Dominique Ansel opened a new bakery – in Japan!
25-6-2015
Leonie van Spronsen has lived in NYC and became a fan of the bakery of Dominique Ansel. She now follows his Instagram account and loved the communication around the opening of the bakery in Tokyo.
Last Saturday it was finally opening day at the DAB (Dominique Ansel Bakery) in Tokyo, loyal followers of his Instagram account had been prepared for this day a long time and it did not disappoint.
Hospitality, guest experience by Dominique Ansel
Dominique Ansel seems to be one of those rare people that truly understands hospitality. It’s not about just making beautiful products (which he definitely does by the way) but it’s also about guest experience, it’s about appreciating your customers, it’s about interacting with your customers, it’s about creating a brand experience, and boy is he the master of that. See the snapshots of DAB Japan’s opening day on Instagram.
By tracking the opening day like this on Instagram and explaining and sharing his ideas, his vision and his activities, Dominique Ansel is clearly busy building a hospitality empire. And by being such a humble, cool and inspiring person on social media, there is no one in the world you would want to have that empire more than him.
The next step? Maybe return to Europe to turn us into line-loving pastry fans as well? I vote for Paris! Leonie van Spronsen
Fairytale wedding cake with projection mapping
11-6-2015
Disney is taking wedding cakes to a magical new level by creating interactive cakes with classic Disney tales. They created this great fairytale wedding cake with the help of projection mapping.
A fairytale wedding cake and they will live happily ever afer…
It’s just a simple white cake with no frills, that at the moment supreme, will light up with images projected on the cake. As you can see in the video above, the animations seem to be scrolling down the tiers adding a very Disney touch to the celebration. And who wouldn’t be living happily ever after with a wedding cake like this?
Video projections can be used to create an experience
Earlier we wrote about the artistic collective ‘Skull Mapping’ by Antoon Verbeeck and Filip Sterckx, they created a cartoon in and around your plate. By playing with movement within the projections they created optical illusions on the table. Even before that we wrote about restaurant Sublimotion in Ibiza that also uses video projection for a total experience.
New disposable packaging for wine: the Flex Keg
15-5-2015
The new disposable packaging Flex Keg for wine casks is a durable solution for any caterer. The Zeddams Wijnhuis in the Netherlands has developed a disposable container that is fully recyclable and lightweight.
The market for wine on tap is growing fast in the Netherlands. Until today the draft wines were always delivered in steel casks. According to Eddie Kempers, creator of the new packaging, it is about time for a disposable container that is completely recyclable and lightweight. “Compared to the new Flex Keg, steel casks have the disadvantages of weight, returning for deposit, risk of theft and high CO2 emissions in transport”, he says. “The new Flex Keg was born after two years of intensive research.”
The Flex Keg
The Keg Flex consists of a sturdy cardboard box that contains a plastic vacuum bag of 20 liters. The packaging is entirely made of recycled materials. The Flex Keg weighs only 800 grams and can be folded completely flat after use. The PET upper and lower lid and the plastic bag are recyclable plastic waste and the cardboard is recyclable paper waste. Sales Director Erik Zwart sees tremendous opportunities for the hospitality industry; “The savings on waste is huge, 27 bottles of wine aren’t used instead of the Flex Keg. This has an equivalent of 8 to 10 kilograms of glass waste!”
The wine from the Flex Keg
Zeddams Wijnhuis offers the Flex Keg with a choice of 6 accessible, recognizable wines which they import from Italy and Spain themselves. “In these countries the transport costs are low, which you can see back in the price per liter. The reseller will notice this directly.”, Erik Zwart says. The wine will have the same constant quality in the Flex Keg, there is no chance of oxidation because of the special packaging. The wine will stay perfect for 12 weeks after opening. With the method used you will never taste cork or find other impurities in the wine. In most cases is it possible to connect the Flex Keg to existing beer and wine tap installations, and no CO2 or nitrogen is needed! Zeddams Wijnhuis also supplies dispensing systems that can be tested for a trial period of two weeks.
A Food Boat instead of a Food Truck
14-4-2015
Pizza Pi, a pizza delivery boat, is sailing the Caribean Sea and delivers pizzas at the Christmas Cove on the Great St. James Island.
Pizza Pi – the first pizza delivery boat
The Pizza delivery boat of Pizza Pi is an initiative by Sasha and Tara Bouis. They bring the trend of food trucks, which are becoming pretty common nowadays, to a new level. They converted their house boat into a fully operational pizza bakery boat in two years. Sascha and Tara have visited the Pizza School of New York and now they make their own pizzas, including gluten-free pizzas aboard their ship.
A food boat in the Netherlands?
Although we lack the Caribean sun, we can have great summers and we have a lot of water and water enthusiasts as well! It’s a great idea for Italian restaurants to start delivering pizzas by boat! Maybe one of the restaurants located at the lakes in the West and North of The Netherlands already does this…. We’d love to hear it!
Hop Theory creates beer bags
14-4-2015
Hop Theory, beer enhancing sachets, is a new product that aims to enhance a regular beer with a sachet that works in a similar way as tea bags. The sachets are filled with a number of different ingredients like hops, fruit peels and coriander seeds, all natural flavors. The ‘beer bag’ enables you to customize your favorite beer.
Beer bags instead of tea bags
Hop Theory, has a patent pending for their beer infusion method. The sachet is a soilon woven mesh filter derived from corn starch, thus 100% biodegradable. The ingredients are sourced and manufactured within the U.S. Each ingredient is prepared in a certain manner (dried and/or ground) to improve flavor and the rate of dispersion. All ‘beer bags’ are wrapped individually to preserve their contents.
The company behind the idea of these beerbags, Hop Theory, is currently seeking funding at Kickstarter. They’re looking for 25.000 dollar and with still 25 days to go and more than half of the amount pledged, this shouldn’t be a problem.
Peugeot designs an urban chic food truck 2.0
13-4-2015
Peugeot has its own food truck, a bistro on wheels, conceived and developed by the Peugeot Design Lab. A super modern food truck, striking because one of the characteristics of the current food trucks is the ‘old fashioned’ image. With ‘Le Bistro du Lion‘ Peugeot will attend the Milan Design Week 2015 from 14 April followed by the French Pavilion of the World Expo Milano 2015.
‘Le Bistrot du Lion’, a Food Truck 2.0
The food truck was invented and developed by the Peugeot Design Lab, the Global Brand Design studio of the car brand. Cathal Loughnane, Head of Peugeot Design Lab, comments, “The end-users are always at the heart of all of our designs. For the Peugeot ‘food truck’, we wanted to create a complete mobile cuisine experience, not only creating a kitchen for the chef but a restaurant and cafe for the customers. A lot of attention was given to opening up the kitchen and allowing the chef and food preparation to be as close to the public as possible. We also wanted to create a real sense of surprise as the compact Peugeot ‘Food Truck’ transforms into an amphitheatre-like dining space ‘Le Bistrot du Lion’.”
The dynamic ‘Le Bistrot du Lion’ is compact, featuring short front and rear overhangs to provide enhanced maneuverability, with a long wheelbase to offer considerable load volume. Once on site, the food truck spreads its wings to double its width. Accommodating 30 persons comfortably, with separate areas for food preparation, eating and refreshments as well as a DJ booth. On board, chefs benefit from two grilling plates and four induction burners as well as a deep fryer. The ventilation system ensures optimum air quality and a 400-litre refrigerated under-foot compartment allows food to stay fresh. A 350-litre refrigerator keeps drinks cold. Attached is a professional espresso machine, by Rocket Espresso. Not only does the Peugeot ‘food truck’ provide a one-of-a-kind dining experience, it does so at an environmental way, having been specially designed to recuperate and recycle all waste.
Peugeot has selected the talented French chef Sven Chartier, of Saturne and Le Clown Bar in Paris, as the first culinary tenant of ‘Le Bistrot du Lion’.
Chef’s Table Netflix series
1-4-2015
6 episodes on Netflix
Netflix introduces a new culinary documentary series about chefs and their philosophy about cooking. The documentary will be split into six episodes. Moviemaker David Gelb will visit a few top chefs during this series and has a look at their kitchens and private life’s. The trailer of Chef’s Table went online last Monday.
Participating chefs at Chef’s Table
Every episode the viewers of Chef’s Table have the opportunity to dive into the life of a different chef. The chefs will show their kitchen and private life for the viewers to have an idea. The participating chefs are Massimo Bottura (Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy), Dan Barber (Blue Hill Restaurant in Stone Barns and in New York , USA), Francis Mallmann (El Restaurante Patagonia Sur in Buenos Aires, Argentina), Niki Nakayama (N/Naka Restaurant in Los Angeles, USA), Ben Shewry (Attica Restaurant in Melbourne, Australia), and Magnus Nilsson (Fäviken in Järpen, Sweden).
Chef’s Table is produced by David Gelb, Matt Weaver, Andrew Fried and Brian McGinn. The series is directed by David Gelb, Andrew Fried, Brian McGinn and Clay Jeter.
Chef’s Table premieres 26 April on Netflix.
Joint venture ‘World of Food’ a new streetfood food hall in Amsterdam
26-3-2015
Throughout The Netherlands more and more food halls are rapidly created. Recently a joint venture in the Southeast of Amsterdam signed the papers to transform a former parking garage into the ‘World of Food’, a new type of food hall. Dozens of entrepreneurs joined forces and are collectively responsible for both cooking the street food and running the joint project. The ‘World of Food’ opens late May 2015.
Daalder mobile payment app
23-3-2015
The Dutch company Daalder launched its mobile payment Daalder app last week, an independent e-wallet for mobile payments in the Netherlands.
About Daalder
Daalder is an Amsterdam based start-up founded by entrepreneurs Renz Millenaar, Reinhard Spronk and Romke de Vries. Thomas de With, former director of the Global Transaction Bank at Deutsche Bank in the Netherlands is member of the Daalder Advisory Board. Business that are connected through Daalder receive payments via the ‘Daalder Webkassa’ (freely translated as ‘Daalder webbased cash register) which makes payments immediately visible. In addition, it is possible to send live updates and special offers to Daalder users.
‘Slag op de Schelde’, an unique culinary competition for chefs at the Oosterschelde
5-3-2015
Michelin starred restaurant Katseveer and chef Hans Everse are organizing a culinary competition ‘Battle on the Schelde’ on the 18th of May 2015. Chefs and sous-chefs will compete on board of a ship at the Oosterschelde. They have to prepare dishes with asparagus and a product from the Oosterschelde. Amongst others the jury includes two Michelin starred chefs Edwin Vinke and Dick Middelweerd.
Slag op de Schelde
‘Battle on the Schelde’ is the sequel to the asparagus-amuse competition that was held for nine years in restaurant ‘De Zeelandburg’. Hans Everse, ‘Hero of the Taste of the region Zeeland’ and chairman/speaker of the ‘Koksgilde Zeeland’, has initiated the revival of this culinary competition together with Jessica and Rutger van der Weel, owners of the Michelin starred restaurant Katseveer. Hans Everse indicated in the press release that he only wants participants which are on a high level, that’s why only chefs and sous-chefs can sign up for the competition.
During the competition the participants have to make a dish with asparagus and a product from the Oosterschelde for 20 persons. They have to present it with a matching wine or cocktail. The dishes may be prepared, only the final preparation can be done on the spot. The participants can be assisted by one student.
They want ‘De slag op de Schelde’ to become a yearly returning culinary competition. Participants can sign up at their website, until the 15th of March 2015.
Jury
The members of the jury are Edwin Vinke (restaurant De Kromme Watergang** and SVH Meesterkok), Dick Middelweerd (restaurant De Treeswijkhoeve** en SVH Meesterkok), Sjaak Jobse (SVH Meesterkok) and sommelier Mike Dooms (restaurant De Kromme Watergang**) who judges the food / wine pairings.
Inspiration
This is a great way to put yourself in the spotlight as chef, for the regions it’s a way to promote local products.
Via Instagram van Dominique Ansel
Via Instagram van Dominique Ansel
Via Instagram van Dominique Ansel
Via Instagram van Dominique Ansel
Via Instagram van Dominique Ansel
Via Instagram van Dominique Ansel
Via Instagram van Dominique Ansel
Via Instagram van Dominique Ansel
First floor, images courtesy of Dominique Ansel Bakery Tokyo. 
Goodluck cat, images courtesy of Dominique Ansel Bakery Tokyo. 
