artXwine is a new concept just launched in Belgium which aims to pair wine with works of art. Set up by Francoise Gauthier and Rene Judak, artXwine wants to add a new dimension to food and wine pairing by adding a new sense, sight. The founders, both wine and art lovers have joined forces to create this new experience which they say is very rare. They believe that like wine, art can create multiple emotions that move the person viewing that art. "Almost unexplored, we believe that captivating these two difference universes and merging them together is perfectly natural. The events are organised in Rhode-Saint-Genèse, a commune in the south of Brussels close to the Fort-Jaco neighbourhood. The organisers welcome guests in a recently renovated cottage with its century-old greenhouse. Francoise Gauthier is a chemist who studied oenology and is a wine and champagne importer. He has organised lots of wine tastings and art and antique exhibitions. On the other hand Rene Judak, a … [Read more...]
Benoît Nihant invests in his first cacao plantation in Peru
Benoît Nihant, the bean to bar chocolate maker from Belgium has invested in his first ever cacao plantations in Peru. Eight years after launching his chocolate business in Awans, the Belgian chocolate maker has decided to invest in his own plantation which will allow him to push the boundaries of his chocolate creations. His first plantation, which was always his dream, is in San Jose de Sisa, in the province of Saint Martin. He has decided to name the plantation Luis de Sisa for his son Louis. Speaking to Food and Wine Gazette at the opening of his second store in Brussels before he headed to the plantation in Peru, Benoit said: "It was always my dream to invest in a plantation. The social aspect is also very important in business." The region was carefully selected. After going around the world to look for the best cacao plantations to buy his cacao, the Belgian chocolate maker was seduced by the Saint Martin region in Peru with the amazing scenery, the history and the … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #93
Mastering the Art of French Dining: From childhood, the French are raised to appreciate the art of dining, and the many rituals that accompany it—even public school lunches include a cheese course. Part of the reason you’re traveling to France is, presumably, to tap into that gastronomic reverence. But knowing how to do it right is tricky, particularly if you don’t speak the language. Here’s everything you need to know about Parisian restaurant etiquette, including some helpful phrases. Do as the French do, and you’ll have a much better experience in Paris. How migration has enriched the UK’s booming food culture: The subject has become a key issue in the Brexit debate: who gets in and who has to stay out. And what will Britain look like if we put up insurmountable barriers to people from other countries and cultures who want to live and work here? The Conservative government has already been tightening up immigration controls for the very people British industries say are … [Read more...]
Gelinaz! Brussels Headquarters is a once in a lifetime experience – Christophe Hardiquest (Bon Bon)
Christophe Hardiquest and his restaurant Bon Bon in Brussels has been in the limelight in the past weeks as the news that Gelinaz!, the collective of international chefs, would organise Brussels Headquarters in the Belgian capital city. On November 10, his restaurant in Woluwe St Pierre, one of the communes of the Brussels, will welcome 19 chefs (see full list below) from across Europe for a unique event that has never been organised before. "This is a once in a lifetime experience for the team and myself. An experience like this, it will be forever etched in your memory," Christophe told Food and Wine Gazette in an interview. "But the event is not only important for the team and the restaurant, it is also extremely important for Brussels particularly in this current period. I am proud to be part of such an event." So what is going to happen in Brussels on the 10 November? 20 of the world's most creative chefs including Belgium's Gert de Mangeleer and Kobe Desramaults will be … [Read more...]
San Degeimbre is restaurant owner of the year for Les Grandes Tables du Monde
The past few days have been very important for Belgian chef Sang Hoon Degeimbre. After opening his second restaurant in Brussels by the name SAN Sablon last week, on Monday, the chef of L'Air du Temps was selected as the foreign restaurant owner of the year by the Les Grandes Tables du Monde. This took place in Venice during the 62nd meeting of the association that groups together 170 restaurants from 24 different countries in all 5 continents. Sang Hoon Degeimbre is known as the chef of L'air du Temps, a 2 Michelin star restaurant in Liernu, Belgium. In the past year he has opened two restaurants in Brussels, one in Rue de Flandres in the Place St Catherine area and another in the Sablon year. Last year the chef was nominated by restaurant guide Gault and Millau as the Belgian chef of the year for 2016. L'Air du Temps will be celebrating its 20 years since it first opened next year. Degeimbre has a cuisine that is not only extremely modern and inventive but is also focused on … [Read more...]
Vladimir Mukhin (White Rabbit): The future of gastronomy is glocalisation
Vladimir Mukhin, Russian chef of White Rabbit, the Moscow restaurant that has taken the gastronomic world by storm over the past years is on a mission to make Russian tastes known globally. Born to a family of chefs, he jokes that he was born in the kitchen. Both his mother and father were chefs and so was his grandmother. His grandfather was a teacher in a culinary school and the Russian chef recalls how he started to cook with his grandfather from 5pm to 7pm after school. Mukhin is on a mission to showcase the best of Russian traditions. "The national culture for chefs is the future of gastronomy. We will be going towards what I call glocalisation," he says. "The cooking techniques may be global but we need to find the best recipes and the best tastes of Russia and share it," he says. That is not easy for a young chef born in 1983. "The taste of the Soviet Union in the 1980s was mayonnaise. The people of the Soviet Union only remember this one taste and it killed Russian … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #92
The restaurant that employs grandmas instead of chefs: What’s better than grandma’s cooking? Well, nothing. Which is the raison d'etre of Staten Island's Enoteca Maria. The brilliant brainstorm belongs to owner Jody Scaravella, who started out a decade ago with just Italian nonnas but has branched out to include 30 grandmas from around the world; think Argentina, Algeria, Syria, the Dominican Republic, Poland, Liberia, and Nigeria. Every night there is one Italian grandma in the kitchen, joined by another nonna with a different culinary tradition. Milan leads fight against food waste – with ugly fruit and Michelin-starred soup kitchens: On a Saturday afternoon, as soon as the market is drawing to a close, traders bring their boxes of unsold fruit and vegetables to a corner of Viale Papiniano in Milan. They are welcomed by Rebecca, a 25-year-old student who’s behind Recup, a project that distributes leftover food to people in need in the local neighbourhood. Along with 20 fellow … [Read more...]
Virgilio Martinez (Central): ‘I find inspiration by listening. We need to listen more’
In today's fast world we do not listen enough. And that is a problem for people in all walks of life. Virgilio Martinez, chef of Central, the restaurant in Lima, Peru says he finds inspiration from people. "I find inspiration by listening. We don't listen enough but listening is very healthy. We listen too much to ourselves. As a chef, you sometimes start to take decisions without listening to people," the Peruvian chef told Food and Wine Gazette in an interview at Chef's Revolution in Zwolle recently. Virgilio is the chef of Central, the restaurant in Lima that is the 'Best restaurant' in Latin America and 4th restaurant in the World's 50 Best Restaurants list. The Peruvian chef is considered to be one of the most influential chefs in Latin America if not the world and is known for using modern cooking techniques to make the best use of Peruvian ingredients. He is also heavily influenced by the landscape and ecosystem. With Peru's dramatic changes in its terrain in a relatively … [Read more...]
The story of Gelinaz! and what’s in store for the future: ‘Being creative and continuing to surprise people’
Go back 10 years and the world of food and gastronomy was completely different to what we know today. The World's 50 Best Restaurants was not as influential as it is today, high-end restaurants were still extremely formal, social media and sharing was in its infancy and many of the world's top chefs were still obsessing with trying to 'copyright' their creations. But influential Italian chef Fulvio Pierangelini and Andrea Petrini had other ideas. They saw the opportunity of bringing chefs together from around the world to share knowledge and collaborate on a global level and had the foresight to do this way back in 2007 at a time when food was still not mainstream as it is today. The start was slow but over the past two years, the ambitions of the Gelinaz! collective of chefs has grown despite the fact that it is not a business. Gelinaz!, has made a name for itself over the past years for its creative gastronomic events and for pushing the boundaries every time an event was … [Read more...]
Bean to bar Belgian chocolate maker Benoît Nihant opens store in Dubai
Belgian bean to bar chocolate maker Benoît Nihant has opened his first store in the Middle East. The shop is the second opening this year following the inauguration of a second store in Brussels in the Fort Jaco area in Uccle. The store (photo above) was inaugurated on 1 October at the City Walk complex in Dubai. The opening of the store in Dubai is part of Benoît Nihant's strategy to expand with the opening of more shops while retaining the artisanal approach that makes his chocolates so special. All the chocolates and products are produced in the workshop in Awans, close to the Belgian city of Liege and distributed to the five shops in Belgium as well as Japan and Dubai. The Belgian chocolatier is one of only a few chocolatiers worldwide who starts his chocolate making process buying his beans directly from different plantations worldwide. In an interview with Food and Wine Gazette he had said it was not an easy journey because he had to start from scratch … [Read more...]