The special second floor of restaurant Oxwell & Co

28-8-2014

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.

A nightclub without alcohol

27-8-2014

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, Beats & Weeds

27-8-2014

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, drinks, music & theater at Food Truck Festival TREK

26-8-2014

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.

FG Shop sells lunchboxes

26-8-2014

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.

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Llama restaurant in Copenhagen

25-8-2014

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 Smart Signage TV

25-8-2014

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,-.

Grand Hotel de Draak opens new wellness

22-8-2014

After a fire in the oldest hotel of the Netherlands, Grand Hotel de Draak, the crew worked hard to renovate the monumental building. Following the grand-opening in June this year, the wellness opened recently in the former area of restaurant La Pidola. Hotel guests can go to the wellness for a Finnish sauna, a Turkish steam bath, infrared cabin, a cooling-shed with a splash- and rain shower and a relaxation room. The wellness is opened every day from 4 until 11 PM, but on request can it be opened during the day as well.

Restival is looking for crowdfunding

21-8-2014

Restival is a festival build out of the remnants of other festivals. Restival tries to collect as many of the usable product of other festivals such as food and drinks, but also building materials and decorations. After two successful editions in 2012 and 2013 the organizers of Restival are busy with collecting products and material for de third edition at the ‘Flevoparkbad’ in Amsterdam. Despite the enthusiasm of the visitors, volunteers, partners and the press, it did not resolve in enough financial guaranties. For this reason organizer Maarten Aland tries to collect € 20.000 before 1 September through crowd funding. The only thing people have to do is to buy their ticket (€ 15,-) and consumption card before the end of the month via crowdaboutnow.nl. Of course are donations welcome as well.

Float-in movie: watching movies from the water

21-8-2014

A float-in movie; instead of watching a movie in a theatre or at home, watch it from a floatable platform or boat. Events like this were organized by different organizations before, but this summer restaurant ‘Het Theehuis’ introduced the initiative in the hospitality industry. ‘Het Theehuis’ is located next to a lake in the touristic Grou, what makes it a unique location to organize a float-in movie. The guests can watch the movie from their own boat, the VIP lounge (a floating platform) and the spacious patio. Snacks and drinks are served during the movie as well.

Crispy snacks without the deep fryer

20-8-2014

Until recently it wasn’t possible to make a snack from the oven as crispy and delicious as if it is from the deep fryer. Snack manufacturer Royaan introduced a complete new assortment crispy oven snacks under the Kwekkeboom brand. The assortment will consist of ‘kroketten’, ‘bitterballen’ and chicken- and cheese-snacks, all provided with a unique patented crispy-crust technology.
Besides that the snacks are more healthy out of the oven, there is also an advantage for companies as airlines, gas stations and movie theaters. For these parties, it isn’t always possible to offer crispy snacks because they are not allowed to fry, or because they don’t have frying facilities. Several Dutch companies as Corendon already sell the new snacks, but consumers have to be a bit patient; the Kwekkeboom Oven Snacks will be launched in retail stores later this year.

‘BankjesCollectief’: worlds largest outdoor café

20-8-2014

‘BankjesCollectief’ is the largest outdoor café in the world. Every first Sunday of the month, people open up a bench for friends, family and neighbors. The owners of the benches decide what they serve, but also what the activity they organize. Examples of these activities are reading to toddlers in the library, a sidewalk chalk spectacle and pie eating. The visitors of the benches decide what the experience is worth when it’s finished. ‘BankjesCollectief’ is a great and relaxing way to meet your neighbors. The next edition is on 7 September but it only takes place in the Netherlands for now..

Ibis Rotterdam City Centre opens its doors to bloggers

19-8-2014

At 15 August the Ibis Rotterdam City Centre opened its doors at the ‘Wijnhaven’ area in Rotterdam. To get guests acquainted with the hotel before opening, blogger Josie of maryjosie.com was invited to live in the hotel for two weeks (one week before opening and one week after opening). In this way, the blogger could share her experiences in and around the hotel, but also give the hotel an insight for an optimal guest experience. The Ibis Rotterdam City Centre organized several activities, starting off with an hotspot tour with 19 co-bloggers. The bloggers all agreed that the location is one of the USP’s of the hotel. The ‘Wijnhaven’, what is both located in the city centre and in the harbor, is an upcoming urban development area. This makes the area very attractive to live, work and stay in.

The Fish and Season festival 2014

18-8-2014

The Fish and Season festival is a 3-day culinary festival dedicated to sustainable and delicious fish. The festival takes place in the market hall of the Food Centre in Amsterdam that will be transformed into a Valhalla for fish-lovers, with a large kitchen for demonstrations and a foodcourt. Guests of the festival can see demonstrations of several top-chefs, enjoy great dishes and be inspired by the newest innovations in fish-preparing methods.

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Restaurant day: Chef for one day

15-8-2014

In 2012, we already wrote an article about ‘Restaurant Day’; the initiative from Helsinki where four times a year amateurs can open their own restaurant. The restaurants can be set up everywhere and are meant to share new food experiences and enjoy common living environments together. The initiative evolved over the years into the biggest worldwide food carnival with over 9600 restaurants at 56 countries.
In the Netherlands a ‘restaurant for one day’ will open as well; in Amsterdam the Spanish restaurant La Cuchara Spanish Food have participated since February 2013. The goal is to bring genuine Spanish food tradition to the city of Amsterdam. La Cuchara joins the ‘Restaurant Day’ Sunday 17 August with a special ‘The Scarlet Shrimp Edition’.