­
  • Home
  • About
  • Chef Interviews
  • Frequently asked questions
  • Contact us

Food and Wine Gazette

Food and Wine, travel and gastronomy

  • News
  • Interviews
    • Chefs
    • Winemakers
    • Artisans
    • Entrepreneurs
  • Series
    • 10 things we learnt from …
    • A perfect day in …
    • 10 wineries from one region
    • Weekly roundup
  • Features
    • Reportage
    • Childhood Memories
    • Book reviews
    • Film reviews
    • Weekly roundup
  • Food
    • Chef Profiles
    • Restaurants
      • Concepts
      • Belgium
        • Brussels
        • Bruges
        • Gent
      • UK
      • Italy
      • Malta
      • Netherlands
    • Recipes
    • Focus on one ingredient
    • Producers
    • Shops
  • Drink
    • Wine
    • Producers
    • Bars
  • Traveling
    • Itineraries
    • Cities
  • Countries
    • Belgium
    • France
    • Italy
    • Germany
    • Netherlands
    • Denmark
    • Spain
    • Sweden
    • Malta
    • Argentina
  • Blogs
    • Ivan Brincat
    • Notes from Far and Away – Isabel Gilbert Palmer
  • Privacy Policy

Chefs Revolution in Zwolle – follow us during the week for reportage on this gastronomic festival

September 13, 2014 by Ivan Brincat Leave a Comment

Food and Wine Gazette will be at Chefs Revolution in Zwolle, The Netherlands for the first day of the Dutch Avant Garde Cuisine Festival on Sunday. This gastronomic festival provides among other activities cooking demonstrations supervised by international chefs such as Rene Redzepi, Massimo Bottura, Grant Achatz and Quique Dacosta among others. The festival is organised by Jonnie and Therese Boer of de Librije, one of the top 50 restaurants in the World. The cooking programme tomorrow (Sunday) includes Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana, Jonnie and Therese Boer the organisers, Richard Ekkebus of two Michelin starred Amber in Hong Kong. There  is also Tim Raue of two Michelin-starred Restaurant Tim Raue Germany and Dave Beran of Restaurant Next in Chicago USA. Apart from that there is also a farmers market where we can get acquainted with the rich variety of Dutch products and ingredients used by some of the best chefs in the Netherlands. We will also watch an interesting … [Read more...]

Pistolet Original – the not so dangerous Belgian sandwich place

September 9, 2014 by Ivan Brincat 2 Comments

Are you allowed to rave about a 'sandwich' shop? Difficult to say but Pistolet Original seems to be one of the places you wish you had next-door to your office (wherever that may be). I am sure that the thought of grabbing such a great sandwich for lunch would put a smile on many faces. If there were a top 50 places list of great sandwich bars, I would say this would probably be very high up on that list. So despite having seen the name around over the past months, I had never really looked into it thinking what could be so exciting about a sandwich place? What changed everything was the trip to Dierendonck, easily one of the best butchers we have visited in Belgium. We picked up Dierendonck's newspaper the Summer Times and  in it was a small snippet about how Pistolet Original in Brussels uses his meat for some sandwiches. A quick visit to the Pistolet Original website confirmed our expectations. We became more and more excited when we read the list of suppliers. Cheese from … [Read more...]

Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine

September 7, 2014 by Ivan Brincat Leave a Comment

A very popular feature on www.ivanbrincat.com was on what I enjoyed reading this week. However, some links were not necessarily related to food, wine or travel. Here, the focus will be more on what is happening in the food and wine world. We hope that you enjoy this collection of links as much as we do. Obviously we cannot spot everything, so feel free to send us your favourite links. Your favourite link or blogpost could make it to the weekly roundup. There is a back to school feeling as September starts (at least in many countries where school has already started) but with September there are new beginnings. So this week you will read about new places that have opened in London and Brussels among others. And if you are heading to Paris, you might want to save the link below to the best places selling 'pain au chocolat' in Paris. But the first link of the week is France's Michelin starred chef Alain Ducasse to ban meat from his restaurant in Paris. Being vegetarian in France is … [Read more...]

What I enjoyed reading this week (9)

August 31, 2014 by admin 2 Comments

As the summer holiday for me comes to a close and I start to prepare mentally for the winter schedule (with the weather and temperature already going down in Belgium), I find that the days start to get shorter but you get to find more time somehow for reading particularly on the longer evenings. I am currently midway through a book about Burgundy wine written by an American who followed his dream leaving a job in finance to start making wine in France. The book reads very well and I will review it once I finish it probably sometime next week. For those interested the name of the book is The Road to Burgundy, The Unlikely story of an American making wine and a new life in France. In the meantime as is usual here are some articles which i enjoyed reading this week. Hope you enjoy and have a great start to September. There is no such thing as a free lunch and this is the perfect rant. It is unfortunately in Italian but well worth going through it because it explains how important … [Read more...]

Recipe 7 – Spaghetti ai ricci (with sea urchins)

August 27, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Rizzi as they are called in Maltese remind me of my lazy childhood summer days. Swimming on the beach at St Paul's Bay overlooking St Paul's Islands (see below), parents of young children would go snorkelling to pick up the sea urchins. Time flies and this must have been a good 30 or so years ago. They would go snorkelling for an hour, fill up a plastic bag with sea urchins which were caught from the rocks or seabed and then come back to the beach were the mothers and fathers would get a knife, gently cut open the sea urchin in half and give it to the children with a spoon to scoop out or else serve on top of bread like a very rustic version of bruschetta. These memories still make my mouth water given the sea urchins would have an incredible but delicate taste of the sea. It is said that the presence of sea urchins at sea reflects the cleanliness of the sea water. I am not sure whether this urban legend is to be believed or not but over the years this tradition has since been … [Read more...]

Book review: Palmento – A Sicilian Wine Odyssey (At table)

August 26, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvw_KkmVFWU#t=24 As the holiday season in Europe slowly starts to come to an end, one starts to think of the cooler months but also about what books to read to remind oneself of the summer. Palmento, A Sicilian Wine Odyssey has been earmarked as one of my summer reads after I read Corkscrewed by Robert V. Camuto about wines in France (I will review the book later). But I can imagine myself reading this book on a cold winter evening, with the rain knocking on the windows maybe with a glass of wine to accompany the reading. In fact, I am sure that this coming winter, I will come back to read this book given I have rarely read a book so beautifully written about the subject of wine, the region and its people. Now, I may be biased because as you may have seen, my interest in wine more than 15 years ago came from the discovery of Sicilian wine and its many facets. As the author itself wrote, Goethe wrote in the eighteenth century "To have seen … [Read more...]

Recipe 6: Tuna with a Mediterranean salsa

August 24, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

The season for lampuki (a typical Mediterranean fish that is incredibly popular in Malta and one of the most traditional fish you can find at this time of year) has just started but the fish at the fishmongers were still small so I opted for tuna steaks. The temperature is still extremely high in Malta making cooking anything elaborate a bit complicated. The fishmonger was making brisk business as queues lined up to get fresh fish for lunch or dinner. To beat the heat in the kitchen, there is no better way then to get fresh tuna steaks that cook in minutes and prepare a very quick 'salsa' which needs no cooking and which is mouthwatering. I therefore prepared the quick sauce to accompany the tuna steaks. I chopped one shallot and added sherry vinegar to the shallots to add some acidity. Then I seasoned with Maldon sea salt. I chopped some green olives in, added some pine nuts, a clove of garlic (finely chopped), some cherry tomatoes and chopped parsley. Once all the … [Read more...]

What I enjoyed reading this week (8)

August 23, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1UDS2kgqY8 A week without internet last week relaxing on the island of Gozo was an excellent way of winding down but meant that the 'What I enjoyed reading this week" series of articles got interrupted. You can therefore find a few interesting finds from last week as well as some from this week here. Michel Roux Jr is no longer the presenter for the next series of Masterchef on BBC. This is a pity because he was an integral part of the show. Nevertheless, renowned British chef Marcus Wareing, who has been featured many times during past Masterchef editions and who is known for seeking perfection takes over. Here he is interviewed by the Financial Times. An interesting read about wine pairing rules which no longer seem to work and where therefore versatile wines are key. Foodiva is the sister of a very good friend of ours with a great food blog on the Dubai scene. Being Cypriot, her culinary guide to Cyprus is not only mouthwatering but it … [Read more...]

Aziamendi 100 – a unique experience in Malta

August 20, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Malta and Michelin stars do not go together. One of the major problems in my view is not the quality of the produce which one can find on the island or the creativity of chefs but rather the fact that the small island in the Mediterranean is still too small to have a critical mass that can sustain a fine dining experience. Therefore there was a great sense of anticipation when I read that Eneko Atxa and a British entrepreneur were opening a 100 day pop-up restaurant Aziamendi which the Spanish Basque chef had opened in December 2013 at Iniala in Thailand. The location that has been chosen for this pop-up restaurant is exceptional. Located in a beautiful palazzo in Archbishop Street in Valletta (the Civil Service Sports Club) it overlooks the Grandmaster's Palace and the beautiful St George's Square. Given we were in Malta on holiday, I was anxious to try it out particularly since Eneko Atxa, born in 1977 is Spain's youngest ever 3 Michelin star chef in a restaurant scene which … [Read more...]

Fit for a Masterchef challenge

August 13, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

The guests are about to arrive in 40 minutes, you are around 30 minutes into your food preparations but given the choice of menu you have to cook everything at the last minute. Your kitchen equipment all runs on electricity. And suddenly there is a power-cut and you don't know when it will be restored again. This would be a challenge fit for an episode of Masterchef or the French version Top Chef where the chefs are given countless challenges to try and cook their way out of a tricky situation. Yesterday evening Malta suffered a nationwide power cut and the challenge to continue with my plans was probably fit for a future episode of Top Chef. The cause of the power-cut was a fault in a  generating unit in the power station followed by an explosion at a distribution centre resulted in the whole of the island being without electricity for several hours. The temperature is still high, above 30C, and the small gas lamp is emitting heat making the conditions in the kitchen pretty tough. … [Read more...]

« Previous Page
Next Page »

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

This field is required.

Check your inbox or spam folder now to confirm your subscription.

Follow us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • My top patisseries in Brussels
  • A review of Massimo Bottura's great book Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef
  • Alain Passard: My garden saved my life - (Chef's Table review)
  • Dario Cecchini - the legendary butcher of Panzano in Chianti
  • Wolf, the first food market in Brussels opens its doors
  • 10 Sicilian wine producers to look out for
  • Everyone likes a bad review: the scathing restaurant review that went viral
  • Inside the magical world of Enrico Crippa’s garden is the secret to his legendary salad
  • Frequently asked questions
  • A visit to Antica Macelleria Falorni in Greve in Chianti, one of the best butchers in Tuscany

Follow us on Twitter

My Tweets

Connect with us on Facebook

Archives

  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • September 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Subscribe to our newsletter

If you want to keep in touch, please subscribe to our newsletter. We will point you to the most popular content from time to time.

We use cookies and other tracking technologies to analyze site traffic, and understand where our audience is coming from. To find out more, please read our Privacy Policy.
Our Privacy Policy

Search

Tags

Alinea bars beer Belgium best chefs best chefs in the World book review Books brussels Brussels restaurants Burgundy Burgundy wine Burgundy wines cheese chefs craft beer Days out in Belgium fish food food and drink food and wine France Gent Gozo Grant Achatz Italy Liguria Malta Massimo Bottura Michelin stars Modena Noma Osteria Francescana places to eat recipes Rene Redzepi restaurant review restaurant reviews restaurants Sicily Travel trips from Brussels Valletta wine wine region

Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in