The iconic dish at Paul Bocuse: Soupe aux truffes VGE created in 1975 LYON: In Lyon, France's capital of gastronomy, the city is waking up to news that Restaurant Paul Bocuse will lose its third star when Michelin announces its results on Monday 27 January. The news was published exclusively by Le Point who called the news 'an electrochoc' and the effect of a bomb in gastronomy. The restaurant in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or in Lyon had three stars continuously since 1965. But the news comes as no surprise because it has been rumoured since last year when Marc Haeberlin (L'Auberge de l'Ill), Marc Veyrat (La Maison des bois) and Pascal Barbot at L'Astrance all lost their three stars. Le Point said that Gwendal Pullennec, the Michelin Guide director was in Lyon yesterday morning to announce the decision to the restaurant team telling them the decision 'was taken collectively'. For many months now, there have been rumours going around about the increasing possibility that the … [Read more...]
The 12 trends that are likely to shape the 2020s
At the risk of making a fool of myself, the start of a new decade is normally a time for establishing what will be the trends in the next decade. And in this case, here are a few thoughts on where I think the world of food and wine and gastronomy is heading in the next decade. Looking back, it is hard to believe that things we take for granted today did not exist a few years ago. It would be hard to believe today that Instagram did not exist at the start of the previous decade. Today, the social media app has become the most important tool for chefs and restaurants. It is a force for what’s good and what’s bad in the world of food today. Nordic cuisine was barely on the radar though the world was starting to learn about Rene Redzepi’s work at noma, Spain was just rising in the ranks of gastronomy thanks to the work of Ferran Adria which put the country in the spotlight. And then came the announcement that el Bulli would close in 2012. We had the rise and rise of the World’s 50 … [Read more...]
Norbert Niederkofler cooks the mountain at St Hubertus
SAN CASSIANO: Norbert Niederkofler loved the mountains but wanted to travel so he left South Tyrol to cook his way around the world. In 1993 he returned to the region and was given the opportunity to be chef at the pizzeria of the Hotel Rosa Alpina in San Cassiano at the base of the Dolomite mountains in 1994. At the time, the hotel restaurant was a humble pizzeria and signs of this are still visible in the restaurant kitchen of this 3 Michelin star restaurant. Norbert took this restaurant and slowly but surely has turned the St Hubertus into one of Italy's culinary meccas and one of the latest Italian restaurants to get the 3 Michelin star accolade. To get there, he’s had to change direction and that breakthrough came with the birth of his first son a few years ago. Prior to that, he had been cooking with some of the best ingredients he could get his hands on from langoustines to caviar and fois gras. "The birth of my son made me realise that I needed to change my ways," … [Read more...]
New book by René Sepul puts Wallonia in the spotlight
BRUSSELS: A new book written by food writer René Sepul and published by Sh-op Editions puts Wallonia, the French speaking part of Belgium, in the spotlight. La Wallonie, à pleines dents is the follow-up to the book Mange Wallonie published six years ago. "A lot has changed in the past six years in Wallonia. The book is a portrait of some of the positive developments in the region. Chefs have moved forward and are showcasing producers more and more," said René in his introduction to this book. The author said the choice of chefs and restaurants is subjective but offers a view of Wallonia today. The book portrays 30 different chefs from different gastronomic restaurants, brasseries and bistros as well as a café and wine bar. This deliberate mix is aimed to showcase what is on offer in this Belgian region. The book was published in the week when René's previous book La Bonne Addresse written together with chocolatier Pierre Marcolini on their favourite places in Brussels … [Read more...]
Michelin adds Malta to its list of restaurant guides
MALTA: Amid the largest political crisis to have ever hit the tiny Mediterranean island of Malta, Michelin announced the release of an online guide on Maltese restaurants. The guide will be available free of charge. The Michelin guide will be revealed on 26 February on Michelin's digital platform guide.michelin.com Malta joins 32 countries that will be covered by the Michelin Guide in 2020. Gwendal Pullennec, the International Director of the Michelin guides said "Our mission at the Michelin Guide has always been to highlight the best gastronomic establishments around the world to its readers. Today the Maltese culinary scene has talents that are worthy of discovery by foodies from around the world." Malta joins Slovenia which will is also being added to the portfolio of countries that are covered by Michelin. The latter is rumoured to have paid around EUR 1 million to have Michelin judge its restaurants. It is not known what the cost for Malta has been but it is likely to run … [Read more...]
GELINAZ stay at home shuffle: The tofu camembert that gave the game away
BRUSSELS: On November 17, an innocuous post was published on Inua's Instagram page. It was a repost from one of the restaurant chefs. "After 60 or so trials and variations (some of which were the worse things I've tasted in a very long time we've finally reached consistency in something we're pretty happy with." With it they posted a photo of tofu treated like camembert made with soy milk. Thousands of kilometres away, at Bon Bon Restaurant in Brussels, Christophe Hardiquest and his team were wrecking their brains on the matrixes they received from one of 148 chefs around the world. It was part of the GELINAZ! Stay in Tour Shuffle. "We have been working the whole month on the recipes. We were not used to certain produce, to certain ingredients and also to certain fermentations," Christophe Hardiquest told Food and Wine Gazette. He knew that the recipes came from Asia, that was evident from the ingredients and there also was a Nordic touch though though the penny really … [Read more...]
Valeria Piccini takes a touch of Tuscany to Angelo Agliano’s Tosca in Hong Kong
Valeria Piccini and Angelo Agliano at the four hands dinner in Hong Kong HONG KONG: Valeria Piccini and Angelo Agliano had never met before Valeria’s trip to Hong Kong. They had spoken briefly over the phone to plan a series of three four hands dinners. But you would not have noticed the moment they met on the 108th floor of the Ritz Carlton Hong Kong, the highest hotel in the world. Tosca, the restaurant run by Sicilian chef Agliano was hosting Valeria for the first in the series of events called Gems and Pearl which will see other female Italian chefs visiting Hong Kong next year. It was last Monday evening when Valeria arrived together with sous chef Guglielmo Chiarapini and Andrea Bertolino together with Agrodolce journalist and editor Lorenza Fumelli after a long flight via London. We sat down to sample Angelo’s cooking that evening and slowly get to know the team at Tosca. After a necessary visit to Macau on Tuesday, Wednesday’s morning start was not for the … [Read more...]
Star chef and top barista launch coffee
Syrco Bakker and Rob Clarijs (Photo by Joey Rietveld) ZEELAND: Dutch star chef Syrco Bakker and coffee specialist Rob Clarijs have joined forces to create Oostenwind, a sublime coffee in which you can taste their ambition, authenticity, pride and passion. The coffee has been available from 11 November at Pure C and selected outlets in the Netherlands. See here for details. Syrco Bakker earned his second Michelin star for restaurant Pure C in Cadzand in December 2018 and Rob Clarijs won the famous coffee Masters international coffee competition in London in April 2019. They have been at the highest level in their field for a number of years. In addition to being a chef, Syrco is the founder of Hierbas de Las Dunas, a herbal liqueur made from local Zeeland herbs. A few years ago Rob founded his coffee brand De Zeeuwse Branding, which focuses on the higher segment of the hospitality industry in Zeeland. The two have one thing in common: Zeeland. “Syrco sets high … [Read more...]
Teddington: the new Brussels bar and bistro with a ‘hockey theme’
BRUSSELS: Hockey is big in Belgium. After all the Red Lions, as the Hockey team is called are the current World Champions. A brand new address in Brussels that has just opened just off Place St Job in Uccle by Olivier and Catherine Lust, the owners of a gastronomic restaurant in Lasne called La Ligne Rouge. Teddington is housed inside a former printing press just off Place St Job, Uccle. The square in Uccle is at the crossroads of four of the commune's four hockey clubs and just a few 100 metres away from Royal Racing Club Brussels. Olivier has played hockey for more than 40 years. He and his wife have decided to call the restaurant Teddington, reminiscent of the English city where the foundations of hockey were created. In addition to the name of the new bar and bistro, the atmosphere of the old printing press has been maintained with the combination of wood, metal and old bricks and this is enhanced by black and white photographs of the main players of the Belgian national … [Read more...]
Bert Meewis is Gault & Millau chef of the year 2020 in Belgium
Bert Meewis, chef of Restaurant Slagmolen in Oudsbergen in the province of Limbourg is the Belgian chef of the year for Gault & Millau. Top performers in the guide this year are Boury, Le Coq aux Champs and La Paix who all scored 17.5, Bozar and Vrijmoed with 17 points and Kano, t’Korennaer, Schatteman, Sir Kwinten and Willem Hiele, all with 16 points. The two restaurants Hof Van Cleve and Bon Bon kept their top score of 19.5 out of a maximum 20. Hof Van Cleve clinched the 5 golden chef hats this year. Among the young chefs of the year are Glenn Verhasselt (Sir Kwinten - Lennik) for Flanders, Jean Vrijdaghs and Sébastien Hankard (Le Gastronome - Paliseul) for Wallonia and Grégoire Gillard (Barge - Brussels) for the Brussels region. The thematic results for 2020 were as follows Front of house of the Year: Anca Petrescu (Alexandre - Brussels) Italian Chef of the Year: Eros Tomassetti (Diverso - Westerlo) Asian restaurant of the Year: Dim Dining (Antwerp) Best … [Read more...]