The Hamperling: luxurious airplane meals

26-1-2016

Fortnum & Mason sell luxurious airplane meals to go. Hamperlings are pre made packages that vary in price from £15,= till £50,=.

Luxurious airplane meals

Do you often travel Economy class and are you craving a meal with  Business class standards?  Heathrow Airport now has the solution! Fortnum & Mason recently started selling inflight meals,  regardless of which class you fly. No more rice with chicken or steamed vegetables as your inflight meal, but enjoying foie gras, caviar and other luxurious products. These hampers vary in price range from £15,= till £50,=.

Fortnum &Mason meals come in a turquoise coloured cooling bag, that include a fresh salad with herb mustard dressing, rye bread with butter, Napolitan squares as dessert and plastic cutlery including a caviar spoon.

There are five different variations divided in different price ranges. For example the £50,= option is for two people that includes a smoked fish selection, caviar, foie gras, a cheeseboard and  different kinds of chutney, alongside the standard products.

There also is a vegetarian option for £15,=. This hamper included, alongside the standard products, a roast butternut squash, red unions, a cheeseboard and a lemon dessert.

The developers

Fortnum & Mason assembled its first hamper way back in the late 1730s. The speed of travel has increased hugely, but one decidedly negative side-effect of that exponential quickening is the equal and opposite fall in the standard of travel food. F&M thinks this is unnecessary and decided to renew their airplane meal hampers.

 

Smart safe

25-1-2016

G4S introduced a new cash deposit service for entrepreneurs, CAS. A smart safe in which the sales from the cash register can be deposited. The deposit service counts automatically every banknote, checks its authenticity and puts the money into your bank account. When CAS is almost full, an automatic signal will be send to G4S who will pick up the content.

“It was about time for a modern alternative for depositing money into your bank account.” says Bas Rodenberg, commercial director G4S Cash Solutions. “If it’s up to us, CAS becomes the cash version of the pin device. An inseparable duo in every shop.” Entrepreneurs are able to manage the sales safely and efficiently with CAS, apart from the level of sales. “Cash payments stay” says Rodenberg. “Recent research shows that Dutch people still pay half of their payments in cash. The big amount of cash that is received daily by entrepreneurs in the hospitality and retail industry demands a system to have your sales relocated to the bank in a safe and secure manner.”

Smart safe fits in a future-oriented business

Rodenberg explains why CAS is launched at the Horecava: “G4S sees collaboration with their costumers and chain partners as the key to a safer world. That’s why industry associations helped visualizing the needs of entrepreneurs with cash money in their enterprise, because they know exactly what they’re dealing with.” So, no more walks to a bank at different times of the day with shopping bags filled with money!

Cold Brew Parlor in lobby Wyndham Grand

21-1-2016

 

The Wyndham Grand brings a new buzz to the traditional coffeehouse experience with the launch of Brew Parlor. A fresh take during afternoon happy hour where people can meet, recharge, or simply take a breather over cold-brewed coffee-based drinks and cocktails.

As from the beginning of 14 January, coffee lovers will be able to experience cold-brewed pick-me-ups and hand-crafted caffeinated cocktails from 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. every Monday through Friday at Wyndham Grand’s Brew Parlor pilot hotels in Chicago (U.S.), Doha (Qatar), Shenzhen (China) and Istanbul (Turkey). According to a study by Euromonitor International bottles filled with cold brew coffee are growing in sales worldwide, faster than any other bottled non-alcoholic beverage.

Cold Brew Parlor

Although it takes a while to brew cold coffee, the installation is a beautiful artisanal installation in your lobby! In the Netherlands we do have the company Batavia Dutch Coffee of Jits Krol and Robert Nijhof. They are penetrating the hospitality industry with the cold brewing method from the Dutch East India Company era. They bottle their cold brew…

Wouldn’t it be a great idea to have an installation at the hotel lobbies of the big hotel chains in Amsterdam and Rotterdam? As part of their coffee corners, like the hotels of the Wyndham Grand chain are doing.

But even museums, like our ‘Scheepvaartmuseum’ with topics regarding the Dutch East India Company should serve cold brewed coffee.  ^Marjolein van Spronsen

Sushi-wrap, sushi-sandwich or better the sushiwich

20-1-2016

The sushiwich is actually a simple Sushi Maki roll (4,5 cm diameter and 20 cm long) which is cut in two parts, to be eaten as a sandwich or wrap. The sushiwich is introduced at the Horecava by Bocon Sushi Concepts.

Sushiwich and the sushi robot; Rolling Mate TSM900RSR

Because of doubting whether to call it a sandwich or a wrap, they came up with the name ‘sushiwich’. The innovation comes from Australia, according to the sushi machinemakers, Bocon Sushi Concepts. Over there the snack was such a big success (more than 3000 outlets) that the idea has been re-imported to Japan. Every chef can make sushiwiches, especially if you use sushi robots, like the Rolling Mate TSM900RSR.  You need the Rolling Mate to make the sushiwich if you’re not a trained Sushi chef. Bocon Sushi Concepts also sells readymade sushi rice. This is a scoop in the Netherlands and causes that the seller doesn’t have to worry about the ‘basics’ and the making of  the sushiwich becomes even less time-consuming.

Creative with sushi

A sushiwich sounds a bit like the Temakeria in London to us. By being ‘creative with sushi’ a large number of concepts have been created. It does strike us that the concepts that stick to the original sushi, are the most successful.

The Frushi, a sushi made of rice and fruit that we spotted in 2011, are no longer sold. Neither the Goshi and Wichy really made it, they’re German variants on sushi with European tastes. But hey, it remains nice to make your own sushi variant as a chef, maybe a sushi variant with local products as Catering Hanenburg at kookstudio Lokaal 55 does. They combine Frisian ingredients like smoked eel from the Sneekermeer with sushirolls made of beetroot and a crème of potato to an Frisian Sushi.

A WineStation in your hotel lobby

18-1-2016

Bram Kosterink has immersed himself in the capabilities of the WineStation. Which is already used in some hotel lobbies where you can take a glass of wine via your room key (card) and the bill will be debited to your account ….

Bram Kosterink about the WineStation

This is one of those blogs that has been inspired by another blog. In response to my blog “Inspired by Tuscany’ I was approached for a drink at the systems of WineStation. The same system that I encountered in Tuscany, but now I was informed about the details for the owners of the system in the hospitality industry. I thought it would be interesting to share this information…..

For those who have not read my blog about Tuscany. With the system that I encountered at that time it’s possible to pour your own glass of wine as guests. By means of a pass which you have to upload with an amount, you can choose three different glasses; a tasting glass, half glass or a full glass. After the glass is filled, the amount is directly taken from the pass. Besides this option, the system keeps the wine in the same condition for at least 60 days.

Hilton and Marriott do use the WineStation in the lobby

Hilton and Marriott are already using this system in their luxurious suites and in the lobby of some of their hotels. The hotel room key, (card), can be used to access the WineStation. When the guest takes a glass of wine from the system, the amount is debited to the guests hotel bill.

Besides that the system can be used as described above, the company Napa Technology created the possibility to monitor the ‘wine’ behaviour of guests in a number of wineries. The passes for the WineStation are personalized to be able to send invoice every period. The wine drinking preferences of all guests are known, what they like to drink and how much they drink…. Allowing the wineries to meet every guest’s needs. The technology allows to actively target the sales. Cool if you can prepare a wine profile for all your regular guests. Moreover you can serve and inform your guest at their interest. I wonder how my wine profile would be, probably quite diverse. ^ Bram Kosterink

The Snertkroket, a taste of winter in a crispy crust

15-1-2016

At the Horecava Frio Food introduced the Snertkroket. The Snertkroket is a real Dutch speciality, a croquette filled with ‘snert’, which is a soup made of split peas.

Typical Dutch dish used in a croquette

The typical Dutch dish ‘erwtensoep or snert’ used in another typical Dutch treat the croquette; the Snertkroket. This real wintery dish has a crispy crust filled with a creamy ragout made of the best of ‘split pea soup’! Filled with vegetables such as peas, carrots and real pieces of sausage. Frio Food the producer of the Snertkroket recommends  to serve it on a slice of rye bread or just as a snack. We place the Snertkroket in our overview of variations on the traditional Dutch croquette.

Developer of the Snertkroket

This real winter delicacy was developed by Harald Swinkels, who dreamed of  his own croquette factory as a 15 year old boy. He prepares his products in a traditional way with the finest ingredients and uses traditional recipes that have been used by his father. From his father he learned the tricks of the trade. The Snertkroket is one of the many ‘kroketten’ Frio Food sells.

You might consider putting a kroket or bitterbal on your menu. It’s one of those streetfoods most foreigners love in Holland!

 

Ice cream macarons

12-1-2016

 

A new twist of a French specialty: the ice cream macaron! Otelli introduces these ice cream macarons in two flavours, mango-passion and raspberry during the Horecava in Amsterdam.

The ice cream macarons are made locally

The ice cream macarons by Otelli, producer of ice cream and patisserie specialties, are prepared in the Netherlands. At Otelli in Haarlem, the French almond macarons are baked. The macarons are filled with ice cream made from organic milk, pasteurized at a farm in the Haarlemmerliede. A swirl of mango-passion sorbet or raspberry sorbet is added to the ice cream. The macarons are 8 cm in diameter and served in a nice packaging with Parisian drawings.

Available at Otelli

These trendy ice cream macarons can be used as dessert or be served as a to go snack. Otelli offers a wide range of homemade ice creams, mono desserts, petit fours, tarts and dessert buffets. All products are made with real cream and butter, pure nut pastes, couverture and fresh fruit.

TapFruit: a healthy and sustainable thirst-quencher

7-1-2016

TapFruit is pure fruit to use in your tap water, without added sugars or any other nonsense. The founders made TapFruit to make tap water thirst-quencher number one again at the office, on the go or at home.

Fabian Roobeek and Ernst Visscher, the founders of TapFruit experienced a lack of alternative, healthy thirst-quenchers at the office. Tap water and syrups are often too sweet. TapFruit is fresh, fruity and unsweetened. The product is made from pure fruit puree and is not concentrated, has no artificial additives or sugar. It is easily preservable in handy stick packs. One stick contains 5 raspberries and one piece of pear. TapFruits fits a healthy diet, since one stick only contains 14 calories and 2,8 grams of fruit sugars. Fabian and Ernst think to offer an alternative; tap water with a natural twist and a delicious, fresh fruity taste.

Crowdfunding

With just 12 days to go the target amount to start selling TapFruit has been reached, of course the target amount has been adjusted so you can still join on One Planet Crowd. Besides tap water being healthy it also is a lot more sustainable and we’re lucky to have high quality tap water here in Northwest-Europe!

Founders of TapFruit

Fabian Roobeek and Ernst Visscher are the founders of Limo de Janeiro B.V., the company behind TapFruit. As previously mentioned they searched for an alternative, healthy thirst-quencher at the office, with TapFruit as the result after a lot of experimenting and collaborating with top experts. The founders of TapFruit not only try to convince people to live a healthier but also more sustainable lifestyle. The fruit is directly purchased from farmer Marinus Bunt from B&B Fruit in the Betuwe. Like this they can get the best fruit with a small sustainable footprint.

Sichuan bitterballen (small croquettes)

6-1-2016

On Aziatische-ingredienten.nl you can find a delicious recipe for Sichuan bitterballen. Bitterballen are small and round croquettes, which are a real Dutch treat.

Of course there is an Asian example of our Dutch pride: the Sichuan bitterballen

We received multiple reactions on the article about croquettes in the leading role, in which we also included the Italian bitterballen (Arancini). Amongst others Robin Kok send us her recipe for Asian bitterballen. The recipe, unfortunately only available in Dutch, sounds delicious!

For her Sichuan bitterballen Robin used ‘Sichuan style red boiled beef’ that includes ingredients like ginger, chilli bean sauce, rice wine and Chinese dark soy sauce. She makes a dummy proof roux with gelatin. Because of the gelatin the small croquettes are much easier to mold once the roux is cold and therefore need less flour. For the crust she uses panko! On Aziatische-ingredienten.nl Robin shares more recipes. I read some blog posts which are mouth-watering like dried tangerine peel, Youtiao (fried bread sticks) and Salak (snake fruit). ^Marjolein

Burger Kitchen by New York Pizza

30-12-2015

Since yesterday (29 December, 2015), The Burger Kitchen, the hamburger by New York Pizza can be ordered in the Netherlands. During 2015 New York Pizza has researched and tested the way to deliver a perfect, warm hamburger. Having started as a pioneer in the pizza market (1993) New York Pizza is now going to create a market for delivering luxurious burgers. As the first chain in the Netherlands, New York Pizza has created a deluxe burger, made of pure beef with no artificial ingredients, to deliver.

Burger Kitchen

According to the CEO of New York Pizza, Philippe Vorst, is their hamburger, which they called ‘Burger Kitchen by New York Pizza’, made of 100% top quality beef, pepper, salt and love for the profession. At New York Pizza the delivery process is one of the core activities and this process is well managed. This allows them to ensure that they deliver a hot hamburger.

For the Dutch hamburger market Philippe Vorst foresees a big growth. According to the latest Foodshopper Monitor by FSIN (FoodService Institute Netherlands) the Dutch eat on average 25 hamburgers a year. The average American in contrary eats 150 hamburgers a year. In addition, the Monitor reports a sharp increase and continued demand for honest and fresh fast casual food, which include hamburgers.

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