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The story of Stella Artois

July 2, 2015 by Ivan Brincat Leave a Comment

 When you drive into Leuven, your senses are immediately heightened. One of the things you see is the Stella Artois brewery (which also makes Jupiler and Leffe). But what hits you most is the amazing aroma of the beer being brewed. It's a smell of yeast which reminds me of my childhood back in Malta. Living only a few kilometres away from one of the only breweries in Malta, we would get a whiff of the beer being brewed everytime the wind blew in our direction. The history of Stella Artois dates back to 1366. It was in this year that the original Den Hoorn brewery was founded. This brewery laid the foundation for the taste and standard of this Belgian beer and the symbol of the Den Hoorn Brewery is still displayed on the beer's label. At a visit to the Stella Artois brewery recently we not only got a glimpse of the factory but also a look at its history. When the University of Leuven was founded in 1425 it not only brought knowledge to the city but it added to the know how of … [Read more...]

Book Review: Cyprus A culinary journey

July 1, 2015 by Ivan Brincat 2 Comments

There is probably no better day to write this article on a book I really enjoyed reading. As I sit in the terrace in Brussels at 10.20pm in the evening, the temperature it is still light, the temperature is 29⁰C and humid. The only missing thing is a sea-breeze and the sound of the sea hitting the rocks which epitomises a hot Mediterranean summer. I have to admit that I still have to visit Cyprus though after reading Cyprus a Culinary Journey, I feel I know this Mediterranean island considerably better than I did before I started this 'culinary journey'. Our Cypriot friends and avid readers of this site gave me this book a few months ago and I have been wanting to write about it for quite some time. The book is edited by Marianne Salentin-Trager but it is the work of eight foodies from Germany who were in love with the island and who realised that there was no German cookbook on Cypriot cuisine. We went through the English version of the book though it is also published in … [Read more...]

Weekly round-up of great reads on food and wine #39

June 28, 2015 by Ivan Brincat Leave a Comment

Have you ever booked a restaurant and never turned up? If the answer is no, you may be surprised to read that in the UK alone, the rate of people that do not turn up for bookings in restaurants is estimated at between 5 and 20 per cent. The cost of no-shows in the UK is costing restaurants £16 billion a year. Read about it here. This recipe (video) is in Italian but you get the gist. It is a splendid way of cooking tuna and it is incredibly simple and quick. For those who don't understand Italian, the time involved on each side is just over 10 seconds. The secret is to get the pan hot. Enjoy. We have experimented with cooking vegetables directly on charcoal but we have never tried cooking meat directly on hot coals. But after reading this we are tempted to give this method a try. Since we are on the theme of cooking, here is an interesting article on ice cream. The author gives you five things to consider about ice cream. If you like to make your own ice-creams, this is well worth a … [Read more...]

Advice from Massimo Bottura to young chef: Keep your feet on the ground

June 27, 2015 by Ivan Brincat Leave a Comment

Mark Moriarty, an Irish chef has won the San Pellegrino Young Chef 2015, an event organised for the first time this week. One of the judges of the competition, that took place in Milan was the most renowned chef Massimo Bottura. As soon as the award was announced, Bottura invited the Irish chef to cook at the Refettorio Ambrosiano, the soup kitchen in Milan which is feeding the poor thanks to the creativity and generosity of Bottura and chefs who are using scraps and food that would otherwise be wasted, to raise awareness on the problem of food waste. Mark Moriarty immediately accepted the invitation from the chef of Osteria Francescana in Modena and said he was honoured to be invited to cook at the Refettorio. He said he was looking forward to the first of many opportunities. To which the Italian chef replied with a quick thought: "First of all after yesterday night, feet on the ground." It's a lesson we'd like to highlight because it is so important to remember. It is no … [Read more...]

Vissani hits out at low-temperature cooking: ‘It is tasteless’

June 27, 2015 by Ivan Brincat Leave a Comment

Italian chef Gianfranco Vissani has hit out at sous-vide cooking at low temperature saying he is totally against this type of cooking. "It is neither modern nor adds anything in terms of flavour and consistency of ingredients." Vissani is the head chef of Casa Vissani and a famous television personality in Italy. He is the chef of two Michelin Star restaurant Ristorante Vissani since 2007 and has authored many books on gastronomy and cuisine. In an article he penned on Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on Friday 26th May, Vissani wrote that it has become common to speak about low-temperature cooking but this is a trend he is against for various reasons. Vissani said the advocates of low temperature cooking try to sell this technique as new. "But anyone can guess what such cooking is about. Chefs have been using this technique as a necessity, and not for culinary art,  to preserve ingredients which otherwise would need to be cooked fresh. The technique to cook at low … [Read more...]

First Generation W International Food festival next year

June 26, 2015 by Ivan Brincat Leave a Comment

Generation W, the organisation that groups chefs from Wallonia, Belgium will be organising the first Generation W Food Festival and International Congress at the Citadel of Namur on 4, 5 and 6 June 2016. It is a bid by chefs from the French speaking part of Belgium to showcase their region and their cuisine. When we interviewed Sang-Hoon Degeimbre of L' Air du Temps who is considered as one of Belgium's best chefs, he had told Food and Wine Gazette that it was time for Wallonia to market itself to the rest of the world and showcase what it had to offer. Sang-Hoon Degeimbre is one of the founders of Generation W, He said that the collective will also produce an e-magazine which will focus on in-depth articles to provide information about the culinary patrimony of the region and which will enable outsiders to discover the gastronomic wealth of this region. This magazine aims to complement a book called Generation W Editions which was published in 2014. Generation W was set up … [Read more...]

Non-existent restaurant tops TripAdvisor list in Italian village

June 23, 2015 by Ivan Brincat Leave a Comment

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...]

Lunch with Sergei Litvine (Villa Lorraine and La Villa in the Sky)

June 22, 2015 by Ivan Brincat Leave a Comment

The owner of Villa Lorraine, Sergei Litvine, who took over the property in 2010 wants to restore the restaurant to its former glory. Passionate about cooking and gastronomy, this industrialist has taken over the  restaurant  as a way of following his passion  and to fulfil his dream of owning a restaurant. But it is not any restaurant. Villa Lorraine, is one of the most famous restaurants in Brussels. It was the first restaurant to get 3 Michelin stars outside France in 1972. It held the three stars till 1984 before losing its sparkle during the 1990s and finally losing its one star in 2006. "It is my passion and was always my dream to own a restaurant. I never worked in the catering industry but rather in industrial food production which is completely different to the restaurant business. I have very fond memories of Villa Lorraine since the time that I used to come with my parents and even my grand-parents. There was an opportunity to take it over and I decided to buy it and … [Read more...]

Weekly round-up of great reads on food and wine #38

June 21, 2015 by Ivan Brincat Leave a Comment

The Gelinaz Shuffle which sees a number of international chefs swapping places for a new days takes place in a few days. We've already written about the event before but here is an in-depth interview by Agrodolce with Andrea Petrini, the creator of this unique annual event that changes every year. It is in Italian but is really worth a read. We do not normally link to podcasts in our weekly roundup but here is one really worth taking the time to listen to. It is an interview by Tim Ferris, an author and entrepreneur with Sam Kass. There are many exceptional snippets worth pondering upon such as how he was baptized by fire in kitchens, how he uses mental preparation for high stress situation, unusual restaurants that put out great food, what it is like to cook for the President of the United States, food waste, common mistakes when grilling among others. Lists of places to eat always come in handy. Here is a list of top 10 restaurants in Barcelona for great value set … [Read more...]

By using food waste we can help feed the planet – Massimo Bottura

June 18, 2015 by Ivan Brincat Leave a Comment

The project by Massimo Bottura to feed Milan's poor using food waste generated from the pavilions of Milan Expo is helping to raise awareness about the problem but is also the start of something that could be much bigger than what Massimo Bottura might have imagined. He says that interest in this project is growing to the extent that there could be a 'Refettorio Ambrosiano' in New York and one in Lima. "Daniel Humm left this place with tears in his eyes after he came here. He was emotional and said he wanted to take this project with him to New York. Gaston Acurio, the Peruvian chef who will cook at the Refettorio towards the end of June said this is such an extraordinary project that he wants to have something similar in the poorest quarters in Lima," Massimo said. Massimo Bottura is the chef of Osteria Francescana in Modena, recently voted 2nd world's best restaurant. We have already urged our readers to help Massimo in this project by donating. Trust us, this is a worthy … [Read more...]

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