Peruvian chef Mitsuharu Tsumara is the face of Nikkei cuisine in Peru today. Nikkei is a word that describe both Japanese emigrants and their descendants. But in Peru, it is considered to be the blend of Peruvian and Japanese cuisines invented by the migrants who arrived in Peru many years back. Nikkei cuisine, like Peruvian cuisine today, is very much in vogue everywhere in the world even though it started off as food that was cooked in homes of Japanese migrants many years ago. Tsumara, also known as Micha, is today the heir of a legacy that has been built over the years and is slowly becoming mainstream not only in Peru but also outside. He is the chef of the highly acclaimed Nikkei restaurant Maido in Lima. Micha owes a lot of his success to his father. He guided him towards turning his passion for food into 'studying about it'. When Micha wanted to open a restaurant that would serve sushi in Peru, his father asked him a simple question: “How are you going to prepare … [Read more...]
Q&A with Maarten Van Steen (Villa Bardon)
Maarten Van Steen, chef of restaurant Villa Bardon in Sluizeken, Gent serves Maltese-style cuisine in his restaurant. It couldn't be different given his wife Anna comes from Malta and he spent two years cooking on the Mediterranean island where he learned all about Maltese food and Mediterranean culture. Maarten is constantly experimenting making liquors like limoncello and even Maltese sausages. But as he told us in an interview, he would also love to get the mother dough from a Maltese baker which would enable him to make Maltese bread at his restaurant. (If you are reading this and happen to know a baker in Malta who can help Maarten get mother dough please let us know). Here is our question and answer session with Maarten. What do you miss most about Malta when it comes to food? The freshness of the fish is something that I really miss. In Malta, you get fish so fresh it goes from the sea to your plate. It is not something that can be done here even if we have the North … [Read more...]
Benoît Nihant’s Easter creation
Bean to bar chocolatier Benoît Nihant has launched his chocolate creation for Easter. He has created a chick (rather than the traditional egg) as his showcase piece for the Easter festivities. It is available in all his shops (Brussels, Liege, Embourg and Awans) as well as Rob in Brussels. The Poussin Câlin, as it is called, will be available in a limited edition at €56 from 1st March. It comes in two versions, with its beak either pointing upwards or downwards towards the other Easter creations like chocolate eggs. It is made from dark chocolate. The beans come from San Francisco de Macoris in Dominican Republic. The yellow colour is composed a range of flavours which is set to please all chocolate lovers. For Easter, Nihant has also created four flamboyant eggs which you can buy in an assorted box. The four eggs are the milk chocolate egg (a ganache with vanilla from Madagascar), the dark chocolate egg (intense ganache of dark chocolate), the red egg (milk … [Read more...]
A final food pilgrimage to In De Wulf
When Kobe Desramaults announced that his restaurant In de Wulf would closed its doors in December 2016 in October last year we knew that the clock was ticking and it was either now or never. The list of places to visit is endless but with closure of the restaurant looming, it was becoming more and more urgent to find the time to visit this restaurant in Dranouter, on the Belgian border with France. You could say that the restaurant is in the middle of nowhere but that is all the more alluring given what this Flemish chef has created. In De Wulf comes with a huge reputation given that the Flemish chef had created one of the top destinations in the world for foodies (it was number 1 in the top 100 European list of Opinionated about Dining in 2014 and 4th in 2015). The restaurant, which has a Michelin star disappeared from the 51-100 list in the World's Best Restaurant list last year but is an incredibly special place to visit. What we experienced was an exceptional … [Read more...]
The Belgian chef giving a Maltese twist to his restaurant in Gent
A Maltese restaurant outside Maltese shores is not a common sight. And there is a reason. The island is small and few Maltese chefs have ventured out of Malta to cook Maltese-style cuisine in their own restaurants. Many Maltese chefs have gone abroad to train but most return to work on the island. It is even more unusual when that cuisine is replicated by a Belgian chef but there is a reason for this. Since 2011, Maarten Van Steen and Anna Vella Bardon have been serving Mediterranean style food with a Maltese twist at their restaurant Villa Bardon in Sluizeken, Gent. "It was always our dream to open a restaurant and Gent was a great location. As a chef I studied in the Flemish city of Bruges and was classically trained. Then I went to Malta for two years, (my wife Anna is from Malta) and it was here that I got to know Maltese food and Mediterranean culture," he tells Food and Wine Gazette. He loved the freshness of the fish and the purity of the flavours. "There are things … [Read more...]
Senzanome (Brussels): Possibily the best Italian meal outside Italy
Italian restaurants outside Italy can sometimes be hit and miss. While many tend to be good, they are not exceptional. Italian restaurants, especially those outside Italy tend to adapt to the culture of the country they are based in making them far less authentic. Senzanome is the flagship Italian restaurant in Belgium and especially in the Belgian capital Brussels. Giovanni Bruno, of Sicilian origin, has been cooking since the 1980s and has taken over from his parents who opened the restaurant in 1991. Since 1997, he has been at the helm of the restaurant and achieved an unexpected Michelin star in 2004. It has since then gone from strength to strength and was voted the best Italian restaurant outside Italy in 2011 and 2012. That is no easy feat given the number of Italian restaurants that exist worldwide. I've been wanting to try this restaurant for a very long time despite the fact that I had heard mixed reviews about the restaurant. Some really raved about the restaurant … [Read more...]
Q&A with Syrco Bakker: ‘Forget about the things you cannot control’
Syrco Bakker is the chef of Pure C and one of the rising stars in the Netherlands. He has had stints with Gordon Ramsay, Jonnie Boer and Sergio Herman at Oud Sluis before being entrusted to head the kitchen at Pure C in 2010. Herman described Syrco as a chef with an inexhaustible amount of creativity. "He is extremely talented and just as passionate as me," Sergio says about Syrco. You can read our full interview with Syrco here. In this quick question and answer with Syrco you will learn a bit more about this very talented Dutch chef. What have you learned from Jonnie Boer, Gordon Ramsay and Sergio Herman? From Jonnie Boer, I learned to work with great local ingredients. He was one of the first chefs to go directly to farmers. I also learnt how important it is to have a very good family atmosphere in a restaurant. This has become extremely important nowadays. It is something that I really appreciate when I look back and it is no wonder that he and Therese have retained a … [Read more...]
Colatura di Alici from Cetara – with so little you get so much
Colatura di Alici could easily be one of the most elusive ingredients that I have yet to come across. A fermented anchovy sauce produced in Campania and specifically in the village of Cetara between Salerno and Naples, it is often considered as 'liquid gold'. Try it and you will know why the term 'liquid gold' is no exaggeration. Cetera is a fishing village that is famous for its canned anchovies and tuna as well as the colatura di alici. Italian products normally travel well and can be found anywhere in the world but I was surprised to find how difficult it is to get your hands on 'colatura di alici'. You will find it hard to believe that speciality Italian shops (both in Italy and outside) do not stock it and neither do supermarkets. Even in Italy, I've found it hard to come across though I was lucky to procure a bottle in a delicatessen in Siena on a recent visit. It is said that colatura di alici derives from Garum, a fermented fish sauce that was used as a condiment … [Read more...]
Recipe: Slow cooked honey pork belly
Time is one of today's luxuries. It is something we all crave for but many seem to be short of. So when we find time on our hands, nothing beats reading a good book or taking the time to cook. In today's frantic world, it is a luxury to take hours to cook but slow cooking doesn't need to be complex and this recipe is a sure winner not only because of its simplicity but also because we rarely get to eat pork belly nowadays. It is normally a recipe that I reserve for the Christmas period when the weather is colder (though this year it was anything but cold) and you have more time on your hands but it is a dish that is perfect for a winter weekend or when you find you have a few hours at home. Pork belly is a boneless cut of fatty meat from the belly of a pig. It is popular in many different cuisines. It was used more often in the past by our grandparents and parents in cooking but it is slowly making a comeback not only in restaurants but also at home. If like me, your mother … [Read more...]
Dario Cecchini – the legendary butcher of Panzano in Chianti
No visit to the Chianti region in Tuscany would be complete without a visit to Panzano in Chianti at what may be considered as one of the most famous butcher shops in the world. Dario Cecchini, butcher of the Antica Macelleria Cecchini needs no introduction. He rose to fame during of the mad cow disease crisis when eating a 'bistecca fiorentina' or t-bone steak was prohibited for health scare reasons. He organised a funeral for the bistecca fiorentina and a plaque still commemorates the ceremony (see photo below). He has been mentioned in books such as Heat by Bill Buford and has been featured in most of the world's top newspapers and magazines over the past years. This 59-year-old legendary Italian butcher has literally made Panzano in Chianti a tourist attraction in its own right. While the hill-top village is attractive and located on a high ridge on the scenic Via Chiantigiana, many would probably not stop unless to take pictures of the beautiful scenery had Cecchini not … [Read more...]