BRUSSELS/LYON: What does the future hold for restaurants and guides like Michelin or the World’s 50 Best Restaurants? I’ve always thought that we were living a time that I liked to call ‘peak food’. Everywhere you looked, food, restaurants, chefs were part of our daily life. Then came COVID-19, lockdowns, closed borders and everything has been put into question. Over a … [Read more...]
Valeria Piccini: ‘It is a good moment for Italian cuisine’
Chef Valeria Piccini from Da Caino restaurant in Montemerano, Tuscany had never been to Asia when she got a call from Angelo Agliano to be the first of five female Italian chefs to cook at Tosca di Angelo at the Ritz Carlton Hong Kong. She immediately accepted because she is always of the view that she can always learn something from such events. But the shock of the … [Read more...]
The Sicilian on top of the world in Hong Kong
HONG KONG: If Angelo Agliano’s parents had their way, he would not be cooking today. For five years, while he was at school he would go to work in a restaurant in the weekends and also during the evenings. “They were against me working in a restaurant but I finally won my battle because that is what I really wanted to do.” It was not his perseverance when he was young that … [Read more...]
Riccardo Camanini and the magic of Lido 84: ‘an unexpected success’
Riccardo Camanini and his brother Giancarlo opened Lido 84 in Italy five years ago and it has been on my places to visit for at least three years, way before it became known. Today the secret is out about Lido 84 but till this day, the two brothers who own the restaurant, still cannot really understand the hype about their success. One thing strikes you when you enter … [Read more...]
‘Vespertine is like my creative dungeon’ Jordan Kahn
Like most people living in cities, Jordan Kahn, chef of Vespertine was driving around trying to avoid traffic when he spotted an empty building under construction. “That's what you do when you are in Los Angeles." He decided to stop the car and looked at ‘this thing and it was very emotional’. He had no idea what triggered his desire to stop. That evening, he finished work at … [Read more...]





