The World's 50 Best Restaurants have announced that the Veuve Clicquot World's Best Female Chef of 2015 is Hélène Darroze. She is a fourth-generation chef born into a family of chefs who has been cooking since the age of six. She has opened two highly acclaimed restaurants in Paris and London after three years of training under Alain Ducasse. After winning the award, Hélène … [Read more...]
L’Air de Rien: a voyage of discovery
There is something playful about the choice of the name of the restaurant L'Air de Rien, in Fontin in the province of Liege. When I ask chef Stéphane Diffels what it means he smiled and told me that sometimes you might feel the air blowing from behind you, you turn and there is nothing, 'rien'. There are other times when you just sit, relax and let time go by. The name of … [Read more...]
What Massimo Bottura’s 20th birthday at Osteria Francescana means for Italian cuisine
No one in recent years has worked as hard to put Italy on the worldwide gastronomic map as Massimo Bottura. The avant-garde chef from Modena has for the past months been on a worldwide tour to promote his brilliant book Never Trust a Skinny Italian chef and also showcase his unique Italian style. Yesterday marked the 20th birthday of Massimo Bottura's restaurant Osteria … [Read more...]
Gramm restaurant: A French-Japanese cuisine worth discovering
Very few days pass without me being asked what is our favourite restaurant in Brussels, given it is the city we know best. But as simple as it may sound, this question is not that easy to answer. In our books, there is no such thing as a favourite or a best restaurant. There are so many good restaurants that it is difficult to pinpoint one. Many times it depends on the … [Read more...]
Joachim Boudens (Hertog Jan): Time is one of today’s luxuries
Time is one of today's greatest luxuries, Joachim Boudens, co-owner of Hertog Jan, the three-Michelin stared restaurant in Zedelgem (Bruges) tells me as he gives me a tour of the restaurant. He takes me for a walk in the garden of Hertog Jan and although it is winter and therefore bare, you realise that this is really an integral part, if not essential, to the restaurant. … [Read more...]
