Trapizzino street food in Rome
12-11-2014
“When in Rome… eat a Trapizzino.”
A new kind of street food originated in the heart of Rome, it’s easy to take-away and full of taste and called “Trapizzino”. The bread has a triangular shape and is made of white pizza bread. Because the bread is closed on two sides like a pocket, it perfectly allows moist and juicy fillings and can be eaten without any hassle. This makes the trapizzino ideally suitable for traditional Roman fillings.
All in one
The local delicacy is of high quality, easily eatable, traditional and very tasty. It’s affordable as well, which makes us crave for a Dutch seller soon. The bread is created with a hundred years old mother yeast (3%), beer yeast (0,2%), selections of wheat flour, salt and extra virgin olive oil. The Trapizzino was rewarded the title of “Best Italian Street Food” voted by “Street Food Heroes”, the first travel cooking show dedicated to street food which aired on Italia 1 in the summer of 2013.
Trapizzino at Salone del Gusto
Armand tasted the Trapizzino during Salone del Gusto and was directly convinced by its taste and appearance. It was by far the most popular dish of the Dutch Slow Food Youth Network delegation.
The founder
The Trapizzino was developed by Stefano Callegari from Rome. Together with Antonio Pratticò, Humayun Kabir, Gabriele Gatti, Paul Pansera and Fabio Giacomobono he continues to build and expand his dream.
Locations
At the moment there are two locations in Rome where you can get the Trapizzino, it’s in Testaccio, via Giovanni Branca n. 88 and Ponte Milvio, Piazzale Ponte Milvio n. 13. Definitely worth a visit when you’re around!
From Street Art to Hotel Art
11-11-2014
The Andaz Liverpool Street hotel in London has a ‘room with a view’-program aimed to emphasize the property’s intrinsic connection to London’s creative community. As from July 2014 to July 2015 the program is a collaboration with leading local artists who spice up guestrooms with bespoke designs.
The Pearly Room
The first room is the The Pearly Room that launched last July . This street art piece, hand painted by Londoner Chris Price and his wife and collaborator Delisia Howard, pays homage to the Kings and Queens of the East End, dating back to the late 19th Century.
The One Day Walk Room
The second room is an installment by artists Parick Vale and Paul Davis. The illustrations of the ‘One Day Walk Room’ are inspired by a tour through the East London Scene and its surroundings, history and stories. Imaging sleeping in this ‘One Day Walk Room’, you’ll start your walk with great enthousiasm the next day! Check the photo’s of the room on the website of Superfuture. What will be the next room?
Butler-style brunch
10-11-2014
A relaxing Sunday brunch – Enjoying all the tapas style appetizers which are being served at your table while sipping unlimited cocktails or a glass of wine.
We don’t have a real breakfast culture at the restaurants in the Netherlands. Maybe breakfast in America is the meal that has the most influence from all kitchens. Brunch on the weekend days with the whole family in a restaurant is done regularly. In that perspective, we can take the breakfast culture in America as an example.
Butler-style Sunday brunch at restaurant La Cave
A family brunch in restaurant ‘La Cave’ in the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas on Sunday . The staff is constantly running around with tapas style breakfast and lunch dishes. A small indication; fresh fruit salad; yoghurt parfait with granola; French toast; eggs Benedict; pancakes with berry compote; flatbread with ham and eggs; mini burgers and unlimited cocktails.
A relaxed way to spend your Sunday afternoon
Great companions – beautiful dishes – delicious wine or cocktails and everything is brought to your table. The ultimate Sunday brunch, why shouldn’t this work in the Netherlands?
Decorative ceramics for restaurant
7-11-2014
Gastronomy, art, design and music come together in the whirlwind of enthusiasm that is André Amaro. The Amaro Creative Industries company originated in catering on festivals but expanded into a ‘peerless creative monster’. André Amaro created a unique collection of ceramics in collaboration with Nanda Smits. The Stroomhuis in Eindhoven, studio and residence of André Amaro houses a unique ceramic studio nowadays.
Ceramic worshippers
A part of the collection is (re)produced by a small family owned factory in Portugal. Amaro found this ceramics worshipping family close to his native village. By outsourcing a part of the production the team keeps its hands free for the dev elopement of future products to keep the collection dynamic.
Fennel bottle
The fennel bottle is designed, baked and finished in Eindhoven, can contain 20 cl of liquid and weights 550 grams. A gracious item to serve just that little extra experience at the table. The ceramics collection also includes a kale bowl and a garlic-salt-and-pepper shaker which are great for decoration as well.
10 times pizza inspiration
3-11-2014
Inspired by the pizza chain Domino’s Pizza that recently started selling pizza’s with a sausage in the edge of the pizza and sauerkraut as an ingredient and the success of pizza rolls and bagels, we’ve made a top 10 pizza inspiration varieties which we as guest really love to eat.
Pizza with fresh truffle
Recently I ate a fresh truffle pizza at a great lunch/brunch spot on Sunday in the Marais, Paris. At Le Dome du Marais they serve a ‘Pizza a la Truffe Noir, fontina & frisee blanche’ (Pizza with black truffle, fontina cheese and frisee salad).
Pizza with fresh tuna
Although more a flatbread or our flammkuchen variety, we ate a great flatbread with fresh tuna with a hint of shiso and truffle oil in Las Vegas. The perfect combination between Japan and Italia. The Yellowtail Japanese Restaurant & Lounge at the Bellagio hotel serves this great pizza. Friends already told us in advance; after having eaten one, you will order another one!
Meanwhile I understood that restaurant Le Garage in Amsterdam serves a similar pizza! We will definitively come to taste this version as well!
Breakfast pizza
We already wrote about it in 2010, a branch of Domino’s pizza in Ohio started to serve a breakfast pizza. Last summer we had breakfast pizzas at various locations in America. The breakfast flatbread at the ‘Butler-style’ Sunday brunch in restaurant La Cave at The Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas was truly delicious, a rectangular piece of flatbread with a chef’s selection of ham and eggs. In the Netherlands we know that restaurant City Hall in Leiden serves a breakfast pizza with 3 eggs and bacon as well.
The Tandoori Spice Pizza
In the most recent newsletter of The Food People we read that pizza chain Papa John’s in England did bring a new pizza on the market in collaboration with producer Patak’s; The Spice Tandoori Pizza. The pizza is topped with authentic Indian-inspired ingredients such as Phal sauce, double Tandoori Chicken, green peppers, red onion, tomatoes and mint raita.
Deep dish pizza from Chicago
The Deep Dish pizza is a mighty and truly a pizza for big eaters! I ate it by Giordano’s in Chicago, hometown of the deep dish pizza. A smaller version would likely be better for the Dutch market, while the bigger one can be advertised as a ‘pizza to share’.
Flatbread or the European version; flammkuchen
Since 2013 more and more flatbreads, or the German variant ‘flammkuchen’, are served in the Netherlands. This lighter version of a pizza is often used in America as ‘skinny pizza’. For example, The Cheesecake Factory has a separate menu, ‘skinnylicious’ with some skinny flatbreads for those who want to eat less calories.
Eat healthy, pizza – with seaweed
We wrote about it in December 2013; Healthy pizza has toppings like mozzarella, cheddar cheese, cherry tomatoes, red pepper and garlic powder. The company made the pizza healthier with a secret ingredient, they added seaweed, a healthy alternative to salt. An average frozen pizza contains 300 calories and 13 grams of fat, the pizza by ‘Eat Healthy’ contains 172 calories and 5.3 grams of fat. It is introduced in England and Wales.
Pizza on a stick and in a cone
The Italian company Hasta La Pizza has introduced the ‘pizza on a stick’ at the Anuga fair in Cologne in the end of 2013. The ‘pizza on a stick’ is designed for the on-the-go market. Hasta la Pizza is available in the flavours Margherita, ham and salami and comes in packs of 60 grams. Kono pizza sells its pizza already several years in the form of a cone. They are sold in 16 countries, but not in the Netherlands yet, although they’re sold on Aruba.
Pizza gourmet
We wrote about it in May 2013; Gourmet Pizza. The Italian ‘Pizzafestijn’ Catering serves a pizza-gourmet besides Italian snacks and a live cooking buffet with pizza appetizers. With the pizza-gourmet guests can cover small fresh pizza bases with pizza sauce and ingredients of choice. These mini pizzas are baked in a small pizza oven.
Bugs on the pizza
We can now start to uses insects on pizzas as the insects are also on the shelves at the supermarket in the Netherlands ((Supermarket Jumbo in Groningen). Early 2010 an Australian pizza maker did this also when the country was hit by a plague of locusts.
Written by Marjolein van Spronsen LinkedIn
Eco-friendly eats
3-11-2014
Julia Soldic, our guest writer about the Scandinavian cuisine, writes about one of her passions: the sustainable food movement.
95% of the world’s ecological food products are being consumed in Europe and North America, leaving us the most conscious eaters in the world . In ten years, the turnover of organic food consumption has tripled worldwide, according to a report conducted by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements. Switzerland is the most eco-friendly country in Europe, closely followed by the gastro country of Scandinavia: Denmark. Sweden and Germany are the runners- up whilst The Netherlands, Belgium and Norway are on a shared seventh place. Consuming eco-friendly goods, in the above countries, is not yet available for the price-sensitive working class, yet perceived as a more luxurious eating habit. What can we do to change this?
Low budget eco-friendly products
In April the Executive Vice-President of the renowned American multinational corporation Walmart revealed the news that a new low budget product line with eco-friendly food will be launched: “We know our customers are interested in purchasing organic products and, traditionally, those customers have had to pay more… We are changing that and creating a new price position for organic groceries that increases access.”
In Scandinavia, larger retail corporations have entered into lifelong supply agreements with ecological farmers supplying Danish supermarkets with sustainable food options – also on their lower shelves. A brave and forward-thinking push!
The Sustainable Restaurant Award 2014
Serving ecological food is simply a result to the known equation: supply is altered after the demand. People want Eco-Friendly Eats, both portrayed in the ingredients on the menu, yet also the restaurant owners shown effort into taking care of the planet. The Sustainable Restaurant Association, in partnership with the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, awarded the Basque restaurant “Azurmendi” the Sustainable Restaurant Award of 2014. Why? Because they care about our planet and still manage to retain Three Michelin Stars. Chef Eneko Atxa leads by example for other restaurateurs by implementing solar panels, showing a massive effort into recycling, portraying free ranged menu items, serving sustainable fish- and a large variety of self-grown organic vegetables. Chef Eneko Atxa; “We have a respect for our greatest supplier: THE EARTH, OUR EARTH.” One can say that chefs like Chef Eneko Atxa, is the sustainable restaurant industry`s reply to a glorified soul like the Catholic Church`s Saint Mother Teresa.
What does this trend mean for the restaurant industry?
Ecological food is still perceived as expensive, gourmet and food for idealists. It is not until we change this idea of ecological food, and make it food for the masses, that we will see the real change in consumer behaviour. In the second largest city of Sweden, Gothenburg, the city’s foodies have taken the matter of running eco-friendly eats to another level, introducing sustainable food panels lecturing startups on how to run a successful, sustainable and organic food operation. “Sustainability isn’t just a moral issue for restaurateurs – it’s fast becoming the hottest trend among hungry consumers”, says restaurateur, author and course initiator, Jens Dolk.
Change is difficult, but by being early adopters and support the rise of ecological agriculture, we will gradually change the idealist into you and me.
That’s a way to show your new ice-cream
31-10-2014
The last couple of months restaurant At Sea at Bonaire, the latest Jeunes Restaurateurs D’Europe member, had the At Sea Cornetto on the menu. A nod to the classic Cornetto. The Cornetto At Sea consists out of passion fruit-coconut ice cream with dark chocolate and passion fruit jelly. The positive reactions of the guests motivated the chef Rick van den Broek to make a commercial for the At Sea Cornetto. If you want to win a box of his delicious At Sea Cornetto’s like and share the video on Facebook. The video is based on the original commercial for Cornetto. The location is the beautiful Lac Bay beach at Bonaire. Jan Lokhorst produced it. Vivienne Vollebregt and Eduard de Vries have the leading roles. Jeroen Roevros sings and the music is produced by Michiel van Bokhorst as well as the voice-over.
Coffee jam with Kopi Dua Coffee
31-10-2014
Kopi Dua Exquisite Coffee has invited some chefs to inspire them with coffee-food pairings. The chefs were invited at restaurant The Raffles in The Hague and at arrival they were served a mocktail with espresso, mango ice cream and ginger-ale. From there, the senses were stimulated by starting with dessert. The dishes were explained by chef Pascal Jalhay and Kopi Dua provided the explanation of the coffee being served. Coffee was not only being served as drink but also processed as ingredient.
Some examples of coffee-food pairings
• Dark chocolate with Rendang mousse being served with the Kopi Dua Cold Brew (coffee with coarse grinding, brewed for 20 hours at 2 degrees).
• Mackerel smoked on coffee.
• A dish of oyster and coffee by Bram Hellemans (Zout & Citroen).
• Mini profiterols with coffee and lime serehtopping by Jamie van Heije.
Coffee served in wine glasses
Like tea certain types of coffee are served in wine glasses. Kopi Dua serves their ‘oldfashioned filtercoffee’ Madu Dua from Sumatra, at the table through a Chemex and pours it into wine glasses.
Food pairing with tea and coffee popular
This week we wrote about the Dilmah ‘School of Tea’. Combining tea and coffee with various dishes is not new, but there are still very few restaurants doing it. It provides a surprising effect if the standard combination with wine is replaced with tea or coffee during one of the dishes. This may trigger your guests to discuss their perfect pairing suggestions with you.
Do you want to taste a Dutch ‘OHUMM kopstoot’?
30-10-2014
OHUMM Fruit Genever is created as a perfume under the Genevers. OHUMM has 3 notes as is the case with an elegant perfume. The base note is made of pure premium Dutch Genever, the second and third notes are the fruit flavors and scents like watermelon and passionfruit or cucumber and lychee. This makes OHUMM a unique composed Genever. The flavors are numbered and have an aristocratic title as Empress OHUMM No. 9 for the Watermelon-Pomegranate combination and Sultana No. 5 for the cucumber-lychee combination.
The special perfume bottle
The OHUMM bottle, with a Hummingbird flirting with Dutch tulips, is a French design. The aroma and flavor combination is developed in Schiedam, The Genever city. Thus is a combination of French chic with Dutch tradition and quality. For example, the Diamond edition is a pure Dutch genever in a beautiful black bottle with a radius of diamonds on the front of the bottle.
OHUMM is available in two editions. The Platinum edition includes 4 OHUMM’s each with a unique flavor and scent combination that invites to be discovered by the connoisseur.
The OHUMM kopstoot or headbutt
The OHUMM taste and smell perception is inspired by the famous cocktail book ‘The Bartender’s Guide’ by mixologist Jerry Thomas. Some beautiful OHUMM cocktail creations have been made so far. Simple OHUMM ice cubes and popsicles give cocktails a beautiful playful flair. The OHUMM kopstoot (freely translated as headbutt), could easily become a new trend among women and younger hedonists! According to the creaters, a shot OHUMM and a glass of Heineken tastes delicious!
OHUMM as boutique Genever brand is only available on a limited scale in the Netherlands, Hong Kong and other cities in China and soon in California. Want to know more? Contact them via info@ohumm.com
Tea Gastronomy – The Dutch School of Tea by Dilmah
30-10-2014
Tea is more than just a popular hot drink – its possibilities are in a constant evolution. You can combine tea with cheese, process it in dishes, cocktails or mocktails.
School of Tea
The Sri Lankan family business Dilmah organized the first Dutch ‘School of Tea’ at the estate ‘Duin & Kruidberg’ in the Netherlands. During the lessons, the visitors were given information about the production process and types of tea (the white-, green-, Oolong and black tea) and the distinction of the teas based on the scent. Of course, the visitors also received detailed information on making a perfect cup of tea and masterclasses were given about pairing tea and food.
Tea & Cheese Pairing by Betty Koster
Betty Koster, cheesemaker and owner of Fromagerie L’Amuse in Amsterdam, lets the audience experience how well tea and cheese go together. She presented cheeses from France, the Netherlands and Italy, which she combined with Natural Jasmine Green Tea and Ceylon Souchong Black Tea. Betty Koster has been experimenting with combining tea and cheese for years, we already wrote about it in 2011.
Tea Gastronomy by Jeroen van Oijen & Hidde de Brabander
During the ‘School of Tea’-program Chef Jeroen Van Oijen showed participants how to make a typical Dutch soup ‘snert’ (kind of pea soup) with Dilmah Ceylon Souchong as ingredient. The smoky taste – that in a normal ‘snert’ comes from the sausage – was in this case replaced by the smoky flavor of the tea. Chef Hidde de Brabander used the tea as sour-substitute in a dessert; sacher biscuit with bitter almond and sour pear. The vinegar was replaced by Japanese ‘yuzu juice’ and the water by a green tea. The dish was combined with a Ginger and Rose black tea.
Tea Mixology by Robert Schinkel & Tess Posthumus
Bartender and tea sommelier Robert Schinkel created – along with award-winning bartender Tess Posthumus – a series of surprising tea cocktails such as Souchong Ceylon with Johnnie Walker, Jasmine Green Tea with tequilla and a cocktail of Earl Grey with Ketel One. As mocktail they presented a mix of French Rose & Vanilla tea with pear juice, ginger and fresh lime.
Dilmah shows the potential of its teas
Recently we wrote about restaurant Vermeer who won the Dutch ticket to the final of the ‘Global Real High Tea Challenge’, organized by Dilmah.
Stefano Callegari & Paul Pansera - Trapizzino
