A few months ago Ron Finley and I were at a roof top garden restaurant in Copenhagen on a cold, stormy night. As torrential rain pounded the glass structure while lightening flashes illuminated the dark skies and the rest of the diners expected to be struck by lightning any moment, Finley was struck with the beauty of the rain-soaked garden lit up by Mother Nature. Beauty is … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #99
Is Sugar Killing Us? At the risk of being a Grinch, the Christmas season is a pretty good time to consider the possibility that sugar is killing us. It is yet another holiday in which sweets play a primary role, with candy canes dangling on trees, cookies or Coca-Cola set aside for Santa and visions of sugar plums (which are not fruit but hard candies) dancing in children’s … [Read more...]
Childhood memories (2): The crunchy part of the lasagne
Lasagne used to be my favourite dish when I was young. Whenever my mother used to ask what I wanted for a special treat, birthday for example, my response always used to be the same. Mostly it was reserved for weekends, for celebratory occasions like Christmas or Easter or a birthday here and there. When it was served on midweek, it used to somehow lose its allure and I … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #98
Osteria Francescana: does the world’s best restaurant live up to the hype? The entrance is a glass door in a pink wall on a cobbled street. A brass plate with the outline of a chicken is pinned to the wall; for some reason, I like this chicken. It comforts me, for chickens are normal. This is Osteria Francescana, which this year was named number one in the World’s 50 Best … [Read more...]
Michelin’s guide for Belgium exposes problem of consistency and credibility
To understand what is truly happening in the Belgian gastronomy scene today you would need to at least visit five restaurants, one in Brussels, three in Flanders and one in Wallonia. The restaurants of Christophe Hardiquest (Bon Bon in Brussels), Peter Goossens (Hof Van Cleve, Kruishoutem), Gert de Mangeleer (Hertog Jan, Zedelgem), Kobe Desramaults (In de Wulf, Dranouter - … [Read more...]
