At Horecatrends we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the smaller trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.
This week, amongst others a hidden, whisky laced speakeasy pop-up in London, the world’s first billboard made of hamburgers and Coca Cola is launching an alcoholic drink.
Click on the title if you would to read the full article. Enjoy reading! read more
The Mermaid Latte mix by Nutra Organics is both a healthy and Instagrammable beverage. This Mermaid Latte mix is made from a combination of sea minerals, blue Spirulina, matcha blue butterfly pea flower, Manuka honey, adaptogenic herbs, like ashwaganda, Siberien Ginseng, liquorice and milk thistle and Ayurvedic chai spices, like ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, star anise, cayenne powder and black pepper. According to Nutra Organics this latte doesn’t taste like sushi with all the sea ingredients, the taste must be like a spicier version of a chai latte. The powder can be used in all kinds of milks, like dairy, soy, almond or creamy coconut milk. read more
Last week, Starbucks Reserve SODO opened its doors for the first time, inviting visitors to take a journey of discovery with small-lot Starbucks Reserve™ coffees and Princi food. This location is the first of the company’s new Reserve store concept, introducing a marketplace-style environment to showcase its premium Starbucks Reserve brand. read more
Chez Claire, haute éclairs
Chez Claire, haute éclairs
Chez Claire, haute éclairs
Chez Claire, haute éclairs
Chez Claire, haute éclairs
Chez Claire, haute éclairs
Chez Claire, haute éclairs
Chez Claire, haute éclairs
Chez Claire, haute éclairs
Chez Claire, haute éclairsDries Henau and Yuri Vandenbogaerde, or ‘the guys’, behind the concept of the WASBAR, opened their luxurious ‘haute éclairs’ shop Chez Claire in Antwerp last Saturday. Next Friday, 9 March, their second location in Ghent will follow. At Chez Claire you can taste éclairs in 13 different flavours while enjoying a glass of Cuvée Claire or a great cup of coffee. Like we wrote in an article in December in which their plans where revealed, if you like éclairs, some new addresses if you’re visiting one of these cities!
Credits: The Food Network
The Museum of Candy in New York City will feature the largest selection of candy in the world for museum patrons to photograph, study and most importantly EAT! Opening by the team behind the international phenomenon, Sugar Factory, the first of three planned museums will feature a 30,000-square-foot candy wonderland in the heart of the city. read more
At Horecatrends we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the smaller trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.
This week, amongst others The Hunted Experience is coming to East London and British supermarket Asda launches twists on the classic Easter egg.
Click on the title if you would to read the full article. Enjoy reading! read more
As more and more people find their way to Airbnb, it’s time for the hotel industry to respond. The Standard Hotels, which has a number of hotels in America, therefore introduced the Stowaway program. The program focusses on guests in search for a for a long stay room or apartment, if they decide to book at The Standard, they’ll enjoy a variety of new and luxurious offerings.
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‘The gym of the future is closer than you think’ is a research insight by Reebok and Gensler a global architecture and design firm. Interesting read for those changing the world around us, they revitalize the fuel stations we no longer need when we have more autonomous cars on the road and turn them into fuel for our bodies stations instead. read more
At Horecatrends we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the smaller trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.
This week, amongst others about turning delays into a party with free Gordon’s & Tonic and a VR club where avatars can dance and mingle.
Click on the title if you would to read the full article. Enjoy reading! read more
PUCK is the first air hockey hall in Europe. Tomorrow, February 23 the hall on the Jan Evertsenstraat in Amsterdam will open and you can play on 16 tables. In addition, they also serve a great menu and delicious cocktails. For anyone who isn’t a fan of air hockey, they also have a couple of pinball machines and a Guitar Hero room. read more
Restaurante Contraste Milaan
Restaurant Intermezzo UlvenhoutA year ago we ate at restaurant Contraste in Milan a truly delicious ‘Donut alla Bolognese’, a dish you won’t forget! The nice thing is that the dish puts you on the wrong track, only the resemblance in the shape reminded me of a donut. You can do many things with pasta and in this article I have collected a number of examples. Now I have to admit that a number of ‘hip, trendy’ pasta dishes have been known for a long time, for example I used to make a ‘spaghetti alla Carbonara’- pie in my student days. And my student days have been behind me for several decades! On our Pinterest page we made an ‘Italian Inspiration’ wall with photos and videos of various trendy pasta dishes. What do you think of a ’30 feet long pasta strand’ or spaghetti served from a Parmigiano cheese wheel? Or spaghetti tacos, cupcakes or ‘rainbow spaghetti’? ^Marjolein read more
GRiD is a real-life Pong game designed by The Moment Factory. The design studio, located in six different cities around the world, uses the latest techniques to offer people unique experiences. GRiD is one of their last projects, a live-action Pong game where you’re the ‘Paddle’. read more
At Horecatrends we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the smaller trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.
This week, amongst others about ‘cauliflower pizza crust from California Pizza Kitchen’, golden wings at Buffalo Wild Wings during the Olympics and another example of a collaboration between a restaurant and a jeweller. This time you’re served a £50,000 margarita under surveillance of two bodyguards!
Click on the title if you would to read the full article. Enjoy reading! read more
Three artists, four concerts, five nights: AccorHotels launches a pop-up Suite 345 in the heart of the AccorHotels Arena. As part of a week of incredible concerts at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris, from February 22 to 26, the ‘Welcome Fans by AccorHotels’ program is inviting fans of three internationally acclaimed artists to a unique experience in Suite 345. read more
Credits to The Book Club
Credits to The Book ClubFor our English followers, have a great Pancake Day today! Here in the Netherlands we don’t celebrate Pancake day on Shrove Tuesday like in the UK and USA. On Shrove Day we often eat ‘stamppot’, a Dutch meal that consist of mashed potatoes, vegetables and meat. Shrove Tuesday is the day that precedes Ash Wednesday. As it is determined by Easter, for which the actual date changes on an annual basis. In the US it’s called Mardi Gras (French for ‘Fat Tuesday’) mainly because they use up the fatty foods before Lent. Pancake Day itself came much later as a way of using up rich foods, like eggs, milk and sugar before the 40 days of fasting. In this article some examples of how it’s celebrated around the UK found in an article at The Nudge in which you can find more inspiration. We hope they will be inspiration for the Dutch Pancake Day that is celebrated March 16. If you’re looking for some inspiration from the Netherlands, type ‘pannenkoeken’ or ‘pancakes’ in our search bar and you’ll find a lot of inspiration. read more
We couldn’t find an immersive Christmas Light Maze in Europe yet, howevere correct us if we are wrong. But we love the idea, another fun read more
We have been sharing inspiration on our website since 2007, inspiration that we find in the hospitality industry or by online spotting of what our read more
We have been sharing inspiration on our website since 2007, inspiration that we find in the hospitality industry or by online spotting of what our read more
The campaign “What drives you?” is an initiative by WaterReijk Marketing in collaboration with businesses, residents and visitors to the region. The campaign aims to acquaint the Dutch audience with the stories from the region.
Besides the launch of the online magazine www.enwatdrijftjou.nl, a life sized milk carton from Weerribben Dairy was revealed and is one of the examples of how the campaign is being promoted throughout the country. The carton was unveiled by entrepreneurs Klaas de Lange from Weerribben Dairy and Martin Kruithof of the Restaurant Lindenhof.
Via the famous icons such as Giethoorn and the Weerribben the campaign seduces (online) visitors to explore other stories and secrets from the area as well. The stories are told by entrepreneurs, residents and visitors in the form of videos, interviews, blogs and photos in the online magazine. The first stories are movies of the Weerribben Dairy and Restaurant de Lindenhof. Various event posters, social media and joint promotions will support the campaign.
One of these joint promotions is with Klaas de Lange from Weerribben Dairy. The story of Klaas in the Weerribben is one of the stories in the campaign, it is brought into the country via a life-size milk carton. In the milk carton hides a refrigerator with cups of milk to promote the campaign.
WaterReijk Marketing intends to bundle remarkable stories of the area in this campaign. Entrepreneurs, residents and visitors are also invited to share their story and become ambassadors of the region.
Look for vendors who sell allergen free products! It can make your life a lot easier.
Do you already have an allergy information menu? Is it part of your food safety plan? Late last year we were busy with the new legislation but it’s no news anymore. A lot of restaurants have an indication on the menu that an allergy information menu is available, but there are also restaurants without any information. And of course you also have restaurants who think they can get away with mentioning the possible allergies you could have.
Meanwhile, there are several producers entering the market who have taken the allergens as a guideline for their products. Like for example the Valuas croquette developed by Master Chef Eric Swaghoven from restaurant Valuas (*). Recently we came across the products of VA Foods (in the Netherlands) they sell a line of snacks for those with allergies. They use high-quality fresh and pure ingredients as much as possible and try to avoid flavor enhancers, preservatives and colorants.
If you find it difficult to make meals without the allergens, start looking for producers who have already done a lot of work for you. For example, VA Foods sells products such as croquettes, hot dog, puff pastry, ragout and bread. Their products all meet the internationally recognized VITAL-2 standard. So the products are gluten free, lactose free, peanut free, nut free and free from other common allergens. By finding this kind of suppliers, you can make it easier on yourself …
Pop-up food concept ‘Eten Centraal’ opened at Rotterdam Central Station on 16 June. It is a new initiative by The Food Line-up in collaboration with NS Stations. The pop-up location changes every two weeks with another small street food entrepreneur from the city.
The Food Line-up was one of the initiators of the street food debate about new permits that would benefit diverse and sustainable street food. Now they’ve set their crosshairs on high traffic destinations like the Rotterdam Central Station. With pop-up stores like ‘Eten Centraal’ railway stations will surprise travellers with a weekly changing selection of several local entrepreneurs. The focus is now on empty shop spaces that require temporary filling at Rotterdam Central. If successful, this may result in temporary fillings of empty spaces at other stations. It makes stations thus even more attractive for everyone.
Every two weeks during “the Switch” a new business will build up in the pop-up store. In 46 days, more than seven Rotterdam heroes will serve a diverse menu including Old Scuola Pizza Napolitana, Man met Bril Coffee, Saté man with Toko to go, Fritez Haute friture, Pinky Rose lemonade, Jumble Korean Food and Rotterdam brewers. The website and Facebook will show the complete list of entrepreneurs and time tables.
“The pop-up street food concept is truly groundbreaking,” according to Lotte Wouters and Maartje Nelissen. “For the first time a high traffic location like this provides room to small local businesses next to the fixed formulas and usual suspects on locations like these. Travellers can now also enjoy the offerings of local entrepreneurs at Rotterdam Central Station, one of the most prominent places in the city, and taste the identity of the city and its inhabitants. “
The initial establishment of an innovative European kebab franchise will soon start in Alkmaar.
Entrepreneurs Sinan Gul, Hans Verloop and Baris Kürkcü took the very popular Baba Rafi format from Asia to Europe and adjusted them fully to European standards and trends. With a strong focus on healthy and sustainable dishes, Baba Rafi also wants to reach out to women and children and that distinguishes the formula from all existing kebab, döner or shawarma formats.
In order to finance the initial establishment of Baba Rafi Europe, the entrepreneurs made a successful appeal to the public: 176 private investors invested € 250.000,= in the company via Collin CrowdFund.
Baba Rafi is the largest franchise chain in the world in the field of kebab products. With more than 1.300 locations in Asia where the concept is immense popular. The Asian concept is fully adapted to the European market where respect for the food, the customers and the environment play an important role. One of the initiators, Baris Kürkcü: “Every niche in the food industry, from fries-, hamburger and chicken formats to sandwiches, has seen a trend towards more sustainable and responsible food, in the recent years. With Baba Rafi we introduce a kebab concept that is tailored entirely to the needs and desires of the modern conscious consumers. The dishes are freshly prepared with a minimum of E-numbers and maximum sustainable and organic ingredients. We have worked closely with a culinary consultant and nutritionist during the development of the dishes. The dishes are suitable to eat for lunch. For everyone, thus emphatically including women and children.”
Along with financial expert Hans Verloop and former McDonald’s CEO, Herman de Haas, the team of Baba Rafi wants to realize the largest kebab chain in Europe. There is no comparable franchise concept in Europe but there is a 10 billion euros sales in kebab fastfood restaurants. The facility in Alkmaar will be the flagship store and serves as a model for the next Baba Rafi in comparably sized cities in the Netherlands and Europe.
Recently gin and tonic mixes are extremely popular. There was a Gin & Tonic festival, there are special restaurants and (pop-up) bars, there is a GINformatiecentrum and at every fancy food festivals you can get yourself a gin and tonic mix.
Usually the focus at the mix drinks is on the gin and the quality of the tonic if often neglected. This while a mix drink like a gin-tonic consists for ¾ out of a tonic and is thus crucial for the flavour. In recent decades the soft drink market is largely dominated by a few multinational companies that more focus on profit rather than quality. This changes now, more and more producers approach the market differently with more unique and qualitative products. Fever-Tree is one of them and since November 2014 the company is privately held and competing with the big boys at the London AIM stock market.
In 2004 Charles Rolls and Tim Warrillow decided tonic and mixers for cocktails in general could use a quality upgrade. One of the major components of tonic is quinine, that’s where the bitterness comes from. After months of research they discovered that there is a Fever Tree plantation that produces the purest quinine in the world and it’s located in Congo. They travelled to the rough Democratic Republic of Congo and visited this plantation. The ingredients for the rest of the tonic are collected in the same manner. Research, travel and conversations with ‘plant hunters’ a part of the development of new products. Fever-Tree tonic contains high-quality ingredients and natural cane sugar.
For Fever-Tree’s Ginger Beer and Ginger Ale three kinds of ginger are used, each from a different area. It’s fresh green ginger from Ivory Coast for the freshness, ginger from Nigeria for depth and intensity of the flavor and ginger from Cochin for an earthy, chocolate-like flavor.
The Mediterranean Tonic is our favorite. It contains citrus oil and herbs from the coastal areas around the Mediterranean. Lemon Thyme and rosemary are two of the ingredients that come from Provence and give the unique flower-like character to the tonic, which makes it an ideal mixer for vodka and lights gins.
The 31-year-old chef Michael Wolf (Oud Sluis ***, Vila Joya ** and Envy) will officially open Wolf Atelier on 21 June. He does this in 1920 railway bridge transformed into a glass surrounded restaurant next to the Central Station of Amsterdam.
Wolf Atelier is light and spacious, the monumental railway bridge has a characteristic industrial design and is equipped with 80 high glass windows. This workshop offers a 360 degree view of Amsterdam, due to the large amount of plants and earthy tones it looks like an urban garden. The open kitchen and small chef’s table provide constant interaction between Michael Wolf and his guests.
The menu contains two main sections. The so-called Gallery-section of the menu lists some of Michael Wolf’s current signature dishes such as ‘lacquered pork belly with fried langoustines, carrot cream and a sauce of spices.’ The Workshop-section is to pre-test dishes and consists out of experiments and cool innovations. After feedback from guests, only the best dishes will be continued in the ‘Gallery-section’ of the menu.
Michael Wolf: “This workshop space is tough and metropolitan, the ideal setting to strive for perfection. Everything must be right, really. Not only the food and wine but the ambiance, the music, the service and the cocktails as well, each telling its own story. I can’t judge whether I ask too much from myself and my team, the only thing that matters is that I’ve lived up to this moment since I was fifteen and can’t wait to start!”
AGC and Van der Valk have announced that architect Jasper Spigt from domainarchitecture has won the glass room design competition. The challenge was to show the versatility of glass as a material. In his design Spigt organizes the different functions of the hotel room with a single, folded glass wall.
AGC Flat Glass Netherlands has taken the initiative to create an “AGC room” at the new Van der Valk hotel in Tiel. With the intention to be able to show their glass in practice, to interested customers. This idea was developed into a design contest for a glass room. A form of collaboration where everyone benefits: AGC, Van der Valk and the winning architect. They created media value for all parties and a lot of attention on social media. Inspiration for other entrepreneurs who want to put their products in the spotlights.
In his design ‘Through the Looking Glass’, architect Jasper Spigt of domainarchitecture designed a glass wall from one piece for the hotel room. This wall has various functions in every section of the room, varying from transparent, matt, energizing, reflected, with lighting or art in it. In one section a wall of matt glass separates the sitting area from the bathroom, a bit further it expands like a ‘sky’ round the bed.
As the winner of the design competition Spigt receives a cash prize of € 2000,-. AGC Glass and Van der Valk hotel room strive to finish the glass room at the end of this year.
Runner-up is the design ‘Colorize your stay’ by Kees Marcelis Studio Arnhem (Kees Marcelis, Judith Westgeest and Frank ten Westereind) in collaboration with Alverre Techni Glass. In this design, colored and folded glass walls are placed behind each other to organize the space of the room.
A total of seventy designs were submitted. Next to the winner and the runner up there were also two honorable mentions, Arcade and Cocon.
The multidisciplinary jury for the competition consisted out of Elfi van der Valk (owner and general manager from Van der Valk Hotel Tiel), Judith Kaart (marketing manager AGC Flat Glass Netherlands), Rob Seuntiëns (interior architect at Dutch Concept) and Michiel van Raay (editor Architectenweb).
Halal Fried Chicken in Amsterdam has announced special activities during the Ramadan.
Either this Wednesday or Thursday the Ramadan, the abstinence month for Muslims worldwide, will start. The exact date depends on the position of the moon and is determined on the final moment. In addition to the abstinence during the day is sharing meals between sunset and sunrise a key element of this religious month.
One of the catering businesses announcing special activities during the Ramadan is Halal Fried Chicken (HFC). The fast food store opened in December 2014 at the Vlugtlaan in Amsterdam Nieuw-West. Soon a second restaurant will open at the Waterlandplein in the North of Amsterdam. Halal Fried Chicken claims to be the first Halal fast food restaurant in the Netherlands.
In addition to various halal burgers (chicken burger, beef burger and cheeseburger) HFC sells halal chicken pieces, tender strips, nuggets, hotwings, chicken wraps, fries and Coca-Cola. The restaurant sells combinations in different buckets and menus, as you would expect at a fast food restaurant.
In the beginning there was criticism to the halal certificates of the products at Halal Fried Chicken. This because of a discussion between various halal certifiers and Halal abattoir about what is and is not ‘halal’. The fast food restaurant preferred not to be the subject of the discussion and stated to act conscientiously, especially because it has the specific notation of ‘halal’ slaughtering method in the name. Nowadays the storm seems to have passed, or at least for HFC as a subject in this discussion.
Halal Fried Chicken has a committed community that makes themselves heard with quite some criticism, especially on Facebook. The fast food restaurant sponsors MaroComedy and Mystiek Productions that do the production of the stand-up comedy show ‘Couscous & Baklava 2.0’ together.
nhow Rotterdam opens a pop-up shop with hip and only local design products.
The lobby of the nhow hotel regularly changes its looks for example by providing space for exhibitions and experiences. With this pop-up shop, the hotel brings quality local labels to the attention of her guests in a temporary setting (until August 2015).
“We strongly believe in the power of local labels and designers and knew without a doubt that these were the kinds of products that we wanted to show our guests. We’re not so much concerned with the sales, but the story about our city. Rotterdam has much to offer when it comes to design.” says Hermann Spatt, director of nhow Rotterdam.
For example, the new shopping bags by Susan Bijl, various textual books with quotes from Mwah, designer socks by Alfredo Gonzales, exquisite porcelain cups by Label Aleph and books from photographer Ruud Sies are selected for the first edition of the shop. nhow also sells a number of small personal items including the nhow condoms with naughty lyrics like: ‘Use me now’ and ‘Do it now’. The products are usually affordable and easy to carry in the plane, making them original souvenirs.
Top chef Erik van Loo ** serves a butcher’s brunch with three butchers at Parkheuvel in Rotterdam on 19 July.
On Sunday 19 July butcher’s son Erik van Loo hosts a unique brunch with three butchers by the name of ‘To beef or not to beef’ at restaurant Parkheuvel. Herman ter Weele from Butchery ‘Ter Weele’ in Oene (GE), demo butcher Gertjan Kiers and culinary connoisseur Ernest Lebouille will join forces and will bone the meat live at the premises. They will give explanation and tell stories about the meat and boning craftmanship.
During the documentary ‘De Smaak van de Ziel (translated as ‘A Taste of the Soul’), it became clear that van Loo had much interest in meat because he is a butcher’s son. The idea for the brunch began when he got reactions about this after the documentary was premiered.
‘To beef or not to beef’ begins on 19 July at 12:30 and lasts until 17:00. An all-inclusive brunch including drinks costs € 150, -. After the boning from head to tail by the butchers, van Loo will make ten to twelve dishes with the meat. The tickets are sold via the IENS website and there are 120 tickets available.
IENS CarteBlanche is a culinary event where a renowned chef gets the chance to perform a special concept for one day. That may be something with his favourite ingredient, something at a particular location or something completely different from what he normally does in his restaurant. The chef will at get a complete carte blanche. Unique events for food lovers!
Last year there was already a CarteBlanche at Parkheuvel, when the theme was based on the renovation of the restaurant.
Hendrick’s Gin created an ultimate experience at Taste of Amsterdam with the ‘Garden of Unusual Delight’.
A critical visitor Taste of Amsterdam could have spotted the Garden of Unusual Delight on the event map already. Ordering an ‘unusual’ Hendrick’s Gin at the FeverTree bar gave access to a hidden garden behind the booths.
Through the secret channels of Hendrick’s Gin, Armand got the tip to order the ‘unusual’ Hendrick’s Gin and tonic at the FeverTree bar. After ordering he was taken to the secret garden where he arrived in an oasis of peace, certainly compared to the rest of the popular festival.
A flamboyant host welcomed all the guests, with only a handful of other curious visitors there was plenty of room to site down on the picturesque bistro sets, bean bags or romantic benches. The bartenders had three standard cocktails on the menu and saw special requests as a challenge to be extra creative in the preparation process.
The special bar, VIP feeling and contrast of the peaceful garden to the rest of the festival gave an exclusive total experience. The #SocietyOfTheUnusual by Hendrick’s Gin seems a guarantee for more unique experiences around the liquor brand. So keep your ears and eyes open and ‘expect the unexpected’.
Recently we spotted the sample platter at Friska. Their healthy, responsible roles with fresh ingredients are served at the Amsterdam Food Halls.
Often the small details in new concepts catch our eye. At Friska, designed by van Ommeren Architects, we think the wooden trays amplify the concept. These are specially designed platters to serve Friska’s from. You don’t often see architects design such a platter especially for one product.
Friska’s in their own words: “Part-time sushi, part-time wrap, fulltime Friska. Healthy, organic and 100% gluten free. Friska’s are healthy rolls with fresh ingredients. Easy, ready to eat and easy to eat with one hand. They have a lot of standard choices in Friska’s but you can also create your own roll. Choose your favorite wrap, create your own stuffing with different grains and fresh vegetables and your Friska is ready.
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.
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?
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.
Several visitors of Maastricht were, totally unexpected, pampered last weekend.
Last weekend some lucky visitors of Maastricht were unexpectedly surprised by two waiters. They placed a bistro set on various places in the bustling city and invited some visitors to enjoy a cup of coffee with the famous pie from this region and a musical performance. Watch the video impression here.
With the “What you want?” campaign the city demonstrates that a visit or experience of the city doesn’t only depends on the hospitable services in hotels, restaurants and retail. The atmosphere and what you can experience are also very important. From arrival to departure, from cultural visitor to shopping lover, the city has to leave a lasting impression to everyone from young to old.
John Aarts, alderman of economy from the city: “Maastricht has no clichés. Boring is a word that doesn’t exist here. Around every corner awaits a new impression, behind every façade a surprise. Although the city is small, it’s unique character is made by the atmosphere displayed throughout the city. You don’t visit Maastricht, you experience Maastricht.”
The Kindle Allison is a stylish patio heater with a dual functionality.
During ‘Taste of Amsterdam’ the stylish patio heaters at the Visaandeschelde booth were a real eye catcher. Just like the delicious Oosterschelde lobster “en brochette” that was served by this restaurant, but that’s just a mouthwatering side note to this article.
The patio heaters are from America and were rented at Héman. Kindle Living from Los Angeles is the creator of the patio heater. The company describes the design process simply as “We saw a need and set out to fill it. No more goosebumps”. There are six different models including a limited edition with a production series of only 101 pieces and a useful dolly to move the patio heaters. Moving the heaters is not necessary with the slim model that can be connected to an existing gas line. Earlier this model was awarded two Silver A ‘Design Awards.
Ugly and purely functional gas heaters are history and using these heaters adds style to the terrace. The bottom of the heater can be illuminated in eight different colors and can be equipped with a handy shelf for glasses. Although your cocktail will get warm before you know it 😉
Last Friday Armand had dinner at Eastwood, the new pop-up restaurant from DoubleTree by Hilton which is within walking distance of the Central Station in Amsterdam. The restaurant officially opened on 22 May and the location has two functions. In the morning, it’s the breakfast restaurant of the hotel and every afternoon will be converted into a grill restaurant. The tabletops, chalk boards, paintings and lighting get another look. Even the clothing of the staff changes.
The restaurant is located below the hotel and has a great potential. Especially the terrace outside will attract passers-by, even though it is not on the usual route towards the center. The first announcement of the opening was focused on a ‘beer & grill’ concept, the description ‘assemble your own perfect dinner’ would fit better. It is not a restaurant for people that have difficulties with choices since there are so many personalization options possible to meet your unique taste.
The menu includes various building blocks from which the dishes can be put together. Potatoes are served as mashed potatoes, thin fries or hand cut fries. There are several vegetables and other side dishes to choose from, like risotto. For the main course guests can choose between meat, fish or vega. For meat-lovers a great exclusive offer of proper serving up to 800 grams are available.
With a choice from five knives that are presented on a magnetic cutting board, even the most cynical knife critic will be pleased. Earlier we wrote about using a herb cart and the ability to cut some fresh herbs at the table yourself. Eastwood extends this service with a range of sauces in glass bottles on the cart as well.
The dessert was served as a single bucket of homemade ice cream on the table accompanied with nine different toppings. It’s a feast to work on the dessert this way and share the bucket. It was difficult to keep the special toppings apart, so a stylish card with the ingredients would complete it.
At Eastwood every detail mentioned before is well thought of. Many of the trends and examples we’ve spotted and published about on this website are integrated in the restaurant. This in addition to details such as stamped paper bags for the bread, name badges for the staff, Amsterdam’s specialty beers, the convenient use of segments in the restaurant at the beginning of the evening (so it looks busy early on) and the view of the bustling city life through the glass walls. The menu is not yet available online (the website is still under construction) but the price level is very okay and it’s a convenient place if you want to adjust portions and styles easily.
Recently, a small collective started organizing luxury dinners at extraordinary locations. By the name of Wilddineren (‘Wild Dining’) a train compartment, the attic of the Beurs van Berlage (Amsterdam) and the red toilets of the Patronaat in Haarlem were used for surprising dinners.
Each dinner has a unique location, unique chefs and a unique dining concept. At the Beurs van Berlage guests were eating between the old boilers at the attic, but everyday locations like a train and a toilet can be transformed into an unusual dinner location as well. Earlier, the guys from Gastrovan, Masterchef cook Elise Calkoen, Seats2Meet, ‘Catering aan huis’ and Patronaat participated in Wild Dining.
In addition to culinary delights, there are presentations, interesting guests, table roulette and live music during the dinners. The organization finds it addictive to surprise guests and bystanders. They want to amaze people and to confront them with activities outside their own paradigm. The organization indicates that the dinners are a reaction to the current overload of parties in old warehouses, food truck festivals and pop-up initiatives of shops and restaurants. The focus is primarily on creating contrasting experiences. With these dinners they aim to compete with theater, cinema’s and concerts, rather than to compete with regular restaurants.
There are a number of dinners scheduled, but the specific time and place will be revealed on the day itself.
Recently it was possible to virtually join Jonnie Boer in his daily activities via Periscope.
For anyone who wants a peek into the world of a Michelin star chef (and who doesn’t?!) Jonnie Boer provides the possibility to access his mobile camera through the Periscope app. We witnessed him in a broadcast on a boat while collecting different products. The past week a dozen other live broadcasts were shared through his Twitter channel.
The Periscope app has been gaining more and more momentum in the recent months. It’s a tool that enables live citizen journalism within a few clicks on your mobile phone. When a recent bomb alert was issued at Jumbo Supermarket in Groningen, ‘ordinary citizen’ Rianne Schuurman instantly became the most important information channel for the Netherlands. One of the major Dutch news outlets (NOS) described the whole happening in retrospect (translated article in Google). It states that local news station RTV Noord saw the value of the broadcast and came to help when the battery of Rianne Schuurman’s phone was running low and made sure that she could remain in the ‘press area’.
For Android devices it’s only possible to connect via Twitter, iPhones can log in with a phone number as well.
SVH has developed a game for newbies in the hospitality industry.
We cannot stress enough that the personnel in the hospitality industry in general and at the terrace in specific is very important. It can be difficult to find the time and resources to train personnel in the right way. For (potential) personnel with little or no experience in the hospitality, SVH will launch the game ‘Getting started in the hospitality industry’. With the app, newbies can learn and test their knowledge and skills. Additionally, a restaurant owner or manager can prepare them for future situations that could occur on the terrace. The app will be launched officially on 22 June, we’re looking forward to testing it.
Because a satisfied guest often means word-of-mouth advertising and a disgruntled guest the opposite, training is important, especially during busy periods. This app is an accessible way to teach and test basic skills. Besides training of the personnel, small welcoming gestures can make a difference as well . Read more about small welcoming gestures in the hospitality industry.
The municipality of Utrecht developed a game last year to positively impact the hospitality as well.
By tweeting an emoji to Fooji you can order food with a simple picture.
Although the emoji ordering initially sounds like a joke, it makes the choice for a meal delivery quite easy. The stress that a regular meal order causes can be quite torturous. It takes a mouth-watering struggle browsing through the websites of local restaurants, when you just want the best and most delicious food on your plate as quickly as possible.
In the Netherlands we are lucky with Thuisbezorgd.nl, that makes the choice much easier. But even on that website it can be quite difficult to select a specific dish. That where Fooji comes in with a matching $15,- dish for every food emoji, delivered by a top rated local restaurant. The restaurants that are chosen by the emoji service vary weekly.
Fooji was invented by Gregg Morton and Erik Zamudio and is initially only available in New York. The app stimulates local economies by including local restaurants and getting them into the mix with the big players. They also want to simplify the ordering process by ordering with emoji’s. The app doesn’t take any special dietary wishes into account.
Social enterprise Geef Café wants to make healthy and fair food accessible for all the people in Amsterdam.
The concept is based on the ‘Pay as you can’-model where the guest decides what he or she pays. This allows people with less money to spend to visit Geef Café as well. After several successful pop-ups and an extensive trial period, it is time for the next step: a permanent location in Amsterdam. Therefore, the founders start a crowdfunding campaign and get help from Ben & Jerry’s.
The Netherlands has many people who have little money to spend. As a result, these people often have no access to healthy food and eating out is an unaffordable luxury. Hence Judith Manshanden decided to establish the Geef Café with Laura Schön and Rogier Charles in 2013.
Inspired by the pay as you can-movement in the US, the founders of the Geef Café wanted to open a restaurant in the Netherlands where everyone is welcome. The concept proved to work very well in Rotterdam and generated a lot of positive reactions. Over 80% of visitors were paying more than the target price. “Now is the time for a permanent location in Amsterdam, to inspire so many more people from The Netherlands and abroad,” said Manshanden. The Geef Café is supported by Ben & Jerry’s through the ‘Join Our Core incubator’ program.
Geef Café cookes with vegetables that are normally discarded. During previous pop-up dinners in Amsterdam and during the trial in Rotterdam, a total of 2.500 kilos of waste products was collected from wholesalers and used in their meals.
With the support of Triodos Foundation and the DOEN Foundation they’ve already built a budget. The last push is needed to provide a green light to the Geef Café, therefore they’ve started a crowdfunding campaign at the Doorgaan.nl platform. Donators get various rewards in exchange for a donation. For example, € 150,- gives you a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream party for 50 people.
The campaign ends on 16 July and after that the Geef Café hopes to open as quickly as possible at a permanent location. With 42 days to go they’ve acquired 55% of the targeted goal.
A new LED lighting technology from Philips provides indoor location determination.
In a Carrefour supermarket in Lille (France), Philips tests with LED lights that can be used for indoor navigation. They call it ‘light beyond illumination’ and in addition to the energy saving characteristics of LED light the technology also sends signals that can be used to find your location. All installed LED’s feature the visible light communication technology (VLC) which is invisible to the eye. If a user opens the associated app and holds the phone horizontally, it can read the VLC via the camera. If the software has located the device it tracks the location by using the lights on the ceiling.
Especially in (mega) stores this can be a huge advantage. In addition, the implementation of the LEDs resulted in a saving on the energy bill by 50 percent. The navigation method can improve the shopping experience, searching for products in the supermarket could end up as a short chapter in the history books.
It is a completely different approach than using iBeacons for navigation, which now is often used when indoor navigation is applied to catering businesses. Earlier we wrote about an application that uses the iBeacon technology during the Sneekweek.
NH Collection Eurobuilding in Madrid officially launched the VIP Level service concept
The VIP Level offers guests a range of services and privileges at the hotel itself, including a private reception and guest relations desk, a VIP Breakfast Room with high-quality a la carte offerings, early check-in from 12:00, late check-out until 14:00, unlimited access to the luxurious Metropolitan Fitness & Wellness Centre, access to the Executive Lounge on the fifteenth floor and priority if you want to reserve a table at the 3 * Michelin Restaurant Diverxo, also located in the building.
Outside the hotel the VIP level offers more privileges, such as a Personal Shopper, premium shopping services at El Corte Ingles and Las Rozas Village, the Europcar Prestige Service (where premium cars are delivered to the hotel), quick access to the Prado Museum and the Thyssen museum and the option to reserve a VIP box at the nearby stadium of Real Madrid.
According to Hugo Rovira, Managing Director of NH Hotel Group Spain, Portugal and Andorra, the VIP Level fits seamlessly into the existing services of the hotel: “Since the reopening, the NH Collection flagship in Spain NH Collection Eurobuilding has become one of the best business and leisure hotel in Europe. It offers the guests that expect ‘something more’ from their journey everything they need to make their stay a memorable experience.”
Niven Kunz from the Michelin-starred Restaurant NIVEN in Rijswijk launched his own “NIVEN foodbox. The box contains gourmet delicacies that are ‘100% Niven-worthy’ and will have a different content four times a year.
The products in the box come from suppliers that Niven Kunz trusts and he uses in the kitchen on a daily basis. One of the unique selling points of the box will be the outstanding quality. The products each have their own story and are from small entrepreneurs with a traditional and authentic background. The products can vary from coffee, beer, chocolate to balsamic, chutney and salt. The contents change every season and are aimed for the home market.
One box costs €49,95 and is sold at Restaurant Niven as well as through the webshop www.nivenshop.nl. An annual subscription of € 199, – will get you a NIVEN foodbox four times a year and a three course lunch for two, including wine and water served at Restaurant NIVEN.
There will be a pretesting possibility during Taste of Amsterdam, from 4 to 7 June.
Fever-Tree and Bobby’s Gin from Schiedam join forces and come to Rotterdam for a tasting of the many possibilities with gin, tonic and botanical herbs for three weekends in June.
In 2005 Charles Rolls and Tim Warrillow stepped into the world of soft drinks because of the dissatisfaction they got from the existing mixers that were available on the market to use for cocktails. They joined forces to reinvent soft drinks. Back to the basics and nature, to create a mixer that can supplement spirits. Fever-Tree presents itself as a valuable ingredient of a cocktail, which often contains 3 / 4 parts of soda. Thus this must be a high quality soda as well.
‘Dutch courage mixed with Indonesian spices’ is the best description of Bobby’s Schiedam dry gin basis. By recreating the recipe from his Moluccan grandfather Bobby, Sebastiaan van Bokkel developed a unique gin together with Herman Jansen distilleries in Schiedam.
This June King Charles II pop’s up above restaurant ‘De Engel’ in Rotterdam. Bartenders literally lead visitors through a garden of ingredients and show a world beyond the established Gin & Tonics. Magical new cocktails are created as gin joins freshly picked herbs and Fever-Tree’s Ginger Ale, Bitter Lemon, Lemonade, Ginger Beer, soda water or lemonade Sicilian.
Between 21:00 to 00:00 hours King Charles II serves a tasting menu from restaurant ‘De Engels’ downstairs, for food pairings as worthy companions to the royal refreshments. To personally experience the magic of gin and it’s necessary to make a reservation before your visit.
Opening hours: 12 & 13 June & 18-20 June and 25 to 27 June – Booking via www.king-charles.nl or via 06-401530 83.
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