. In 2015, he became the World Champion of Pâté en Croûte and there has been no looking back since then. In many ways it has defined who he is but it also explains the philosophy of this talented chef who pushed Gault & Millau to create a category of Artisan of the Year to acknowledge his talents and skills. Today foodies who visit Brussels or Belgium on a food trip are known to head to Bozar Restaurant for a taste of his world famous ‘pâté en croûte’. He is the pie and pastry king par excellence. On a recent visit to Brussels, Andrea Petrini of GELINAZ! fame among others, is known to have waited one and a half hours to have a millefeuille prepared for him from scratch. It is prepared on order and Andrea had not ordered it in advance. Karen Torosyan is today master of his own destiny having bought the restaurant that is housed in the Horta designed Palais des Beaux Arts (Centre of … [Read more...]
René Mathieu wins restaurant philosophy award as Gault & Millau Culinary Innovators Awards 2018 are announced
René Mathieu, chef of Luxembourg restaurant La Distillerie has clinched the restaurant philosophy award at the Gault & Millau Culinary Innovators awards 2018 for Benelux that were announced on Monday evening at the beautiful premises of the Verbeke Foundation in Kemzeke. The chef is known for his use of nature in his cuisine and has recently launched a unique augmented reality book Vegetal. The focus of the awards was on sustainability, reasonable consumption and how we can all be more conscious about what we eat and how we handle food. Among the winners were Eatmosphere which emphasis the need to reduce food waste (Sustainability Award); the Institution award went to North Sea Chefs the collective of chefs created by 2 Michelin star chef Filip Claeys who has sought to raise awareness on the need to cook with more sustainable fish even at top end restaurants and is also raising awareness on the problem of plastics in the ocean. The product award went to Disposables.bio, a … [Read more...]
Gert de Mangeleer and Joachim Boudens to open second L.E.S.S. in Ghent, a traditional Flemish bistro in Bruges
Gert de Mangeleer and Joachim Boudens, the co-owners of three Michelin star restaurant Hertog Jan in Zedelgem, Bruges, Belgium have told Flemish newspaper Het Niewsblad they plan to open a second bistro L.E.S.S. in Ghent either next year or the following. At the beginning of this year they announced that they would be closing their 3 Michelin star restaurant Hertog Jan on 22 December 2018. Originally, they had planned to sell the property when they announced that they would close the restaurant. They no longer have plans to sell the building. They told the newspaper that soon after the announcement a serious candidate emerged but a month and a half ago that ended. "Finding a buyer is not easy. We thought about it and suddenly we saw the benefits of keeping it. It is a beautiful building with large spaces, a beautiful garden, a well equipped kitchen." The venue will be used for seminars, product presentations, baby showers, weddings and also to cook for themselves. They intend … [Read more...]
14 top international sommeliers visit Douro Boys
14 top international sommeliers among whom Mattia Spedicato of Copenhagen 3 Michelin star restaurant Geranium and Melania Bellesini of the acclaimed The Fat Duck in the UK have visited the Douro Valley to visit the 'Douro Boys' which is composed of five wine estates, the Quinta do Crastro, Niepoort, Quinta Vale D. Maria, Quinta do Vallado and Quinta do Vale Meao. Over the course of three days, the 14 sommeliers visited the five wineries. There, they were able to learn things that they had always known about the Douro Valley and experience wines that have always wanted to taste. They were given five detailed presentations addressing topics like indigenous grape varieties, the longevity of the red wines, the mineral characteristics of the white wine, the various styles of Ports and the particular nature of the Vinhas Velhas that are often eighty years or even older. Mattia Spedicato, the restaurant manager and sommelier at Geranium said that Douro red wines offer a wide range of … [Read more...]