Back to live, back to reality | The Best Chef Awards
10-9-2021
The fifth edition of The Best Chef Awards will take place in Amsterdam on 13, 14 and 15 September. Its a gastronomic ceremony where the top 100 chefs worldwide are announced. During these three days, various culinary events will take place in and around the capital between (inter)national top chefs and well-known restaurants.
Including the following events: Food Meets Science, Food and Space, AREA Talks and of course The Awards Gala on September 15th. And on September 15, the Four Hands Lunch Jansz. x Manu Buffara will take place in restaurant Jansz of the Pulitzer Hotel.
Reading time: 2 minutes
Restaurant Hemingway becomes Restaurant 1397 and sets a new culinary course
6-9-2021
Restaurant 1397 is the new name of restaurant Hemingway in Grand Hotel and Résidence De Draak in Bergen op Zoom. The restaurant, which is located in the oldest hotel in the Netherlands, has been given a new place as of September 6, 2021 in a beautiful historical setting, whereby the culinary level is further increased. The new name refers to 1397,the year in which De Draak certainly already existed as a business in the hospitality industry.
We already have written about Grand Hotel De Draak at www.horecatrends.com, curious about our articles about the oldest hotel in the Netherlands? Check them out here!
Reading time: 2 minutes
Opening Botania Food & Beer Garden in Utrecht
2-9-2021
The historic city center of Utrecht has gained a new restaurant concept. Brewer Lowlander and restaurant The Streetfood Club have joined forces. Botania Food & Beer Garden promises to be an inspiring meeting place where natural, tasty beers and delicious dishes come together. A match made in heaven – and all that in an atmospheric, tropical green setting. Botania will be open every Monday to Sunday from Saturday the 11th of September onwards for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
You can read about a previous collaboration between Lowlander and The Streetfood club in this article.
Reading time: 2 minutes
iKi Beer launches gastronomical beers with top chef Kelvin Lin
1-9-2021
iKi Beer is expanding their range with a line of beers in collaboration with Dutch top chef Kelvin Lin, known for his restaurant Nayolie. The beers are unique because they work with fresh ingredients and not with extracts. Fresh lemongrass was used for the ‘Lemongrass’ and Zallotti Blossom was added to the ‘Thai Sweet Basil’. CEO Rob Baan of Koppert Cress in Monster, where the Zallotti Blossom is grown, ceremoniously received the first bottle of beer.
Reading time: 2 minutes
WOWorks creates ‘High Five Challenge’ to help end childhood hunger
31-8-2021
Living up to its name, WOWorks’ mission is to fuel the passions of its team members, guests, business partners and the communities they serve to help everyone live their best life. This translates into a commitment to create a “WOW!” place to work, dine, invest and live. To give back to its restaurants’ communities this fall, all four WOWorks’ brands – Saladworks, Frutta Bowls, The Simple Greek and Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh – have partnered with No Kid Hungry to kick off a multi-faceted fundraising campaign called the High Five Challenge with a goal of raising $400,000 (with a minimum of $125,000) which can help provide up to four million meals for kids in need*. According to new estimates, 1 in 6 kids in America could face hunger this year, but when guests dine at any WOWorks restaurant this season, they can ‘Join the Team’ in doing their part to help end childhood hunger in our communities.
Showing the guests commitment with ‘High Five Hand’ images and a ‘High Five Wall Icon Tracker’. Guests can also ‘earn’ a high value coupon!
Reading time: 2 minutes
The Sadistic Wizard Brewery wins final Cannibale Royale Homebrew Competition
30-8-2021
Disclaimer: This article is more for the Dutchies
After a thrilling final, The Sadistic Wizard Brewery’s Milkshake IPA ‘Makeatutara’ has been crowned winner of the Cannibale Royale & Two Chefs Brewing Homebrew Competition in Amsterdam! Five talented amateur brewers competed at Cannibale Royale Du Nord for this ultimate award, but in the end it was The Sadistic Wizard Brewery that took home the gold.
In our article of August 19, we already wrote about this fun collaboration between the restaurant chain Cannibale Royale and the brewery ‘Two Chefs Brewing’. On August 29 the Milkshake IPA by The Sadistic Wizard, was named the winner of the competition. An inspiring collaboration! Check out what they won…
Reading time: 2 minutes
Michelin-starred Swedish chef Niklas Ekstedt opens restaurant ‘Ekstedt at The Yard’ in London
30-8-2021
Next month, multi award-winning Michelin-starred chef Niklas Ekstedt will open his first restaurant outside of Stockholm, launching Ekstedt at The Yard, part of Great Scotland Yard hotel in Westminster. Set within the historic 5* hotel which was once the site of the Metropolitan police, the hotel’s new flagship restaurant will open on 17th September, bringing Niklas’ signature style of wood fired ‘old Nordic’ cooking to the UK for the very first time.
Nordic cuisine a little closer to home, we’re kind of jealous of those foodies living in London! We love the idea of the chef combining his Nordic cuisine with seasonal British products. The Great Scotland Yard Hotel opened last year with a ‘grand unlocking’.
Reading time: 2 minutes
Introduction of a autonomous robotic restaurant | By SJW Robotics
27-8-2021
SJW Robotics, a Toronto based FoodTech company, will be launching a fully autonomous robotic restaurant with zero on-site employees. The company will be demonstrating the pre-commercial unit in the fall of 2021, with a commercial rollout scheduled for Q1, 2022. At the heart of SJW Robotics shines RoWok™, a proprietary automated kitchen system that cooks made-to-order meals like an accomplished chef. Armed with high-speed mechanism, RoWok captures the essence of wok-based cooking and uses state-of-the-art sensors and automation protocols to deliver consistent quality in accordance with the highest food safety standards. The design inspiration for the unit comes from industrial food manufacturing systems and an engineering team with proven accomplishments in robotics.
SJW Robotics’ next-generation restaurant will come in the form of a 100 square-foot standalone unit. The techforward kitchen’s small footprint, plug-and-play capabilities and 24-hour accessibility will enable its implementation in a multitude of locations such as airports, hospitals, universities, grocery stores, office towers, shopping malls, stadiums and industrial complexes.
Trends we spotted | Week 34
26-8-2021
At horecatrends.com or hospitalitytrends.eu we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the other trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.
WIth this week links to articles about Restaurant Esmé in Chicago, founded by Jenner Tomasko (executive chef at Grand Achatz) who focuses on art and community with even a à la carte menu for ‘walk-ins’. Sounds like Chicago has a new culinary hotspot.
Starbucks opened their 10th ‘farmer support’ centre in Varginha, Brasil with the purpose to offer valuable resources to local coffee communities.
UPSIDE Foods partners with three Michelin star chef Dominique Crenn. Crenn will develop recipes and give culinary advise and if allowed she will use the lab-grown chicken in her restaurant. This is the first collaboration in the cultivated meat industry with a three star Michelin chef.
De Koningshoeven brewery is the first in the world to market a completely alcohol-free Trappist beer: La Trappe Nillis (0.0%). And McDonald’s published their Purpose and Impact Report of 2020-2021 with four impact points: Jobs, Inclusion and Empowerment, the Plant, Food Quality & Sourcing and Community Connection.
Duke’s Mayonaise started collaborating with Champion Brewing Company to produce the perfect beer that fits with a BLT sandwich: Family Recipe (5,1% ABV, 27 IBU). Kind of ‘Mayo Beer’. The new ‘food shopping’-app, Grownby, connects farmers with buyers. Wouldn’t it be great to have such an app as a cook? And getting messages like the strawberries are now ‘ready to eat’!
CandyCan gummy bears are gluten-free, plant-based, low-sugar, low carb and contain vitamins. Is it an idea to lay a bag of Gummy bears on top of a pillow for children visiting your hotel? Or to put a bag in a ‘Happy-Meal’ kind of box?
Oreo opened their first café in New Jersey. The café consists of a shop offering Oreo cookies and other Oreo treats, and fast-service where you can order Oreo treats. And in New York another sweet hybride is gaining popularity: the Croffle. This is a soft, buttery and layered croissant toasted in a waffle iron and sprinkled with different toppings.
Click on the title if you like to read the full article. Enjoy reading!
Do you eat every last slice of your bread? | The Dutch No-Waste Week will start soon
24-8-2021
Disclaimer: more interesting for Dutchies. But this might inspire your country.
In one week, we here in the Netherlands can save more than 60 million slices of bread at home by simply not wasting it. Bakeries and supermarkets participate in a campaign of the ‘Samen Tegen Voedselverspilling’ foundation (translated: Together Against Food Waste) to prevent bread wastage among consumers. One of their initiatives is to put the sticker ‘Do you eat every slice?’ on a whopping 3 million loaves of bread. Bread is the product Dutch households waste the most, followed by dairy products, vegetables, fruit, potatoes and meat. All these products play a leading role during the national No-Waste Week from the 7th until the 13th of September.
Every hospitality entrepreneur can confirm they most likely throw away too much in a day, even if you are already consciously working on it. For those entrepreneurs who would like to participate, start to look at your business’ breakfast waste; how many slices of bread, baked rolls, bowls with fruit and toppings are thrown in the trash every day? There is room for improvement, right?
Reading time: 2 minutes
The Best Chef Awards
Manu Buffarra 
Chef Arnout van der Kolk
