Alexandre Couillon, the French chef of two Michelin star restaurant La Marine in Noirmoutier will be the third chef to cook at the Bon Bon Origins collaborative dinner series. The dinner takes place on Tuesday 29 May at the restaurant in Brussels. Christophe Hardiquest, chef of the two Michelin star Brussels restaurant Bon Bon launched Bon Bon Origins out of the desire to rediscover traditional Belgian recipes that have stood the test of time but deconstructing them and bringing them to life again in a contemporary way, he will be organising collaborative dinners with different chefs that are focused on their own terroirs. Tickets for the dinner will be on sale from Monday 7th May at 6pm on the restaurant website. Alexandre Couillon needs no introduction. He was Gault & Millau French chef of the year in 2017 and also featured in Chef's Table's season on French chefs. He is at the moment of of the most important ambassadors of French cuisine today. The chef's philosophy, … [Read more...]
Moeder Lambic to open Pasta Madre in Brussels with top Bologna pizzaiolo Francesco Oppido
Francesco Oppido in Bologna, known for his contemporary pizza and his quality beers is set to open a new pizzeria in Bologna but Italian food magazine Gambero Rosso has announced that he is currently working on his first ever project outside Italy. The team at Moeder Lambic have recently signed a deal with the new owners of a hotel, A la Grande Cloche, that was built in 1840. The owner of the hotel will be completely restoring the hotel while the restaurant will be in the hands of Francesco Oppido, in partnership with Moeder Lambic. Pasta Madre will be a pizzeria which will open in the beginning of 2019, Jean Hummler of Moeder Lambic told Food and Wine Gazette. It will also have a small kitchen which will accompany the pizza oven. Oppido is known for his doughs (he comes from a family of pizzaioli though he started his career as a pastry chef).Originally from Crotone, he has become famous in Bologna for his restaurants that are focused on his two passions, pizza and artisanal … [Read more...]
The newspaper review that saved Belcanto – José Avillez
Things were looking bright for José Avillez six years ago. He had been through two life-changing experiences first as a trainee at Ferran Adria's legendary restaurant el Bulli and then clinching a Michelin star at the oldest and most prestigious Lisbon restaurant. The opening of Belcanto was the culmination of a journey that had seen him move from a business management degree to cooking. The restaurant was fully booked in the first few weeks for lunch and dinner. José's idea was to serve contemporary Portuguese cuisine, something that at the time was not common in Portugal at the time. People were asking him to serve classics but he had other ideas. Then disaster struck. The financial crisis struck in Portugal and it threatened to bring everything down. "I was extremely worried because I had invested a lot into this restaurant. We stayed open and were serving maybe five lunches and 10 to 15 dinners. There were days we were serving no lunches and maybe 5 dinners. I started to get … [Read more...]
First Belgian Whisky, rum and spirits festival to be held in Brussels in June
Belgium will finally have its whisky, rum and spirits festival. This will take place on the weekend of 1 June to 3 June at the Autoworld at the Cinquantenaire (Jubelpark) in Brussels. This unique festival is open to the general public. It will celebrate whiskey, rum and gin as well as cognac, armagnac, calvados, vodka, tequila, mescal as well as sake, pisco and cachaca as well as some associated products related to the theme such as cigars, chocolate as well as a selection fo Scottish kilts. This event is intended to increase the awareness of the connoisseur, but also to arouse the curiosity of the amateur, who will undoubtedly discover many new products thanks to the range of brands presented. Hundreds of bottles from both the distillery and independent bottlers will be present. There will be around 50 exhibitors, both Belgian and international, with more than 100 stands and more than 180 brands, on more than 1,300 square meters. Throughout the duration of the event, … [Read more...]
The curious incident of the OAD European top 100+ list
When chefs gathered at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London for the launch of the Opinionated About Dining top 100+ European list, they were given a list of the top 100+ restaurants. As one would expect on such occasions, they took to social media to announce their positions and take photos of the list which they posted on their social media profiles. Little did they know that the list they had been given at the dinner was not the correct one. A quick look at the online list showed discrepancies from the 32nd place till the 62nd place. While this may have led to some moments of joy and then deception or vice versa for those concerned, luckily the error did not concern the first places of the list which would have caused the organisers of the event even greater embarrassment. The assumption, given the fact that the list was printed and distributed at "The Great Roast" dinner was that the correct list was the one that was distributed in the hall that evening. Alas this was not … [Read more...]
US chef Dave Chang launches podcast
Majordomo Media, co-founder by US chef Dave Chang has launched its first project featuring the outspoken Korean-American chef. The Dave Chang show is a new podcast that has just been released. The first five episodes feature the chef in conversation with Bill Simmons, founder of The Ringer, the producing partner of Majordomo Media about dining, anger management, living in Los Angeles and the difficulties of opening a new restaurant. Chang, who is mostly known for his award-winning Momofuku restaurant and group recently opened Majordomo, the first restaurant in Los Angeles. He recently also created and hosted a series of Netflix called Ugly Delicious as well as creating what was one of the most iconic food magazines (now defunct) Lucky Peach. He said that anyone who likes food a little bit, is stuck in traffic or sitting on a train and wants to know what really goes into running a restaurant should listen to the podcast. He said listeners may also be people who have heard him talk … [Read more...]
Nick Bril launches his first book
Nick Bril, chef of two Michelin star Antwerp restaurant The Jane has launched his first book 'Nick Bril 33'. At 33, the Dutch chef has been cooking at the highest level for a long time having been the sous chef with his business partner Sergio Herman at Oud Sluis, a 3 Michelin star restaurant that closed at the end of 2013. For his first book, Nick Bril 33, the Dutch chef has bundled together 33 recipes, thoughts and projects from inspiring trips. It depicts a year in the life of this talented chef. The book has been written by Pascale Baelden, a journalist who has worked among others with Weekend Knack, Feeling and Sabato. She can boast of a 20-year career. Her curiosity about life stories and respect for the narrator is central to her interviews. Photographer and designer Jan Mast provided powerful visuals to the book while food photographer Kris Vlegels was responsible for the recipe photos. The book is a unique look into the soul and life of a top chef and passionate … [Read more...]
Andreas Caminada takes top place in 2018 OAD Top 100+ European restaurants
Opinionated About Dining this evening announced the list of the top 100+ European Restaurants for 2018. Andreas Caminada managed to top the list for the first time, surpassing last year's no 1 Alain Passard of L'Arpege in Paris who placed fourth on the list. The second placed was Magnus Nilsson of restaurant Faviken while third place was Etxebarri. Eneko Atxa of Azurmendi placed fifth while Kobe Desramaults who opened Chambre Separee last year in Gent placed 6th. Jonnie Boer from De Librije in Zwolle placed 7th. The OAD list claims to be the only restaurant ranking system that determines the experience level of the people contributing reviews to the site. Each reviewer is assigned a weight that reflects the number of restaurants he/she has visited and those restaurants’ rank on the OAD list. “While this system affords anyone who would like to participate the opportunity to do so, the final rankings reflect the opinions of reviewers who have demonstrated a higher level of … [Read more...]
‘Heroes of Oud Sluis’ to take part in 2018 Foodfest in Cadzand on 4 June
Syrco Bakker and Sergio Herman have announced that this year's Foodfest will take place on Monday June 4 in and around Strandkerk in Cadzand-Bad. This year, Syrco and Sergio have decided to invite a selection of former colleagues who worked with them at Sergio's restaurant Oud Sluis in Zeeland. They call them the 'heroes of Oud Sluis'. Most of these chefs today work in some great restaurants in the Netherlands, Belgium and even further afield such as New York and Singapore among others. Together, they will be working with beautiful Zeeland products that they had used when they worked at Oud Slouis. "We are very much looking forward to working with them on 4 June. During Foodfest, they will all make their own dish with the produce from our region," said Syrco and Sergio. 75% of the tickets for the event have already been sold out. Foodfest is a festival where in addition to art, music and inspiring talks, good food and drink takes centre stage. After two successful early … [Read more...]
Christophe Hardiquest cooks rabbit with gueze at Brussels brewery Cantillon
Rabbit is the type of dish that you either love or you hate. It has a lot to do with culture. Belgium, like France, Italy and even Malta, the country I come from has a certain affinity to this dish. It is a lean meat with lots of nutritional benefits though in some places people are starting to lose the tradition of eating rabbit. Christophe Hardiquest, chef of two Michelin star Brussels restaurant Bon Bon has been on a mission to recreate a traditional rabbit Brussels recipe at his restaurant. Over the past months, he has been working and evolving dishes with rabbit and gueze, a traditional sour Brussels beer that has unique characteristics that are enjoyed by beer lovers from around the world. A gueze beer is a blend of lambics that have been produced during different years which produce a beer that is acidic and fruity with a delicate woody fragrance and a dry finish that lingers on the palate. The rabbit dish at Bon Bon has been evolving. He has served a rabbit tartare … [Read more...]