A French chef, Sébastien Bras who runs the three Michelin star restaurant Le Suquet restaurant in Laguiole, France, has asked the Michelin guide to be stripped of the prestigious ranking because at 46, he wants to give a new meaning to his life and to redefine what is essential. "I have reflected on a quote and it captures my current spirit to focus on what is essential in life. I want to give a new meaning to my professional and personal life away from the constraints and pressures," the world renowned chef said. This has placed Michelin in unchartered territories. There has never been a French chef who has asked the guide to strip the restaurant of its stars. In previous cases, the restaurants had changed considerably and therefore Michelin was forced to recognise such a change. The French chef that he took the decision together with his family. "I took over the restaurant from my father 10 years ago and the restaurant has been a source of great satisfaction for us. Since … [Read more...]
Six hands dinner by Gert De Mangeleer, Zaiyu Hasegawa and Hiroyasu Kawate at Hertog Jan
When Zaiyu Hasegawa, chef of Tokyo restaurant Den came to Belgium to cook at Hertog Jan, the three Michelin star restaurant of chef Gert de Mangeleer and Joachim Boudens he came with a pan and a plan. He and Hirouasu Kawate, chef of Florilège challenged the Belgian chef to cook a Japanese style rice to accompany the main dish. The Belgian chef rose to the challenge and made a rice with cepes, marrow and snails which was one of those dishes that remains etched in your memories and which accompanied the pigeon from Steenvoorde and a dashi that was made by the two Japanese chefs. This was a splendid six hands dinner that Gert and Joachim hosted with the support of Visit Flanders and Arts Flanders Japan and which was aimed to raise awareness about this Belgian region. At the moment, the Belgian chef is reciprocating the visit with a trip to Japan where he is cooking at Florilege, Den as well as Yusuke Takada's La Cime in Osaka (the latter cooked lunch with Gert on the same … [Read more...]
Four hands lunch by Gert De Mangeleer and Yusuke Takada at Hertog Jan
Gert de Mangeleer, the chef of three Michelin star restaurant Hertog Jan in Zedelgem, Bruges hosted a four hands lunch with Yusuke Takada from 2 Michelin star restaurant La Cime in Osaka, Japan on 24 August. Also present for the event were chefs Zaiyu Hasegawa of restaurant Den in Tokyo which holds 11th place in Asia’s 50 Best and 45th place in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants) and Hiroyasu Kawate, chef of Florilège, 14th in Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. They helped Yusuke prepare his dishes for the four hands lunch before cooking with Gert a dinner on the same day. The event, organised with the support of Visit Flanders and Arts Flanders Japan aimed to raise awareness of this Belgian region while introducing a few Japanese and international media to some of Gert and Joachim Boudens favourite suppliers and fellow chefs. Takada is the most western of the three chefs that cooked at Hertog Jan, also because of the time he spent in France during his formative years. The lunch was … [Read more...]
The beauty of raw prawns
I have never been an early morning person. But I still remember the days when my father used to wake me up early to go fishing with him. I used to relish the time with him. I used to love the anticipation and the preparation that went into the fishing. My father would prepare the fishing bait which either consisted of bread with fermented cheese that had been left in jars in full sunshine and stank really badly or else freshly brought shrimps or gambli as they were more commonly known in Maltese. My attention span when I was young and fishing would not really last long unless I was actually catching fish and to be honest I did not get the point of it until many years later. My father doesn’t even really like fish until this day. But, there is something therapeutic about fishing. You are alone, surrounded by nature sitting or standing in silence.The best time to fish is either at sunrise or at sunset and when it gets dark but to get the best spots you needed to go early. Today, … [Read more...]
GELINAZ! event in Austria starts with lunch at Konstantin Filippou
The GELINAZ! DOES UPPER AUSTRIA event started with a lunch hosted by the chef of Michelin starred Vienna restaurant Konstantin Filippou at his second restaurant O'Boufe. Among the chefs that were present for this first lunch were Momofuku Ko in New York, Ana Roš of Hiša Franko, Kobarid in Slovenia and voted the World's 50 Best Female chef for 2017, SLOVENIA – W50BR 2017 Best Female Chef, May Chow of Little Bao, Hong Kong and the ASIA50BR 2017 Best Female Chef, Antonia Klugmann, L’Argine di Vinco, Cividale, Italy, Colombe Saint-Pierre, Chez Saint-Pierre, Le Bic, Canada and Bo Songvisava of Bo.lan, Bangkok, Thailand. The chefs are in Austria for a four day Austrian discovery which started on August 16th and ends with a final show on Sunday August 20th at the restaurant of father and son duo Helmut and Philip Rachinger, the Mühltalhof. In total 24 chefs will be taking part in the event. These hail from all corners of the world and will work in teams of three or four around 3 … [Read more...]
Preparations in full swing as GELINAZ! DOES UPPER AUSTRIA is just one week away
When the tickets for GELINAZ! DOES UPPER AUSTRIA went out on sale on Thursday 13 July they did not take long to sell out. Within 7 minutes, all the 140 tickets had been sold in what promises to be the most ambitious project undertaken by this collective of chefs. GELINAZ! co-curator Alexandra Swenden, who curates the events together with Andrea Petrini told Food and Wine Gazette that this was a completely new concept which not only involved chefs but also artists. "It was very exciting to create the concept but it is much more complex to other GELINAZ! events that have been organised before," she said. Meanwhile, a competition is being organised called a Paparazzi Flashmob on Wednesday August 16th from 6.30pm to 7.40pm at Steirereck im Stadtpark. The winner will win one ticket for the GELINAZ! performance on August 20 at Mühltalhof. Those taking part need to grab their camera or cellphone and head to Steirereck at the time when the chefs are arriving and take as many pictures … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #120
‘If the children grow it themselves, they’re more likely to eat it’: “These are peas,” says a tiny girl in a red bucket hat, her face a tapas of freckles. “We eat them for snack time. They just taste like ordinary peas; like you’d eat for your dinner.” I am standing in the Marlborough School allotment, tucked into the side of a sunny hill in Falmouth, Cornwall, surrounded by children no taller than my hip, as they chew on nasturtiums, studiously check the soil temperature and throw themselves on to the grass beside a bed of carrots to look for slugs. This is where groups of Marlborough students, aged five to 11, and their parents, come and grow their own courgettes, broad beans, kale, carrots and herbs, all to end up in their school dinners. London restaurants – at tipping point? I can still recall the details of a conversation 15 years ago with my friend Danny Meyer, the successful New York restaurateur, photographed above at his restaurant Maialino by Melissa Hom. He was … [Read more...]
Maria Canabal and the difficult plight of women in the food and restaurant world
Maria Canabal, journalist and founder of Parabere Forum is on a mission to raise awareness on the importance of gender balance in the food industry. She has the figures to prove that the plight of women in the restaurant as well as the food industry is not something that would make any industry proud. Women are paid 28 per cent less than men in the industry making it the second worse industry of all. Only the IT industry fares worse. She was speaking at the first ever congress of the W Food Festival organised in Namur for the first time by Generation W, the collective of chefs from the Belgian region of Wallonia. Food events have a tendency to miss women. Only MAD, the conference organised by Danish chef René Redzepi every two years in Copehagen achieves gender balance. Most of the other conferences have a very dismal female representation with Taste of Paris having just 5% and Omnovore 14%. Only 2 per cent of judges in the San Pellegrino Young chefs are women and there are … [Read more...]
San Degeimbre and perma-management: Learning to manage people by finding inspiration from nature
“It is essential to understand nature before you can start to understand your kitchen,” says San Degeimbre, chef of Belgian restaurant L' Air du Temps. “A plant will give you lots of hints about what you can do in the kitchen. Observing plants and nature not only inspires you but also communicates with you. Through observation you can notice that a plant or vegetable needs water. But when we speak with humans, observation is all the more essential because communication alone is not sufficient. Someone can tell you that they are very well when it might mean exactly the opposite. Understanding and observing are therefore essential," he said. Drawing inspiration from perma-culture he spoke about what he called perma management or taking inspiration from nature to find ways to solve problems and find ways to manage people. He was speaking at the first W Food Festival event organised the Generation W, the collective of chefs from the French speaking Belgian region of Wallonia which he … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #119
'A dream job': chef Gabriel Gaté on eating his way through the Tour de France: French chef extraordinaire Gabriel Gaté may have the best job in the world. For more than half of the year he travels the spectacularly scenic route of the 21-stage Tour de France bicycle race, sampling produce from artisan cheese-makers, pastry chefs and winemakers. How Daniel Humm became the world's best chef: It had been snowing all night. The road down the mountain snaked through an icing of whiteness. Daniel Humm, the young chef whose cooking had brought a Michelin star to this patch of the Swiss Alps, had crawled into bed around three in the morning. Now he was up again, two or three hours later, his bones aching and his eyes bloodshot. Humm had to make it from his kitchen at Gasthaus zum Gupf in Rehetobel, Switzerland, to the market in Zurich, about 90 minutes away. He needed to buy the best lettuces and herbs from the countryside, the best lemons and oranges trucked in from Italy. His dishes … [Read more...]