More and more famous chefs are praising the Skirt steak in various videos shared on the internet lately. A good reason for us to write an article about it so Dutch chefs can use this as inspiration. Even Gordon Ramsey came up with his yummy Skirt steak recipe with chimichurri. Below a short summary about the Skirt steak itself, Gordon Ramsey’s recipe and all the necessary ingredients. read more
The shakes are high this August! This year, Shake Shack have teamed up with renowned pastry chef Dominique Ansel – named World’s Best Pastry Chef 2017 – and Dominique Ansel Bakery London to introduce a new limited-edition shake for the occasion, The Banoffee. So if you’re in London or the UK in August, donate £2 or more to ‘Action Against Hunger’ and receive a voucher for a complimentary handspun shake on your next visit (valued at £5.25), 100% of donations going to ‘Action Against Hunger’. read more
Amsterdam will soon have a new chicken restaurant. Justin Brown, known for his various pop-up concepts and fish restaurant The Chippy, opens his new concept The Dirty Chicken Club. As the name suggests, it’s all about chicken, together with the raw design this new restaurant may become a new hotspot.
There is a new Mexican concept in Utrecht, Chidóz! Here you can eat Mexican classics new style. Dishes like the legendary burrito’s, taco’s, salads and bowls. All filled with surprising ingredients from all over the world. read more
At Horecatrends we spot a lot of national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write articles about, the smaller trends we use in our column ‘Trends we spotted this week’. This week amongst others, plans unveiled for Star Wars-inspired themed resort and how about a peanut butter sandwich with Merlot or rosé jelly? read more
The newly opened LEGOLAND Castle Hotel at the LEGOLAND Windsor Resort is a half an hour by train from London’s Paddington station. So if you’re planning a family holiday to the UK and you want to surprise your younger kids, you know where to go! Spoil them with a magical ‘Knights’ stay. The brand new hotel at The LEGOLAND® Windsor Resort houses 2.1 million bricks and 657 LEGO® models, bringing to life an enchanted world of brave knights, magical wizards and mischievous jesters. read more
In a historic house at one of the canals in the heart of Amsterdam, Spingaren tasting room & restaurant will open its doors this fall. Spingaren is a company that makes charcuterie artisanal and pickle and ferment vegetables and fish. Due to the fact that the team has been working in the hospitality business in the past, they decided to combine both passions and open a restaurant specialised in charcuterie and pickles. read more
September 2015 we wrote about SUSHISAMBA and their branch in London. The internationally renowned SUSHISAMBA restaurant will open its doors this September in Amsterdam at the 17th-century Singelgracht. The location overlooking the water is a beautiful addition to existing locations in London, New York, Las Vegas and Miami. read more
Haute Friture Snack Bar Tante Nel (Aunt Nel) in Rotterdam launches its first ‘SpeakFrietje’ (freely translated: SpeakFries) on Friday 28 July. The Snackbar 2.0 with alcohol license, invites residents of Rotterdam for this new Friday drink on their 80m2 large terrace. read more
Recently the tropical bar ‘de Tulp’ (The Tulip) opened its doors at Marie Heinekenplein 33, in the famous quarter ‘De Pijp’ in Amsterdam. Owners Jos de Jong and Sven Sallaerts (Pesca) have collaborated with Maarten de Vries, Sunny Bakhtiar and Jamie van der Will (Jajem, the Kopstootbar) for this new tropical bar. The name of de Tulp (the Tulip) refers to the famous glass in which we serve the Dutch jenever (gin). read more
Recently opened in Rotterdam, Gracy’s Sweet House. As the name already suggests it’s all about sweet treats, this address won’t disappoint you. At Gracy’s you can grab a bubble waffle filled with ice, fruit or sweet toppings. Calorie friendly? Not really? Tasteful? Definitely. read more
At Horecatrends we spot a lot of national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write articles about, the smaller trends we use in our column ‘Trends we spotted this week’. This week amongst others: wouldn’t it be a great idea if KLM started handing out ‘stroopwafel’ chewing gum during take-off and landing? read more
We have to admit that we really doubted if we would write about this ‘trend’ of putting a piece of pie in a shake! But then again we also sell ice cream with apple pie flavour in the Netherlands! So here it is: spotted in a video of Eater: Polly’s Pie shakes, where you can drink your piece of pie. They combine it with 4 scoops of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. read more
In the Dutch village Holten the owners of the playground Dondertman created a very special maze. The maze has the shape of a rabbit and is made through a 2,5 metre high corn field. read more
Ottilie Maters
Ottilie Maters
Ottilie Maters
Ottilie Maters
Ottilie Maters
Ottilie Maters
Ottilie MatersEsso Ruyven is a gas station located on the A13 road between Rotterdam and The Hague. The gas station has undergone a remarkable transformation: the traditional shop inside the station is now a modern food formula. Large and colourful images are attached to the glass walls, displaying their unique and fresh variety of menu items such as sushi, salads and burgers from the Big Green Egg. During the reopening on June 29, owner NRGValue revealed the new QICHI concept.
Upon entering, visitors are welcomed by a host and introduced to the new concept. The open kitchen stands out immediately. Chefs are preparing fresh dishes including sushi, pizza’s, BBQ- burgers and all kinds of smoothiebowls. There is also a barista island with freshly prepared coffee and handmade ice cream from ‘IJsmanschap’.
We see more and more food trends finding their way to the gas stations nowadays. For example Dorset’s culinary foodplaza, a food formula at AVIA at Dorset in Borne, also in The Netherlandse. But in the past period, we have seen more entrepreneurs implementing their culinary concept alongside the highway. Another example is gas station Scheiwijk alongside the A27. They also decided to improve the quality of their food, less fat and more healthy, culinary food.
We discussed which products show up the most on social media, in all kind of shapes, flavours and colours, this year. The first product that 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
“In the past we have seen that ‘popular diets’ like for example Montignac and Atkins, did wonders (sales wise) for restaurants offering meals prepared within the limits of those diets. Would this be possible with the Scandinavian diet as well?” Our guest writer, Julia Soldic explains….
The masses are embracing the Scandinavian diet, the eatable solution to prolonged life expectancy – Why?
The Gordon Street Garage in West Perth is located in a former garage. The restaurant is based on the idea of simple and local produce. The coffee is for example roasted and ground on location which allows the garage to daily serve different types of coffee. The dishes on the menu are yard-to-table inspired and mostly designed to share. The restaurant has an industrial-chic interior which shows the origin of the building. A lot of furniture and fittings are even made from the wood and steel of the original garage itself. The large space of the Gordon Street Garage is divided into different zones to create a wide range of dining experiences. A part of the space is arranged for a quick cup of coffee, the large bar and high tables are created for a cocktail and a bar snack and another part of the area is used for extensive lunches or dinners. Watch the video for an impression of the Gordon Street Garage.
A temporary potato store will open in Amsterdam on 26 September. The pop-up store ‘Pieperboetiek’ (pieper is a Dutch nickname for a potato) will be opened for two weeks and is dedicated to potatoes. Besides giving information, 30 kinds of potatoes are sold as well. All types of potatoes are organic and grown locally in the Netherlands. The goal of the store is to reduce the gap between the city and countryside. Visitors can ask questions to potato farmers, a fries-debate is held and a potato dinner is organized. The ‘Pieperboetiek’ is an initiative of Krispijn van den Dries, a biodynamic farmer and slightly a potato activist. Earlier Krispijn protested against the low prizes of potatoes by dumping 6.000 kilos of potatoes on the Dam in Amsterdam. Krispijn is, together with city farmer and journalist Felicia Alberding and the Youth Food Movement, committed to an honest food system and better relationships between the city and the countryside.
The Jane in Antwerp beautifully designed by Piet Boon and is highlighted at the website of ‘The Restaurant & Bar Design Awards’. We think it might be one of the title candidates for the award in 2015. The restaurant of Sergio Herman and Nick Bril was opened in March in a chapel of the former military hospital of Antwerp. The preparations of the opening took three years: not only the dishes, but everything around it had to include the vision and feeling of both chefs. A collaboration between artists, designers and deejays was established. With the motto ‘food is our religion’, the kitchen is situated at the place of the altar. Other eye-catchers are the specially printed windows, a neon skull and the 800 kilo chandelier.
The documentary ‘The Netherlands, land of Whisky’ will premiere at the film festival ‘Film By The Sea’ in Vlissingen on 20 September. The initiative of film maker Gwen Jansen shows the remarkable whisky culture in the Netherlands: Over 2,5 million people drink whisky, world’s largest whisky fair is in the Netherlands and a lot of whisky media and whisky writers are Dutch. The first whisky camping is even founded in the Netherlands. The documentary is produced by JansenJager, Beeldmakers and is mostly established by crowdfunding and without use of subsidies. It will appear on DVD and Blu-Ray at the end of this year in Dutch and English and can be ordered via the website ‘NederlandWhiskyland’.
Suite Novotel opens its doors in the Haagsche Passage in The Hague on 1 Oktober. The long stay concept of Suite Novotel Den Haag City Centre will exist out of 118 suites and will be located in the city center of The Hague nearby the Parliament, numerous embassies, government offices, museums and shops. The suites are suitable as bedroom, living room and as reception area and are equipped with numerous modern facilities.
It all started as a April fools’ prank last spring: chopsticks that are able to analyze the quality of food. This summer Chinese web giant Baidu launched a prototype of smart chopsticks that focuses on health and hygiene. The smart chopsticks will tell you whether the oil that has been used is fresh: sensors of the chopsticks discover the oil’s temperature and judges its fitness for consumption. Poor food safety is a big problem in China, one of the concerns is ‘gutter oil’. ‘Gutter oil’ is illegal cooking oil what is made by reprocessing waste oil or by dredging up leftovers from restaurants.
Champagne house Veuve Clicquot dropped hundreds of bottles of champagne in the Baltic sea on 18 June. The Baltic sea offers unique aging conditions for the bottles of champagne with its low level of salinity and a constant temperature of 4 degrees. This was discovered four years ago when divers found a cache of more than 165 bottles of champagne near the Äland island near Finland. The bottles were dating back to 1839, but were preserved perfectly. The bottles champagne of Veuve Clicquot currently lie 40 meters below the surface where they will be monitored by a ‘cellar master’. The bottles will be brought back to the surface in 2054.
Chef Grant Achatz of restaurant Alinea is only 30 years old and no. 9 on ‘The World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ by San Pellegrino. As all his European colleagues particularly create a feast on the plate, this chef creates a complete show with the whole experience but in an understated, un-American way. Marjolein van Spronsen experienced it and concludes in her blog; “This is in the restaurant world, “Think different, Act different’, a rollercoaster ride from three hours that gives you a ‘dazzling experience’ of tastes and experiences”.
Jonnie and Thérèse Boer of ‘De Librije’*** and ‘Librije’s zusje’** opened restaurant ‘t Klooster at Wijk bij Duurstede on 1 September. This restaurant is taken over by former employee Jeroen van Hensbergen and his wife Natasja van Hensbergen. Jeroen and Natasja transformed brasserie ‘t Klooster into a restaurant where high-quality, creative and affordable dishes are served. A special aspect is that the restaurant serves a menu especially for people who had a gastric bypass or gastric sleeve. Natasja herself had gastric bypass surgery and realized that it was very difficult to join others in dining for a full evening. “Jeroen cooks in ‘t Klooster a special menu where the portioning is adapted to the wishes of the guests and where the intolerances and the use of sugar are taking into account.”
The famous Delirium Café opens its doors in Amsterdam on 18 September. The Delirium Café is worldwide known to beer lovers. The café originated in Brussel and is known for its amount of different beers. In 2014 the café made it to the Guiness Book of Records with a variety of 3200 beers. The establishment in Amsterdam starts ‘modest’ with 500 different kinds of national and international beers. It will be located in a characteristic property at the Piet Heinkade. Guests can eat there as well, the kitchen serves simple but qualitative dishes. Soon a Delirium boat will float through the canals of Amsterdam. The boat transports guests from and to the Delirium café.
NEXTDELI is a new player in the field of food concepts and introduced new products: The Bacon Bullets and The Bacon Balls. The products are inspired on the Dutch well-known ‘Kroket’ and ‘Bitterbal’ and have a bacon flavour. The Bacon Balls and Bullets distinguish themselves from the ‘Kroket’ and ‘Bitterbal’ in three ways: ‘The Crunch’, ‘The Bacon’ and ‘The Taste’. The products have a special crunch because of the use of American breadcrumb. The Bacon can be tasted in the creamy filling and the Taste refers to the spicy aftertaste. The products are made of organic bacon and no additives and preservatives are added. A special sauce is developed to replace the mustard that is usually used with ‘kroketten’ and ‘bitterballen’. The Gunshot sauce looks a lot like a mustard-sauce, but has a sweet touch from honey and a touch of BBQ.
Dance festival Tomorrowland was held on the 19th, 20th, 26nd and 27th of July. The festival isn’t just well known for its music, but for the culinary experience as well. For the third time in history a small amount of people could experience the cooking skills of Sergio Herman in the secret restaurant, hidden in the main stage. For the amount of € 15.000,- Sergio Herman, Quique Dacosta (three Michelin stars) from restaurant Quique Dacosta and Kobe Desramaults (one Michelin star) from restaurant In De Wulf prepared several dishes while the music was playing loud.
The rest of the publication is only available in Dutch
This summer we’ve eaten the Italian dish Arancini in the bar of restaurant Filini at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel in Chicago. We ate this dish several times in Italian restaurants in America and Australia, but the few times I was in Italy, I haven’t seen it on the menu. Although the dish is probably served there as well. I have not seen this dish in the Netherlands before, although it is a simple dish to make. The dish consist out of deep fried balls of risotto with mozzarella cheese and smoked ham in the middle. A simple and delicious starter and because of the Dutch association with the ‘bitterballen’ it could become very popular in the Netherlands as well ^Marjolein van Spronsen
In the Netherlands we have a lot of beautiful local products, but if we see the crabs and lobsters that are served at The Crab Shack in Wellington we are a bit jealous. The Crab Shack is a casual restaurant with a coastal/Cape Cod theme. With their location at the waterfront the restaurant serves mostly seafood and especially crabs as ‘Nelson Paddle crab’, ‘Jonah crab’ and the red ‘King crab’. They also serve meat dishes as ‘the Shack Steak’ and the ‘Kiwi pepper lamb rump’. Besides that the dishes on the menu are very affordable, the restaurant has daily specials too such as ‘Mussel Madness Monday’, ‘Winging into the Weekend’ and ‘Sangria Saturdays’.
We already wrote about it before, but finally we’ve tasted them ourselves: the Chicago-style Pizza, Deep Dish Pizza. We tried this ‘stuffed pizza pie’ at restaurant Giordano’s and at a Wednesday evening we still had to wait half an hour for a table! Looking at the amount of tables where people were sharing this pizza, we can only conclude that the dish is very popular here. We respectfully watched other families eating a large size pizza without problems and with pleasure but we had difficulties finishing a middle sized pizza! A slice of pizza feels like a complete pizza, which is definitely due to on the amount of cheese. ^Marjolein van Spronsen
Three creative minds, Albert Adrià, Rudi Van Beylen and Dirk Peeters, joined forces in their search for new culinary products. R&D Food Revolution was created with the basic thought ‘revolutionary innovation for the culinary world’. Their main purpose is to become a supplier of creativity by offering innovative top products.
Topchef Albert Adrià, known from the world-famous Catalan restaurant elBulli, launched a new line of products with typical Adrià-delicacies. Examples are Spanish octopus- and algae delicatessen, heavenly meringue, sophisticated and fluffy mousses and sauces from the siphon and fragrant breads especially designed for a specific types of cheese. Albert Adrià: ‘all products contain ingredients that we use in my kitchens as well. In this way I bring elBulli, Tickets, 41°, Pakta and Bodega 1900 literally to every caterer or restaurant owner”.
R&D Food Revolution will launch their new product, Crispy Foam, at ‘Rotterdam Gastvrij’ at the end of September.
Earlier this year we wrote an article about the Foodhallen located in the former tram depot ‘De Hallen’ in Amsterdam. The initiaters Chong Chu, Tsibo Lin, Zing-Kyn Cheung and Rakish Gangapersad now opened their brasserie ‘Halte 3’. The brasserie is located in a open but cozy space and is ideal for a big lunch or dinner. On the menu are classic and innovative dishes such as a salad with nougat of goat cheese, fresh linguine vongole and a do-it-yourself tiramisu. The sunny terrace is also a great place for a cappuccino with a piece of pie or a drink with some fingerfood.
The building of restaurant Oxwell & Co in China-Town, Singapore, has a rich and divers history which can be seen in the different rooms of the restaurant. The ground floor has a pub vibe which is perfect for a cup of coffee or a house distilled gin & tonic. The first floor has a more homely feeling and is more suited for a dinner. Their chef Mark Sargeant prepares his classics such as crisp tomato salads with goat cheese or slabs of aged Porterhouse steak and beer-battered onion rings.
Although both the ground and first floor look really nice, the absolute highlight of Oxwell & Co is the second floor. The Lord Oxwell private study, which serves as private dining room and smoking area, really impressed us. The room is not only filled with dark mahogany accents but is covered with taxidermied squirrels and paintings of animals in Victorian dresses. Take a look at the pictures, and you will see what makes this room so special.
At the end of September a new alcohol-free nightclub will open for a few months in Stockholm. The new club has the matching name ‘Sober’ and will be just as any other club including dj’s, music, drinks and a nice atmosphere. The only thing missing will be the drunk people at the dance floor and at the bar.
The initiator of the nightclub is the Swedish TV presenter Mårten Andersson. He stopped drinking alcohol 7 months ago and discovered that going out without drinking alcohol is much more fun. The new nightclub will be completely alcohol-free, what means that people who already drunk are not allowed to come in. The security at the door will check the alcohol level of the visitors with help of a breathalyzer. So far, the initiative is very popular. With 5 weeks to go, already 600 out of 750 tickets for the opening night were sold.
Bagels & Beans launches the Dutch Weed Bagel at a Bagels, Beats & Weeds Party on 29 August. The bagel is 100% vegetable, vegetarian, vegan and halal and is developed during a cooperation between Bagels & Beans and The Dutch Weed Burger. The bagel is only available at the new concept store of Bagels & Beans at the IJdock in Amsterdam. The concept store will have the traditional Bagels & Beans kitchen, but is also the place where innovation, inspiration and investigation come together for future developments.
Food Truck Festival TREK stand for food, drinks, music and theatre! After a successful first edition in Utrecht, the second edition of the Festival TREK moves to The Hague. From Friday 12 September until Sunday 14 September the ‘Westbroekpark’ will be transformed into a large outdoor festival with dozens of food trucks and several artists. A big variety of food can be tasted this day: from oysters to organic fries and from sausages to vegetarian food. Besides eating and drinking, the visitors can enjoy theatre, live music and cabaret as well. The TREK Food Truck Festival is free of charge.
Last week we’ve visited the rewarded Michelin star chef François Geurds** because of the launch of the FG Out of the Box Experience and the recently opened FG Shop. The store is part of the former Hofplein station at the end of the new ‘Luchtsingel’, a pedestrian bridge that connects several creative parts of Rotterdam.
The Copenhagen restaurant group Cofoco has teamed up with some of the city’s most creative forces for the launch of its newest restaurant, Llama. In cooperation with Jonas Hartz (Hz), Jakob Lange (BIG) and Lars Larsen (Kilo Design) the group has developed a restaurant inspired by the Latin American and South American kitchen. The restaurant is covered with colorful tiles from Mexico and has dark painted wooden furniture. It also has a cocktail bar focused mainly on Latin and South American spirits such as rum, tequila, pisco and mescal. Where the appearance of the restaurant is clearly Latin American, the menu still had its Danish touch because Llama restaurant works mainly with seasonal and regional products.
Samsung launches a new smart TV screen by the name ‘Smart Signage TV’. The screen can be divided into different boxes, what makes it possible to show different images at the same time. This makes the display ideal for hospitality businesses, because guests can be informed about promotions, menu’s and other content at the same time. Samsung offers the Smart Signage TV in a complete package with a professional screen, TV tuner, Wi-Fi, software, a standard and wall brackets for € 749,-.
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