Fermentation and garums have been one of the sources of success of Noma as it shifted to a more vegetable based cuisine over the years. Now, two of their favourite garums will be available to the general public as part of a venture to help people bring more vegetables into their everyday cooking. Chef Rene Redzepi and his team have used the time during lockdown to create a new venture called Noma Projects which aims to share all their accumulated knowledge, craft and experimentation in this new project. "We will be launching products for your pantry to community based initiatives which will be a way for us to address issues we care about through the lens of food. Noma Projects will be a way for us to address the issues we care about, while fueling our own creativity," said Rene Redzepi as he launched the two garums or Project 001 as it has been called. "This is our take on a 1000 year old recipe that we have been developing over the past two decades. They are potent umami … [Read more...]
Archives for June 2021
Second chapter of GELINAZ! Silent voices on tour starts in Vienna
VIENNA: The second chapter of the GELINAZ! Silent voices on tour will be held on 11 July. The collective of chefs headed by Andrea Petrini and Patricia Meunier returns after a forced pause because of lockdowns making the organisation of such dinners impossible. The first chapter was held last December in various cities around the world and while the European leg was scheduled for the end of January, the pandemic wrecked havoc with those plans. Now, the Healthy Boy Band, three Austrian chefs who have been embracing improvisation and anarchy, will be performing in Vienna cooking live for 9 hours in the Viennese Club Prater-Strasse. Philip Rachinger of Muhltalhof in Neufelder, Lukas Mraz of Mraz & Sohn in Vienna, and Felix Schellhorn of Der Seehof - Goldegg will remix the matrixes written by what GELINAZ! calls the 'Silent Voices'. These are worldwide restauranteurs who remain anonymous till the end. Each of the nine courses will be remixed by the three chefs in a one hour … [Read more...]
Austria’s first digital wine atlas released
All the origins of Austrian wine have been catalogued in a new website austrianvineyards.com, a first a wine-producing country. No other wine-producing country has ever catalogued all the origins of its wines and presented them in such a detailed way. Alongside the digital version, new single vineyard maps of all winegrowing regions are now available in printed form, showing all single vineyards that have been legally defined as such. The level of detail and cartographic standards also represent a milestone for the Austrian wine industry. The Austrian Wine Marketing Board (Austrian Wine) launched the digital atlas on 17 June after three years of groundwork. This site brings together all of Austria’s legally defined wine origins on a single interactive map – from the bottom level, where a wine’s origin is simply defined as being Austrian, through to the next levels of the country’s 27 winegrowing regions and 458 winegrowing municipalities, to the top level of origin, where wines … [Read more...]
Dinner in the Woods: a new gastronomic experience in Brussels
BRUSSELS: The Bois de la Cambre is the green lung of the city. It is also a major traffic throughfare that connects the south of the city to the centre. It is the local's best kept secret, few tourists who venture to Europe's capital know that the city is full of parks, woods and even forests and fewer venture to this part of Brussels. The closure of the Bois de la Cambre to traffic last year caused an uproar. While, it gave much needed respite to locals in the days of lockdown, once restrictions were relaxed, drivers were angry with its closure that led to huge traffic jams. The issue was partially resolved through politics and court cases and a compromise was found which opened a part of the park to cars but which made another part of the park car-free permanently. This summer, the founders of Le Kiosque, a space opened last year, are working on a project to make the Bois de la Cambre more well known. Together with René Sepul, a food writer and book publisher, they will … [Read more...]
Alchemist tops OAD Europe Top Restaurant list
Alchemist by Rasmus Monk was crowned best restaurant in Europe in the Opinionated About Dining list released on Monday evening. This is the first time ever that a Danish restaurant tops the OAD-Europe list. Second was Restaurant Frantzen in Stockholm, Sweden followed by Etxebarri in Axpe, Spain, Andreas Caminada in Furstenau, Switzerland and Lido 84 in Gardone Riviera, Italy. Speaking about the top award, Steven Plotnicki, founder of the OAD-list said “it an amazing accomplishment for someone who is only 30 years old. Diners are lucky they will be able to enjoy Rasmus's cooking for decades”, said Steven Plotnicki, founder of the OAD-list, after the livestreamed launch of the 2021 list. The OAD-list is a restaurant system that determines the experience level of the people that vote for the restaurants. Each reviewer is assigned a weight that reflects the number of restaurants he/she has visited and those restaurants’ rank in the list. “I couldn’t … [Read more...]
Reale reopens as Romito aims to make fine-dining more accessible
CASTEL DI SANGRO: Niko and Cristiana Romito have reopened their 3 Michelin star restaurant Reale on 10 June and have decided to pursue the route they took last year. They want to make their cuisine and restaurant more inclusive and also a reflection of the chef’s vision of what it means to eat well today. “Each of us is a child of our own experience. Whether we like it or not, it determines the attitude and approach towards the choices that shape our future,” said Niko on the reopening of the restaurant. After this long pause, I feel a stronger need to share my gastronomic thoughts with my guests and also past customers who will perceive a decisive yet consistent evolution,” Niko said. And while waiting to welcome guests again from all corners of the world at his restaurant, he also wants a new audience that wants to experience gastronomy at Reale for the first time. He is turning his attention in particular to younger generations who will be protagonists of the world to … [Read more...]
Ultra-Violet by Paul Pairet retains top spot in OAD Top 100 Asia for third year
HONG KONG: Ultra-Violet by Paul Pairet, a single table experimental restaurant in Shanghai, China that unites creative cuisine with multi-sensory technology is the top restaurant of the Opinionated About Dining Asia list. The restaurant retains the first place for the third consecutive year. It is the first restaurant of its kind in the world and has been open since 2012. French chef Pairet has continuously challened diners' preconceived notions of taste and cuisine. The Top 100+ Asia Restaurants of 2020 was unveiled by global ranking system Opinionated About Dining yesterday, 7 June. A new category catering for casual restaurants has been added to the list to bring a new range of casual and budget-friendly restaurants for the judges' consideration. Continuing its rise on the list to second place was Zén – Frantzen by feted Swedish chef Bjorn Frantzen. The restaurant is led by executive chef Tristan Farmer in Singapore. Occupying a three-story shophouse on Bukit Pasoh Road, … [Read more...]
The Best Chef Awards 2021 candidates announced
AMSTERDAM: The new 100 candidates from around the world for the 5th The Best Chef Awards have been announced. The event takes place on September 13, 14 and 15 in Amsterdam. Together with the currently ranked chefs, this year's Top 100 will be selected through voting by all 200 chefs as well as a group of anonymous professionals as from this week. The system was changed this year. As from February 25, and for 100 days, the Best Chef announced one candidate per day in no specific order via their social media channels. "This year, we have a very diverse and interesting group of chefs from around the world. It is a group that brings together some seasoned heavyweights together with a younger generation of talent that is likely to bring change to the fine dining world in the years to come,": said Christian Gadau one of the founders of The Best Chef. He said they were looking for a group of chefs that can represent not just the present but also the future of gastronomy worldwide. … [Read more...]
Two Sicilian chefs make it to top tier, Jessica Rosval is female chef of the year
Two Sicilian chefs have made it to the top echelons of Italian cuisine according to Italian food guide Guida del' Espresso. The Italian guide, whose editor is Enzo Vissari, is highly influential and many times has spotted 'talent' before other more international guides recognises chefs and restaurants. Ciccio Sultano and Pino Cuttaia, chefs of Duomo di Ragusa and La Madia in Licata join the top chefs tier together with David Oldani of D'O di Cornaredo in Milan. There are now 13 restaurants in total with the '5 hats'. These are Casadonna Reale in Castel di Sangro, Seta at the Mandarin Oriental in Milan, St Hubertus at the Hotel Rosa Alpuna in San Cassiano di Badia, Le Calandre in Sarmeola di Rubano, Lido 84 in Gardone Riviera, Madonnina del Pescatore in Senigallia, Osteria Francescana in Modena, Piazza Duomo in Alba, Uliassi in Senigallia and Villa Feltrinelli in Gargnano. Ciccio Sultano, chef of Duomo said he had thought of closing the restaurant in 2020 only to change his mind. … [Read more...]
Nick Bril and Sergio Herman part ways: Bril takes full ownership of The Jane Antwerp
ANTWERP: After partnering up for seven years at The Jane Antwerp, Sergio Herman and Nick Bril have decided to part ways. Nick Bril will take over 100 per cent of the restaurant's operational rights after the Dutch duo successfully creating one of the most stunning restaurants in the world. In 2013, the two chefs decided to start work on designing the restaurant concept for their project, their first venture outside the Netherlands set in the stunning military chapel of the so-called Groen Kwartier in Antwerp. The two met when Nick Bril started working in the former three Michelin star restaurant Oud Sluis at the age of 19. "The early days of The Jane have challenged and pushed me tremendously as a chef but also as a person. It has been a great ride. That's why I am even more driven to develop all aspects of The Jane Antwerp even further. Next to our rooftop gardens, the collaboration with August and our new project in the Maldives, that will be the main challenge I'll be focusing … [Read more...]