We are slowly approaching September and with it come many new things. One of the most-awaited restaurant reopenings is Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck which is set to open again next month. If there is one thing that you should read this week, then it should be this brilliant interview by Jay Rayner in The Guardian. The experience is set to be different. It will be all about story telling and he is questioning everything. He says perfection is the enemy of creativity. "All these ideas of success and failure just equal fear of failure, judgement of others and blame of others. It restricts creativity. The opposite of failure is discovery," he says. Read on here. We look forward to head to the Milan Expo in September. In anticipation, here is an article by Emily Teel of Civileats on whether the Milan Expo can bring food systems into the global spotlight. A small Italian bank gives a select group of dairy farmers the opportunity to finance their operations with Parmiggiano Reggiano. … [Read more...]
Drinking wine at the right temperature – not always as easy as it sounds
Drinking wine at the right temperature is a necessity but many get it wrong even in the restaurant trade let alone at home. There is a myth that red wine should be served at room temperature, only that the room temperature is way too warm for your favourite glass of red wine. And even white wines are often over chilled when coming out of the refrigerator. Steve Parker, the creator of Kelvin has come up with a brilliant idea to serve wines always at their ideal temperature. We recently caught up with this UK based company to learn more about the product and also to raise awareness about serving wine at the right temperature, particularly since this is a mistake we have often encountered even in restaurants. Steve, the inventor used to live above a Majestic wine shop in the UK for a short period and became a regular customer and would often get recommendations from the manager for a particular wine. One day, he was recommended a particular Chardonnay from the manager, but having … [Read more...]
Atsushi Tanaka: A Japanese chef conquering Paris
It is not easy to describe the cuisine of Japanese chef Atsushi Tanaka even if he has been described as the Picasso of the kitchen by his master Pierre Gagnaire. Even when asked he hesitates before he answers that his cuisine is French at its basic but with influence from his home country Japan and his travels to Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Scandinavia. "I wouldn't call my cuisine French. Yes, there is French influence but I have worked in Spain, Belgium, Netherlands and in Scandinavia (Copenhagen and Stockholm)," he tells Food and Wine Gazette. Probably the best way to describe his cuisine would be international. He agrees telling me he would describe it as an international contemporary and modern cuisine. This young Japanese chef is one of the many chefs that are establishing themselves in the heart of the world's culinary centre Paris and cooking French cuisine. These Japanese chefs have moved from their traditional Japanese cuisine and are making a name for … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #45
If there is one thing that makes me really nostalgic about my country it is the tomato. At its best, not much is needed to turn it into a meal for the gods. Just a little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, pepper, basil and you are sorted particularly at this time of year when the peak season of the tomato is fast approaching. Alas things have changed and it is now rather common to find imported tasteless tomatoes in supermarkets or shops which is really a pity. Many times I find myself having to ask whether the tomatoes are local or not. But here is a really interesting trick to make tomatoes taste better than they are. It is worth trying. Chris Dwyer who writes at Fine Food Dude has a very interesting article in the CNN on the hottest Asia food trends in 2015. It is worth a read. We love to support a good cause and this is really worth sharing. Virgin have teamed up with OzHarvest by turning food snaps on social media into real meals for people in need thanks to a … [Read more...]
Brussels: an underestimated culinary destination
Millions of people enter Brussels, the capital of Europe, each week. Most come for business or work meetings, some come en route to visit other places in Belgium like Bruges, Gent or Antwerp, others to work and still some to visit what is the administrative capital of Europe. No one comes for its food. That is a mistake, because the food scene in Brussels is incredibly varied and surprisingly good. The same can be said of Belgium, an underestimated culinary country, if ever there was one. Tourists visiting Brussels will normally head to the Grand-Place area and to what has now become one of the largest pedestrian zones in Europe, near the Bourse (Stock Exchange), which will soon be turned into a beer museum and the Place St Catherine area. They will be lured into one of the many restaurants serving mussels and 'French fries'. They will know that Brussels and Belgium is well known for its beers and chocolate, but few are aware of the culinary diversity or richness of the … [Read more...]
Weekly round-up of great reads on food and wine #44
You can love or hate food critics but what happens when critics have different opinions about the same place? And how does this help consumers? The purpose of reviewing restaurants is to help consumers make a choice. Peter Preston on the Guardian makes the point that restaurant evening has become a series of elegant essays too fray to chomp. It is worth a read. The wines of Liguria are really worth discovering. Andrew Jefford has written a very interesting article in this weekend's Financial Times about the wines and wineries of this beautiful Italian region. But you may need to head there. On the subject of Liguria, there is a mention of the Focaccia di Recco, a type of flatbread with cheese which comes from the village of the same name. You can find it in any bakery in Liguria. Here is a list of 9 Italian dishes you must try. Here is a great article about food and authenticity. It is about Mexican food but it is also valid for other cuisines. The Champagne house Maison … [Read more...]
Third edition of Flemish food bash to be held in Gent in November
Less than a month after the successful second Flemish Food Bash event and the charcoal has to still turn completely to ashes, Belgian and Dutch foodies are in for yet another treat this November. A third, albeit, smaller event has been announced. The event takes place on 15 November in Gent. The location has not yet been revealed but organiser Vincent Florizoone of Grand Cabaret restaurant and host of the event said on Facebook that the third edition will be similar in size to the one held at Café d'Anvers last year. Unlike the recent event which attracted a huge number of international chefs and mixologists, the next event will mainly have Belgian and Dutch chef and mixologists. No further details have been announced but the organisers have promised lots of fun as they get the 'fire started again'. The event will be held indoors. The second Flemish Food Bash turned out to be a huge celebration of gastronomy and fun. It was billed as the most starred restaurant … [Read more...]
Recipe (Anthony Genovese): Rigatoni with smoked aubergine, cardamon powder and chocolate
Anthony Genovese, chef of the Il Pagliaccio in Rome, Italy cooked his version of a pasta all norma giving it a very modern twist with the addition of smoked aubergine, cardamon powder and chocolate at Flemish Food Bash last month. The end result was delicious and a combination worth trying. The Italian chef who spent his childhood in France has been influenced by some of the great French chefs but still has a sound Italian base and believes in the quality of Italian produce which gives Italian cuisine an edge. He enjoyed his time at Flemish Food Bash on the Belgian coast and said it was a good break for the daily routine. "It is a way to relax, joke, meet new people. You need to come with a different kind of philosophy and not take it too seriously like in the restaurant." The following is the recipe. Method Burn the aubergine (300 grammes) on the fire. Remove the flesh from the sin and blend together with olive oil, lemon juice and parsley. Pass through a chinoise … [Read more...]
Weekly round-up of great reads on food and wine #43
In the peak of summer the daily routine tends to get lost. There are times when it is too hot to think, let alone write. You dive into the pool and it is warm, the sea temperature is 28C and not even a cool shower is possible because the water coming out from the shower head is too warm for respite. And that means that writing sometimes becomes harder. It is why this weekly round-up comes a day later. But, nevertheless, there's lots to read. Which is the most expensive city for food? And how do you go about deciding this? Hotels.com has come up with a study called the club sandwich index which looks at the price of hotel dining in major cities around the world. The study looks at the price of a club sandwich, a burger, a glass of house red wine and a cup of coffee in 28 different cities. The most expensive cities in order were Geneva, Paris, Hong Kong, Oslo and London. Elizabeth Auerbach, who reviews restaurants independently and is someone worth following on social media, recently … [Read more...]
Anthony Genovese (Il Pagliaccio): Italian cuisine is easy to understand
Italian cuisine is appreciated everywhere in the world because of the quality of its produce. "It is a cuisine that does not require specific emphasis on technique but rather allows the flavours and colours of the produce to speak for themselves. For this reason, it is also easier to understand at the first impact," says Anthony Genovese, chef of Roman restaurant Il Pagliaccio. The two Michelin star chef was born in France in 1968 from Italian parents and spent a long time in the South of France despite his Calabrian roots. After travelling from France to England, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand he ended up in Ravello at the Hotel Palazzo Sasso and Rossellini's restaurant where he got his first Michelin star. "It was normal to end up in Rome because it is a city I have always loved. When I was called to go there, I had no second thoughts. Unfortunately it did not end well because the restaurant closed. But being a stubborn Calabrian, I decided to stay and try again." An Italian … [Read more...]