Around 10 years ago, I sat for a five session course on wine tasting. The sommelier who was organising the wine course presented us with a range of natural wines, a few excellent, most foul. The scope was not to convince us about the merits or not of natural wine but rather to allow us to spot the defects in a wine whether it was natural or not. Move 10 years and in 2018, most restaurants and wine bars worth their salt are offering many natural wines and biodynamic wines on their wine lists. But have we reached peak natural wine? What’s the difference when it comes to taste with biodynamic wines? Can they be both? And has there been improvement in natural wines. These were the questions we tried to explore at a wine tasting club I am a member of. Together with a friend, we selected 10 wines from philosophical European winemakers who in one way or another have a vision and who translate their vision into their wines. This was an atypical wine tasting moving where we compared … [Read more...]
Perfecting the Hierbas de las Dunas, a liqueur created by chef Syrco Bakker
When Syrco Bakker created Hierbas de las Dunas he did not give it much thought. He combined 18 different types of herbs, flowers and plants from Cadzand’s dunes to create what would turn out to be a versatile drink that had a pure salty-sweet flavour that made it perfect for an aperitif, after-dinner drink or even a cocktail ingredient. The chef of Michelin star restaurant Pure C in Cadzand-Bad who works closely with Dutch celebrity chef Sergio Herman created the liqueur in his kitchen taking inspiration from a drink he had tried in Ibiza but he had no idea how to distribute it or the difficulty to compete with the marketing budgets of the giants in the industry. That naivety may however be the success of this product which is sought after by some of the leading cocktail bartenders. “I spoke with my father and with Charlotte how he would distribute it and we decided to form a company. The beauty of it is that all of us do this in our own free time,” he said. Today, two years … [Read more...]
The chicken piri piri in Algarve
Renowned author Malcolm Gladwell came up with the concept that 10,000 hours of practice are needed to become world-class in any field. That principle seems to hold true for Restaurante Algarve in the sleepy village of Guia. Since the 1960s, the same family (through different generations) have been serving chicken piri piri using the same recipe. There were four generations of the family when we visited, the great-grandmother still supervising the cooking in the kitchen. You will not find much information about the restaurant online. It has been run pretty much in the same way since it opened. If you walk past the restaurant, you may even think twice before entering. It’s like time stood still. The decor is still very 1960s and 1970s, the tables give you the impression that they've remained the same from that time, but the family have been cooking the same chicken piri piri for many years and they have clearly perfected it. The restaurant serves chicken piri piri, a tomato salad, … [Read more...]
‘We are here to preserve what we have’ – Jorge Raiado of Sal Marim
Idyllic location for the Sal Marim salt pans in Castro Marim Jorge Filipe Raiado of Sal Marim knows his salt. Since taking over the salt business in 2007 he has been perfecting the art of flor de sal or (sea salt) in the idyllic surrounding of Castro Marim, a nature reserve in the Algarve. “We are here to preserve what we have,” he tells us on a visit to harvest salt together with Hans Neuner chef of the two Michelin star restaurant Ocean at the Vila Vita Parc in the Algarve. The salt pans have been there since the Romans with canals which bring in the sea water on a daily basis especially during the hot summer months. The sea salt is drawn into the salt pans and the water is allowed to evaporate. Most of the water goes to the bottom of the salt pans and becomes ordinary sea salt but some salt crystals float on the surface of the water forming a delicate crust of crystals which is collected by hand. This type of salt called flower of salt can only be collected when it … [Read more...]
It is time to rethink Italy again: Why Italians hope Bottura’s rise to the top can put the country in the culinary spotlight
Italy is not just heritage. Under the surface, there is a lot going when it comes to food. It is time to think of Italy again When Ferran Adria placed at the top of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list successively he not only helped to make a name for himself and his restaurant el Bulli but he also lifted the fortunes of Spain and its gastronomy for good. Italians are now hoping that Massimo Bottura’s second top position in the space of three years will have a similar effect. Look at the world’s leading chefs today and most of them will have one thing in common. They have nearly all trained at the Adrias’ iconic restaurant el Bulli. No one has had an impact like the Spanish chef over the past years and one can say he has given chefs like Massimo Bottura and René Redzepi and many others the license to reinvent restaurants. There is maybe no one today who has the aura that Ferran Adria had though in a few years we may look at a number of today’s stars in the same … [Read more...]
Ana Ros: ‘Every ingredient is a challenge for a chef. The less valuable it is the bigger the challenge’
When Ana Ros, the Slovenian chef of Hisa Franko cooked at Christophe Hardiquest’s Bon Bon earlier this month she brought dishes with very bold flavours to reflect her style of cooking. “This is my character. I am very explosive. I cannot say that 100 per cent of my dishes are like this but 70 per cent of our dishes are very intense. They call me thunderstorm and I can be very emotional but this is how my kitchen is,” she told Food and Wine Gazette after the fourth Bon Bon dinner at the Brussels restaurants. “I don’t think the cooking is extreme because it is not extreme but it is strong. There is of course a risk that people don’t like it. For me, I prefer that 80 per cent love it and 20 per cent say never gain rather than staying in the middle.” That is understandable given that she has made it to the top of the game having been awarded best female chef last year and also featuring in Netflix’s popular food series Chef’s Table. Last month, for the first ever time, she made it … [Read more...]
Opening the senses to something new as Ana Roš cooks with Christophe Hardiquest at Bon Bon
Before she decided to take up cooking around 14 years ago, Ana Roš was heading to Brussels to work with the European institutions where she had just been offered a job. As fate had it her partner’s father was retiring from the restaurant he owned, the Hiša Franko and there was no one to take over his work expect Victor who would become her husband. On the spot and against the will of her father she decided to stay in Slovenia and build her career in the restaurant. Having knowledge of 5 languages, she did not start in the kitchen but soon she realised that this would be necessary. Yesterday (4th July) she was in Brussels again, this time not because of the offer she had received 14 years ago but rather on the request of Christophe Hardiquest, a chef she really admires after a dining experience she had at the restaurant before this visit. She was the fourth guest to cook at Bon Bon in the series of Bon Bon Origins dinners that chef Christophe Hardiquest is organising as he … [Read more...]
Le Chalet de la Forêt: Creating emotions by joining the creative forces of two chefs
If you happen to arrive to Le Chalet De la Forêt blindfolded or haven’t paid any attention to how you got there, you will not believe that you are still in the Belgian capital, Brussels. Nestled in the immense Sonian Forest a bit further away from one of the main parks of the city, the Bois de la Cambre, is a chalet that houses this two Michelin star restaurant. The road leading to the restaurant is stunning whichever season you pass through it. Be it the austere winter months, spring, summer or autumn when the leaves turn golden, it always has a magical feel especially at dawn or dusk. In this location, Pascal Devalkeneer, the chef and owner of the restaurant and Kasper Kurdhal, the executive chef have joined their creative efforts and are starting to push boundaries hoping that they can take the restaurant to the next level. Why this restaurant is not really on the radar screen is something that intrigues me and you can learn more from my interview with Kasper Kurdahl in … [Read more...]
Eneko Atxa opens Eneko in Bilbao
Eneko Atxa, chef of 3 Michelin star restaurant Azurmendi and Eneko, both in Larrabetzu in the Basque countryside has opened a new restaurant in the city of Bilbao. The Spanish chef from the Basque region also has restaurants in London and Tokyo. The Basque chef has opened the restaurant in the Euskalduna Palance on May 24 with the aim of serving traditional Basque dishes and showcasing the land, the culture, the traditions, the Basque producers and their work. This approach has already been recognised in the restaurant Eneko in Larrabetzu but he now takes the concept to Bilbao in the centre of this dynamic Basque city. The restaurant next to Azurmendi clinched a Michelin star late last year. Eneko Bilbao is based on traditional Biscayan cuisine, ancient recipes presented in an elegant and direct manner with all the intensity of Eneko's cooking style. The concept of Eneko Bilbao is based on Eneko's desire to recover and update recipes that are part of his personal culinary … [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...]