We have heard many times how difficult it is for chefs to be activists and to raise awareness around certain issues. After all, the impact can be limited if you just practice what you preach in your restaurant. But then there are chefs who become activists, who create movements and who start to slowly change the system despite the odds that are heavily stacked against them. Habits are extremely difficult to change but each one of us has the power to change these habits if we work enough on them. Belgian chef Filip Claeys of Brugge two Michelin star restaurant De Jonkman and founder of North Sea Chefs is someone who believes in taking action particularly when its a subject that is close at heart. You could easily say that his mantra is 'where there is a will there is a way'. He did this at a cost. He lost 30 per cent of his customers when he started to introduce humble fish in his menu. But it was a fight he was willing to take on. Nearly 10 years ago, he founded North Sea Chefs … [Read more...]
Archives for July 2017
The importance of human relations takes centre stage at first W Food Festival
Behind every restaurant success or every artisan there is great produce but there is also the human element which is exceptionally important. This was the underlying message of the first ever W Food Festival congress that took place in the historic citadel of Namur. The festival, organised by Generation W, a collective of chefs and artisans from the Belgian region of Wallonia had been dreaming of organising such a festival for the past two years. That dream culminated in a successful weekend where people could meet the chefs and artisans of Generation W on the grounds of the Citadel. On Monday 3 July, it was the turn of professionals in the field to attend a congress which brought to the fore the importance of management, of bringing the best out of people, of communicating and of letting go if you want to grow your business. Filip Claeys, the first speaker at the event, chef of Restaurant De Jonkman and founder of North Sea Chefs spoke about the need to educate customers … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #118
Two Kitchens: an exclusive extract from Rachel Roddy’s new book, part one: Of course I thought Rome was glorious, but I didn’t want to stay. A month – three at most – then I’d return to Sicily to finish the clockwise journey I had interrupted. An area of the city called Testaccio tripped me up with its workaday, easy charm. It was where I met my partner, Vincenzo, a Sicilian, and it was nearly 12 years ago that we settled into a life there. Although Testaccio is in the heart of the city, it feels more like a village; it is where Roman food – distinctive, traditional and inextricably tied with the history of daily life of the place – seems to permeate everything. It was living in this quarter of Rome that the idea that “every cuisine tells a story” made absolute sense. I soon discovered that if you ask someone to show you how to cook something, they almost always give you a story too – be it a small domestic tale or a great, sweeping history. You also get lunch … possibly a rambling … [Read more...]
Mélanie Englebin to close restaurant Cecila in August as she looks for restaurant with larger kitchen
Mélanie Englebin, the chef of Brussels restaurant Cecila has decided to close her restaurant at the end of August. The young chef who was awarded the Gault & Millau 2017 Young chef of the year for Brussels explained that there were various reasons for the closure of this restaurant. " It is true that the pedestrianisation of the Brussels centre has made it difficult for a gastronomic restaurant to do well in central Brussels but this is not the only reason why I have decided to close Cecila." "In the four years since I have opened Cecila, my cuisine has evolved and I know exactly what I want. I need a restaurant with a larger kitchen, with a bigger dining room in a house that has character like at Cecila. I also need a terrace or garden," she said. Leaving the current location will enable the young chef to create the restaurant of her dreams enabling her to continue her road to cook with great produce and discovering new perfumes and flavour combinations. Just before she … [Read more...]