20 chefs prepare to cook non-stop for at least 15 hours The kitchens of Bon Bon Restaurant and the Hotel Amigo in Brussels were the centre of long preparations on 9 November as 20 chefs from across Europe arrived in the Belgian capital between Tuesday 8 November and Wednesday 9 November to prepare for the Gelinaz! Brussels Headquarters event taking place on 10 November. While most of the chefs were carrying out their preparations for the ambitious consecutive 15 hour service at Christophe Hardiquest's Bon Bon restaurant in Woluwe Saint Pierre, Italian Fulvio Pierangelini one of the chefs taking part in the event, hosted Clare Smyth, Belgian Gert De Mangeleer and Peter Nilsson. The Italian chef is consultant of the Rocco Forte chain of hotels which includes the Hotel Amigo among its portfolios. The chefs were welcomed by Fulvio Pierangelini to a dinner at the Ristorante Bocconi on Tuesday evening. Belgian chef Christophe Hardiquest hosted the chefs to a dinner at his … [Read more...]
Tim Boury is Gault & Millau 2017 chef of the year for Belgium
Tim Boury, the chef of restaurant Boury is the chef of the year for the Belgian and Luxembourg Gault & Millau 2017 guide which is released this week. Boury's restaurant is in Roeselare. The Belgian chef had been young chef of the year a few years ago and Philippe Limbourg, director of the guide said "We made no mistake. He has continued to evolve." He takes the title from Sang Hoon Degeimbre who was last year's chef of the year for Gault & Millau. Mélanie Englebin of restaurant Cécila in Brussels was the young chef of the year together with Thomas Troupin (La Menuiserie - Waimes in Wallonia) and Maarten Bouckaert (Castor - Beveren-Leie in Flanders). The latter, the former sous-chef of Peter Goossens at Hof Van Cleve scored 16 out of 20. The two top restaurants in Belgium according to Gault and Millau remain Hof Van Cleve and Restaurant Bon Bon in Brussels both with 19.5 points. Hertog Jan moves closer this year with 19 points while The … [Read more...]
In De Wulf restaurant put up for sale
In De Wulf, the world famous restaurant in Dranouter, Belgium that will close its doors in December has been put up for sale. Kobe Desramaults, the chef of the restaurant had announced last year that the restaurant would be closing this year. On Sunday, on the Facebook page of the restaurant, the Flemish chef put up a post that the multifunctional building which is completely renovated is for sale. The post says that the building can be run as a restaurant, a holiday house or a bed and breakfast with 10 rooms having all amenities. Although the sale of the restaurant does not come as a surprise as Kobe Desramaults had told Food and Wine Gazette in an interview earlier this year that he had reached a point where he needed to decide whether to buy the property from his mother or not when he took the decision to close the restaurant, seeing it officially does have a certain effect on those who have followed Kobe's rise over the past years. The Flemish chef (and In De Wulf) rose … [Read more...]
New edition of Dispensa published
The sixth edition of Dispensa, a biannual independent bookazine that was created in 2013 by Martina Liverani has just been published. This edition of the bilingual bookazine (in Italian and English) has as its main theme music and features articles on Food for Soul, the foundation set up by Italian chef Massimo Bottura, an article about Sangue Na Guelra, an event in Portugal aimed at bringing together food and music as well as Portuguese and international chefs and another about Basque music (and food) written by Italian journalist Gabriele Zanatta. The visuals in the bookazine are great as is the writing. Dispensa is the first independent Italian bookazine that narrates the world of food through stories of people and stories of food. It is printed on paper made from food waste and contains no advertising: just original texts and great photography. It is a collectors item. The biannual addresses a different theme each time. You will not find recipes or reviews but stories … [Read more...]
artXwine: a new concept pairing wine with art in Brussels
artXwine is a new concept just launched in Belgium which aims to pair wine with works of art. Set up by Francoise Gauthier and Rene Judak, artXwine wants to add a new dimension to food and wine pairing by adding a new sense, sight. The founders, both wine and art lovers have joined forces to create this new experience which they say is very rare. They believe that like wine, art can create multiple emotions that move the person viewing that art. "Almost unexplored, we believe that captivating these two difference universes and merging them together is perfectly natural. The events are organised in Rhode-Saint-Genèse, a commune in the south of Brussels close to the Fort-Jaco neighbourhood. The organisers welcome guests in a recently renovated cottage with its century-old greenhouse. Francoise Gauthier is a chemist who studied oenology and is a wine and champagne importer. He has organised lots of wine tastings and art and antique exhibitions. On the other hand Rene Judak, a … [Read more...]
Benoît Nihant invests in his first cacao plantation in Peru
Benoît Nihant, the bean to bar chocolate maker from Belgium has invested in his first ever cacao plantations in Peru. Eight years after launching his chocolate business in Awans, the Belgian chocolate maker has decided to invest in his own plantation which will allow him to push the boundaries of his chocolate creations. His first plantation, which was always his dream, is in San Jose de Sisa, in the province of Saint Martin. He has decided to name the plantation Luis de Sisa for his son Louis. Speaking to Food and Wine Gazette at the opening of his second store in Brussels before he headed to the plantation in Peru, Benoit said: "It was always my dream to invest in a plantation. The social aspect is also very important in business." The region was carefully selected. After going around the world to look for the best cacao plantations to buy his cacao, the Belgian chocolate maker was seduced by the Saint Martin region in Peru with the amazing scenery, the history and the … [Read more...]
Gelinaz! Brussels Headquarters is a once in a lifetime experience – Christophe Hardiquest (Bon Bon)
Christophe Hardiquest and his restaurant Bon Bon in Brussels has been in the limelight in the past weeks as the news that Gelinaz!, the collective of international chefs, would organise Brussels Headquarters in the Belgian capital city. On November 10, his restaurant in Woluwe St Pierre, one of the communes of the Brussels, will welcome 19 chefs (see full list below) from across Europe for a unique event that has never been organised before. "This is a once in a lifetime experience for the team and myself. An experience like this, it will be forever etched in your memory," Christophe told Food and Wine Gazette in an interview. "But the event is not only important for the team and the restaurant, it is also extremely important for Brussels particularly in this current period. I am proud to be part of such an event." So what is going to happen in Brussels on the 10 November? 20 of the world's most creative chefs including Belgium's Gert de Mangeleer and Kobe Desramaults will be … [Read more...]
San Degeimbre is restaurant owner of the year for Les Grandes Tables du Monde
The past few days have been very important for Belgian chef Sang Hoon Degeimbre. After opening his second restaurant in Brussels by the name SAN Sablon last week, on Monday, the chef of L'Air du Temps was selected as the foreign restaurant owner of the year by the Les Grandes Tables du Monde. This took place in Venice during the 62nd meeting of the association that groups together 170 restaurants from 24 different countries in all 5 continents. Sang Hoon Degeimbre is known as the chef of L'air du Temps, a 2 Michelin star restaurant in Liernu, Belgium. In the past year he has opened two restaurants in Brussels, one in Rue de Flandres in the Place St Catherine area and another in the Sablon year. Last year the chef was nominated by restaurant guide Gault and Millau as the Belgian chef of the year for 2016. L'Air du Temps will be celebrating its 20 years since it first opened next year. Degeimbre has a cuisine that is not only extremely modern and inventive but is also focused on … [Read more...]
Bean to bar Belgian chocolate maker Benoît Nihant opens store in Dubai
Belgian bean to bar chocolate maker Benoît Nihant has opened his first store in the Middle East. The shop is the second opening this year following the inauguration of a second store in Brussels in the Fort Jaco area in Uccle. The store (photo above) was inaugurated on 1 October at the City Walk complex in Dubai. The opening of the store in Dubai is part of Benoît Nihant's strategy to expand with the opening of more shops while retaining the artisanal approach that makes his chocolates so special. All the chocolates and products are produced in the workshop in Awans, close to the Belgian city of Liege and distributed to the five shops in Belgium as well as Japan and Dubai. The Belgian chocolatier is one of only a few chocolatiers worldwide who starts his chocolate making process buying his beans directly from different plantations worldwide. In an interview with Food and Wine Gazette he had said it was not an easy journey because he had to start from scratch … [Read more...]
Brussels restaurant Bon Bon is headquarters for ambitious Gelinaz! event
Bon Bon Restaurant is the Headquarters for ambitious Gelinaz! event taking place on 10 November 2016. The restaurant of Christophe Hardiquest, two Michelin stars and a 19.5 score in the Gault & Millau guide, will be buzzing with activity around the clock on 10 November (till the early hours of 11 November) as he is set to welcome 19 chefs from around the world for what promises to be a one of a kind event. On that day, 20 chefs will join forces and cook consecutively for over 15 hours (excluding preparations) as they join another 40 chefs around the world who will be involved in the largest ever restaurant shuffle. In total, they will be creating four different menus for four separate seatings which start at noon and finish at 3am in the morning of the next day. How will the event work? The 20 chefs will be paired into 10 teams of 2. Each pair of chefs will interpret a dish that is going to be prepared by one of the 40 chefs during the shuffle that takes place on the … [Read more...]