Guides have the potential to make or break restaurants and careers. When Michelin announced that an Italian chef had clinched a second star for his restaurant in Italy a few days ago he got extremely emotional. That image is a reflection of the importance guides have in the restaurant industry. How a tyre company became so powerful in the restaurant world is another story but as the guides enter their launching season, it is worth reflecting on what the current pandemic means for them and how they have miserably failed to turn a corner. The Michelin guide launched its 2021 guide for Italy a few days ago. Some observers in Italy thought that they would be a bit more ‘accommodating’ this year particularly given the circumstances. But restaurants that have not reopened because of the pandemic where removed from the guide and therefore had their stars removed. Maybe the most significant of those decisions in Italy was the removal of Combal.Zero from the list. The question pundits in … [Read more...]
The Michelin Guide is a big deal for Malta. Here’s why
VALLETTA: The news that Malta has three one Michelin star restaurants will change the gastronomy landscape on this small Mediterranean island for ever. This is a big deal for Malta and its culinary sphere. Whether you love or hate Michelin and what it stands for, there is no question that to date this remains the most authoritative guide for restaurants worldwide. Before Michelin, there was one restaurant guide in Malta but this was survey driven and therefore did not carry the weight that Michelin or any of the other established world guides has. Restaurants, chefs and owners were more focused on getting a high ranking on Tripadvisor, also important, but by no stretch of imagination as important in terms of driving food enthusiasts to the island. Malta relies heavily on tourism and food over the past years has become a very important driver of tourism destinations. There are many people who centre their travel experience around food experiences worldwide and competition … [Read more...]
Food on the Edge and reinventing the food congress
Could Food on The Edge 2017 be the final nail in the coffin of the ‘Food Congress’ as we know it? If so, it’s about time. Because for 20 years the format – or should we say the frame – has always been the same. An auto-promotional, showing off, a dully TV-oriented gig on a stage starring the usual mix of techniques and dishes. A predictable playlist of chefs vogueing, making it up (to measure) for an audience of sponsors and wannabes. The Berlin Wall has fallen down, long gone are the days of Lo Mejor de la Gastronomia in the Basque Country. But something has happened since then. When the Mad Food Camp took off in 2010 a page was turned. No more mimicking with knives and forks, no more joggling with pots and pans, there you go: speak your heart out and make sense of yourself. Even make a fool of yourself. At its best, when it kept the usual big, boring names and old French farts at bay, MAD opened new doors, setting new standards, reconciling deep thoughts and emotions. And that’s … [Read more...]
What impact does social media have on creativity and our restaurant experience?
Social media and the smartphone may be creating havoc not only in how we experience a restaurant but also in how chefs approach food and how they innovate. People are busy looking at their phones wherever I look. I am interested not only in what they are doing but also in how they are using their phones. Some have their earphones on and are listening to music or their latest favourite podcast. Most are using social media from Instagram to Facebook. There is also a lot of Messaging going on whether its through SMS, WhatsApp or Snapchat. It is difficult to keep up amid this ‘noise’. I am writing this piece from a cafe and while I have my laptop which keeps me focused on writing, it takes an effort to not pick up my phone and ‘follow the crowd’. On the way to the place where I decided to write this piece, I lost count of the number of people that were playing with their phones while driving, walking or even riding their bicycles. It seems like no place is safe from the greatest … [Read more...]
Everyone likes a bad review: the scathing restaurant review that went viral
Jay Rayner's scathing restaurant review of Paris restaurant Le Cinq has been the talk of the internet since the article appeared online on Sunday morning in the Guardian. It went viral pretty instantly confirming that there is nothing that readers like more than a bashing particularly if this has colourful language and has made the writer angry. Jay Rayner's website collapsed as visitors flocked to get the back story to the Guardian review. Readers on social media were urging their followers to read the article saying that this would be the best thing they read that day and the article instantly went viral. By the time of writing the article had over 2,700 comments on The Guardian. When the restaurant critic termed this his worst experience ever readers got curious. They were amused with the colourful language. It was no wonder with gems like "never did I think the shamefully terrible cooking would slacken my jaw from the rest of my head," or "my lips purse, like a cat's arse … [Read more...]
Time and scarcity are today’s luxuries and will define tomorrow’s trends in food and wine
As we start the New Year, it is normally the time to reflect on the previous year but also more importantly to look at what is coming next and to try and spot the novelties that might become trends in the years to come. We have read many articles about predictions for 2017 doing the rounds from Michelin’s take of the 10 trends for 2017 to a sceptical look at the articles predicting trends. There is an obvious tendency to get it wrong and you end up with egg on your face. So instead of looking at what we think will be the top trends we focus on one issue, time, and look at how this will have an impact on the food and wine world in the coming months and years. To take a look at the future, many times you need to look to the past. The start of this article came over a lunch discussion with with Fulvio Pierangelini, Gert de Mangeleer, Clare Smyth and Peter Nillsson a day before the Gelinaz! Headquarters event in Brussels where we ended up discussing the state of fine dining … [Read more...]
2015 – a year of Food and Wine Gazette in review
Just a few hours remain before many will uncork their champagne bottles to bid farewell to 2015 and welcome the New Year, here at Food and Wine Gazette we would like to wish our loyal readers, followers and supporters all the very best for the coming year. We would like to share with you what our readers have enjoyed reading most in 2015. The following is the list of most read articles for 2015. Interview with Peter Goossens: 'Belgium has one of the best cuisines in the world but no one has said it yet' 10 things we learnt from Sergio Herman 10 Sicilian producers to look out for A review of Massimo Bottura's great book Never Trust a Skinny Italian chef Sang-Hoon Degeimbre of L'Air du Temps to open restaurant in Brussels on 5 October Kobe Desramaults announces closure of In De Wulf in December 2016 Massimo Bottura's soup kitchen needs your help Gert de Mangeleer (Hertog Jan): Simplicity is not so simple Francis Mallmann 'Get out of your chair and go out' Fulvio … [Read more...]
Houston, we have a problem: The Maltese are the fattest in Europe and something needs to be done about it
"Houston. We have a problem." It is not every day that my country makes it to the international headlines given it's one of the smallest countries in the world. But recently it has done so for all the wrong reasons and not for something I am proud of. According to the 2015 European health report published by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Maltese have tipped the scales as the fattest population in the European Union. 68.5 per cent of men and 59.6% of women over the age of 18 were found to be overweight by the WHO study. You might ask why this should be of any concern to Food and Wine Gazette. Alas it does because obesity is one of society's greatest problems and has implications way beyond the food world. But the problem also lies in lack of education, awareness and a certain naivety which the food industry banks on to profit from the masses. We recently read that the Maltese government had announced measures to disallow tuck shops at school from selling soft-drinks. … [Read more...]
Non-existent restaurant tops TripAdvisor list in Italian village
You find yourself in a city or village you are not familiar with and you have not really carried out any research so you take out your phone or tablet and try to look up reviews on a website like TripAdvisor or Yelp. You look for restaurants close to where you are and find that the best restaurant in the village is just 200 metres away. It has recently opened, has great reviews and people are raving about it. You walk to the address only to find that the restaurant does not exist. This is what might have happened to you if you were searching for La Scaletta in Moniga del Garda, Italy recently. Italia a Tavola carried out an experiment to verify the reliability of the most visited review portal, TripAdvisor. The restaurant did not exist, though they write that it has been open since the end of April. They put in a false address and telephone number and the reviews started to come in. The restaurant received ten excellent, but obviously false, reviews which led it to the first … [Read more...]
Eight reasons why we think the World’s 50 Best restaurants list may be in trouble
The influence the World's 50 Best restaurants has on the culinary world has been growing every year. But that influence seems to be coming at a price and that price is credibility. The criticism on the way that restaurants are judged has been there for many years but the noise is now growing louder. Over the past years, there were many judges who have quit because they did not agree with the way the list was composed. On Monday 1st June, as the awards were announced for yet another year and the organisers announced that they would be moving to New York next year, it was becoming clearer to independent observers that the event has a credibility problem. A few days earlier, a site Occupy 50 Best was created, calling on sponsors to withdraw from the contest unless it is reformed. And chefs, who may earlier have thought twice before criticising the list, are now becoming more vociferous. Joel Robuchon, Georges Blanc, Francis Mallmann and Gianfranco Chiarini are among the … [Read more...]