What happens when you take Brussels and Brabant classic dishes, deconstruct them and then reinvent them? Can tradition meet modernity? Can humble ingredients steal the show in a top class restaurant? And what happens if you get two foreign chefs from France and Portugal to help you reinterpret these dishes at a six hands dinner. That is what happened last Tuesday at Bon Bon … [Read more...]
Humphrey Restaurant (Brussels): A welcome addition to the Brussels restaurant scene
Many of today's most influential chefs have one thing in common. They have all spent time working in Ferran Adria's kitchen. Massimo Bottura, Rene Redzepi, Grant Achatz to mention just a few of the most creative chefs around have spent time with the Spanish genius of el Bulli fame. Most of these chefs have gone on to develop their own style, their own philosophies and their … [Read more...]
Q&A with Kurt Micallef: ‘I am at the point where I appreciate simplicity in food’
Kurt Micallef is an up and coming Maltese chef who is currently working at The Arches. He has gained experience working outside Malta at In De Wulf, the world renowned restaurant of Kobe Desramaults in Dranouter, Belgium. In an interview with Food and Wine Gazette a few weeks ago, the Maltese born chef said he was taking inspiration from old Maltese recipes and was working … [Read more...]
Kurt Micallef: Working to reinvent and modernise Maltese cuisine
I got to know about young Maltese chef Kurt Micallef in the least expected place. I was at In De Wulf, a restaurant on the border of Belgium and France when after an excellent meal I stopped to speak to chef Kobe Desramaults. He told me a Maltese chef had visited a few weeks before for dinner and had trained there before. I tracked him down and wanted to meet him while in … [Read more...]
Black Pig Restaurant (Valletta): Where innovation meets seasonality
Time passes and with it some say also comes nostalgia. While there are certain things which take you on a trip down memory lane, there are some memories which are best forgotten. Go back to the 1980s and early 1990s and my memory of most restaurants in Malta is of them serving the same thing. With friends we remember the ubiquitous tortellini with fresh cream, ham and … [Read more...]
