NY restaurants - under threat? Des Gunewardena, the chairman of D&D Restaurants (the old Conran group), was in even more ebullient form than usual when I bumped into him recently over lunch in the newly opened second branch of Blacklock in the City of London. His mood, he explained, was primarily due to the fact that he had recently returned from New York. 'They may have Trump', he observed, 'but the city is so confident and positive that they set an example to us all.' With that, he moved on to enjoy some well-grilled meat with his long-standing lawyer. José Andrés and World Central Kitchen Have Served 130,000 People in Puerto Rico: José Andrés and team have surpassed the 100,000 meal mark. Over a week since arriving in Puerto Rico to help those affected by Hurricane Maria, Andrés and his nonprofit World Central Kitchen have served a total of 130,000 meals out of mobile kitchens, restaurants, food trucks, and the Coliseo de Puerto Rico, the island’s largest arena — smashing a … [Read more...]
Gert De Mangeleer reflects on ‘roller coaster’ trip to Japan to cook with Zaiyu Hasegawa, Hiroyasu Kawate and Yusuke Takada
Ask any chef whose been to Japan to speak about the quality of produce there and their eyes light up. Gert de Mangeleer, chef of Belgian top restaurant Hertog Jan is no exception. He's a regular visitor to the land of the rising sun, drawing lots of inspiration from the culture and cuisine and he could not say no when he was asked to reciprocate a visit of three Japanese chefs who visited his restaurant in Zedelgem in late August. In the span of two weeks in September, the Belgian chef cooked at three different top-end restaurants in Tokyo and Osaka. “It was a bit of a roller coaster experience because in two weeks I cooked at three restaurants and also cooked at the Belgian embassy. But it is also a great experience which inspired me in many ways,” he told Food and Wine Gazette. The Belgian chef started his trip to Japan in Tokyo cooking at the restaurant of Zaiyu Hasegawa, Den before cooking at Hiroyasu Kawate’s restaurant Florilège. He then made his way to Osaka where he … [Read more...]
Mauro Colagreco has some advice for GELINAZ! – to keep doing things differently
Mauro Colagreco may have arrived late to Neufeulden for GELINAZ! DOES UPPER AUSTRIA but he has clearly not lost his cool or his smile. He's missed his early morning flight which meant that he had to make his way to Upper Austria. I was looking forward to seeing him again. I had met him a few years earlier. He was actually the first chef that I had ever interviewed for Food and Wine Gazette. I had seen him on other occasions including at the GELINAZ! Brussels Headquarters event. The Argentinian-born chef is a fan of GELINAZ! despite his incredibly busy schedule. "It is a small family and I am among friends. Such an event gives me the opportunity to meet new people. For established chefs, it is a way to meet people that we do not know and to see the new generation that is coming behind us but which are rising very fast," he said. Mauro said that to top it all it is always organised in a magnificent setting making it all the more special. "It is a way to get us out of our daily … [Read more...]
“Winters are getting shorter. I don’t know how this will impact food but it is not good” – Magnus Nilsson
Magnus Nilsson is a very busy man. His day job involves running one of the world’s most sought after destination dining restaurants, Fäviken. He has been featured in television series like Chef's Table and the Mind of a Chef but that’s not all. He has also written what some would consider to be the bible of Nordic cuisine called the Nordic Cookbook. It has taken him around all of Scandinavia, meeting people, researching old recipes and taking over 8,000 photographs during the three years it took him to work on the cookbook. He did all this in his free time writing over 700 recipes in the process. Some might wonder how he manages to do all this in a world where time seems to be so precious but as Magnus tells Food and Wine Gazette, “for me, it is important to do a lot of different things because like that you do not get tired of doing just one thing. It is a way to keep feeling motivated really," he said when I caught up with him during the GELINAZ! DOES UPPER AUSTRIA. As one of … [Read more...]
‘Noma delay could be a good thing for us’ says René Redzepi
René Redzepi, chef of noma, said the delay of noma 2.0 could end up being a good thing for the restaurant. Over the past few months, they have travelled the same journey they did 14 years ago when they opened noma in search of inspiration, new ideas and new ingredients. "To have a month more to be able to work on the new menu is a good thing," Rene said. After their pop-up experience in Mexico, the chef and his team embarked on a journey over the summer months (see stunning video below). The Danish chef said that they had gone back in time to the opening of noma 14 years ago and have covered the same journey they embarked on when they opened the restaurant. In the process, they have visited the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Sweden, Norway and the whole of Denmark. "We have been from farm to farm, butcher to butcher, fisherman to fisherman simply trying to see what's out there. Nothing beats meeting new people, meeting new friends and discovering new ingredients," René … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #121
José Andrés, a naturalized U.S. citizen, has become the face of American disaster relief: Unlike the president, Homeland Security or the Federal Emergency Management Agency, José Andrés has no responsibility to respond to natural disasters, and yet the Washington celebrity chef has become a reliable presence in disaster zones, deploying his Chef Network to help feed thousands of displaced people. Andrés was among the first responders in Haiti and Houston, and now he and his crew from World Central Kitchen are on the ground in Puerto Rico, improvising ways to feed countless residents who are stranded without electricity, drinking water and food in the wake of Hurricane Maria. With little ability to speak with the outside world, Andrés has used his Twitter feed to keep followers updated on his progress in the U.S. territory. A Battle to Save the World’s Favorite Treat: Chocolate: The trees of the International Cacao Collection grow here in an astonishing diversity of forms, … [Read more...]
Filip Claeys to cook with Christophe Pauly on 16 October
Christophe Pauly, chef of restaurant Le Coq aux Champs in Soheit-Tinlot, Belgium will be welcoming Filip Claeys, chef of the Bruges restaurant De Jonkman and the face of the collective North Sea Chefs for a special four hands dinner on 16 October. The dinner, the second in a series of three dinners being organised by the chef from Wallonia will be an unusual dinner which brings together 'the farm' and 'the sea'. This is because the chef, who has his restaurant in the middle of the Wallonian countryside will be inviting Bruges based chef Filip Claeys whose focus is mainly fish. Over the past years, Filip Claeys has been working to raise awareness about the need to use all the fish that are caught by fishermen and not just the ones which are fashionable. When he started, he lost 30 per cent of his customers in the process at his gastronomic restaurant but now, nearly 10 years after founding North Sea Chefs he has managed to convince many of Belgium's best chefs to follow … [Read more...]
I was young and silly. Today, I would do things differently – Joe Warwick on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list
There is one thing that seems to be common in many restaurants I visit or in libraries of chefs that I have seen. They all seem to have the book Where Chefs Eat which is written by food, drink and restaurant writer Joe Warwick. Who doesn’t want to go and eat in the places where chefs eat? He is of course an authority when it comes to food and restaurants. After all, he was involved in the birth of the World's 50 Best Restaurants list which today has become a household name in the world of gastronomy. Taking inspiration from el Bulli, which used to provide customers with a list of places to eat in the area, the book reveals the places where chefs like to eat (though as he himself says, the breakfast places are not something chefs are good at recommending). "The reality is that the fancier the chef or the fancier the restaurant is, they normally crave for something that is simple and delicious. Of course, when they travel they like to go and visit their peers but that is not where … [Read more...]
Magnus Ek: ‘The pace of innovation in food is incredible and is becoming faster’
Swedish chef Magnus Ek is a pioneer in many ways. He started using edible plants and foraging for food more than 20 years ago when it was still unheard of at the time. He did it without much fanfare and you could say that he is one of the early pioneers of the new Nordic cuisine. He is conscious of the fact that the ecosystem surrounding food is set to change but he cannot tell the direction it will go. "If I look at the kitchen of 20 years ago to how it looks now, it is completely different. The pace of invention and innovation has been incredible. And the curve is building really fast," he says. Magnus Ek opened his restaurant Oaxen Krog in Sweden more than 20 years ago at a time when foraging what not what restaurants did. Today, he still forages almost every day. He actually says he has more time for it now than in the past because things have become easier. “It used to be very difficult to find the vegetables I needed in summer. I used to have to go to different farms and … [Read more...]
Is Sebastien Bras’ decision to give back his Michelin stars a one-off or the start of something bigger?
In France, the Michelin guide is big, bigger than anywhere else in the world. It is the benchmark by which chefs and restaurants are judged. And for the French public its a bit like the bible. So when Sébastien Bras took to Facebook to announce that he wanted Michelin to take back his three Michelin stars and did not want to be listed any longer in the Michelin guide he shocked many. In France, and in many other places in the world, no one has the audacity to counter the red guide. They have the ability to make or break you. And they also have an impact on the bottom line. Moving from one star to two stars or from two stars to three stars means an increase in turnover for the restaurant. Some restauranteurs calculate this at 20%. On top of it, three Michelin stars are also scarce. He is one of only 27 chefs and restaurants that have been awarded the coveted three Michelin stars in France. And many more aspire for that accolade. But away from the fanfare is another reality and … [Read more...]