There were no new three Michelin star restaurants in Italy when Michelin announced its list for 2017. The eight 3 Michelin star restaurants have all retained their stars. While there were 5 new 2 Michelin star restaurants announced, the number of new entries in the one star category was 27 bringing the total of starred restaurants in Italy to 343 in total.There are now 41 two star restaurants in Italy and 294 one-star restaurants. Rome did particularly well in the one star category with five new restaurants. These are The Corner, Magnolia, Bistrot 64, Per Me Giulia Terrinoni and Assaje. The three Michelin star restaurants in Italy are Piazza Duomo(Enrico Crippa), Da Vittorio (Vittorio Cerea), Reale (Niko Romito), Dal Pescatore (Nadia Santini), Enoteca Pinchiorri (Annie Deolde, Italo Bassi and Riccardo Monco), Osteria Francescana (Massimo Bottura), Le Calandre (Massimiliano Ajamo) and La Pergola (Heinz Beck). The list of newly awarded restaurants is the following: New … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2016
Ants on a Shrimp to premiere in Brussels on November 28
Fine Food Fanatics is organising the Belgian première of Ants on a Shrimp, a documentary film on Rene Redzepi's Noma adventure in Japan in Brussels on 28 November at the UGC Cinema complex. Film director Maurice Dekkers will be present for the screening of the documentary. The event is followed by a gastronomic night and party at Humphrey's restaurant which is within walking distance of the cinema. The event costs €55 and includes the ticket to watch the documentary, 1 cocktail, 1 beer, 1 wine and three fine finger foods prepared by the chef of Humphrey's Yannick Van Aeken, formerly sous-chef at Noma. Humphrey's was the place which hosted the after party of the Gelinaz! Headquarters event that took place at Bon Bon last week. It has become the place to be in Brussels. Chef van Aeken with his business partner Glen Ramaekers have created a casual restaurant away from the constraints that a fine dining experience may create. Van Aeken has adopted what he has learnt as … [Read more...]
Ichiyo Terauchi: From Japan to New Zealand with focus and determination
In the last in a series of interviews with new New Zealanders involved in the wine scene in New Zealand, Isabel Gilbert Palmer interviews Ichiyo Terauchi, sales and marketing executive of Te Mata Estate, New Zealand's oldest wineries Ichiyo, you are the last person I have chosen to interview in my series about new New Zealanders living and working in the Wine Industry in Hawkes Bay but you are working in a different but important area and are passionate member of the New Guard Group there. What is your interest and involvement in the industry? I am in Sales and Marketing Executive for Te Mata Estate. Its a family owned winery which was established in 1896 where the three original vineyards planted then are still in use and one of New Zealand's oldest like Mission Estate. What led you to come here? I first came to New Zealand when I was 17 years old on a school exchange program to learn English because I was fascinated by it as a language. At the time we could chose to study … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #96
A short walk from the garden: Belgian chef Gert De Mangeleer is succeeding in self-sufficiency: During the mild months of early summer, the garden at the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Hertog Jan — located 20 minutes outside of the Belgian city of Bruges — is in full bloom. The pale orange outlines of butternut squash peek out from beneath a thick cover of wide, flat leaves. Radishes grow in neat rows along one edge, while golden nasturtium flowers sprout in another corner. But Hertog Jan’s garden functions as more than fancy landscape design: it is an experiment in self-sufficiency. Michelin-star chef Richard Ekkebus and his intense relationship with time: Recognised as one of Asia’s top chefs, Richard Ekkebus, director of food and beverage at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental, which includes two Michelin-star, fine-dining restaurant Amber, understands how precision can lead to success. “Cooking is about precise timing – timing between the restaurants, the service staff and … [Read more...]
The crazy and magical experience at the GELINAZ! Brussels Headquarters at Bon Bon
Something magical happens when you bring 20 of the world's creative chefs to cook together in a restaurant kitchen. Creativity flows, collaboration and sharing of knowledge is in evidence, as is the joy to watch so many talented people cooking, joking, sharing a good time and helping each other out. As a guest, you do not want this moment to end even if there are time constraints because in the space of 15 hours there will be four sittings (with just an hour in between each service to clean the restaurant and prepare for the next sitting). At the same time, you are in awe because these are dishes which you will never see or try again. There are dishes that push boundaries, some that you might not expect to find in a top restaurant and others which will remain etched in your memory, which is what dining is all about. Then you stop to think about the idea and you start to wonder where could this creativity stop. Because what happened yesterday was a unique … [Read more...]
Preparations for Gelinaz! Headquarters event in Brussels nearly ready
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...]
Q&A with Christophe Hardiquest (Bon Bon)
Christophe Hardiquest, chef of Brussels 2 Michelin star restaurant Bon Bon will this week be hosting 19 chefs from across Europe from Albert Adria to Fulvio Pierangelini, Davide Scabin to Enrico Crippa, Mauro Colagreco to Magnus Ek. Following our extensive interview which you can read here, this is a question and answer interview from our series where we get to know a bit more about the chefs we interview. Who would you consider to be your mentors? Alain Passard. He is a good friend of mine. I would describe him as a genius of simplicity. I love his power. He works with contrast. I really like him and his personality. I also like Pierre Gagnaire. He is a real artist, a crazy artist. His career is crazy. When you read his book and where he is coming from, you can understand his story. Your best meal ever? Alain Passard. With several simple things. Who are the new chefs to watch in Belgium I would mention three young chefs from the Flemish part of Belgium. Tim … [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...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #95
Truffles: The Mozart of Mushrooms: The truffle has been prized for millennia, lauded by those lucky enough to encounter the rare and capricious jewel. The Roman philosopher and historian Pliny wrote how they were ‘born spontaneously and live without roots, in an aura of mystery’. His fellow Italian, the composer Rossini, called them ‘The Mozart of mushrooms’ 1800 years later, while the English Romantic poet Lord Byron seemingly had one sit on his desk as the unique, musky perfume inspired his creativity. Rosanna Marziale: the queen of mozzarella: Pasta and pizza are two Italian dishes that many chefs strive to master over decades of their careers. Discovering how to make that perfect crust or knowing just the right amount of pasta water to add to a sauce so it emulsifies to give it the perfect consistency are skills reserved for only the highest level of chefs. But for the Michelin-starred chef Rosanna Marziale, it’s not specific dishes she’s dedicated her life to, but a specific … [Read more...]
‘A chef is an artist with sensibility’ – Christophe Hardiquest
When Christophe Hardiquest moved his restaurant from Uccle to Woluwe Saint Pierre in Brussels six years ago, little did he know the difficulty he would face in the first few months to replicate the cuisine that clients were accustomed to at his old restaurant. That story still gives him goosebumps though he has benefitted from that experience. Today, six years later, the Belgian chef is embarking on a new approach to his cuisine with the aim of restoring the identity of Brussels cuisine, of rebuilding the tastes and flavours that are synonymous with the Belgian capital city, while reinventing them as you would expect from the chef of a high-end restaurant. “I started to think that we had lost our identity but it is now coming back. I do not want to offer a Parisian cuisine in Brussels just because we are close to Paris. I don’t want to do this anymore,” Christophe told Food and Wine Gazette in an interview. Like many others, Christophe realised that the more you travel and the … [Read more...]