Chok – the chocolate kitchen

10-4-2014

Chök – the chocolate kitchen- located at las Ramblas in Barcelona is a chocolate delicacy shop and opened its doors in August 2013. A true paradise for the sweet tooth! The shop has a real ‘chök’ wall and a open kitchen where customers can taste during the production process. The star product ‘chök’ is a delicacy that comes in 30 flavors made according to a special recipe with less sugar, fat and frying time. It’s a healthier version of a donut. The shop also sells chocolate chips, macaroons, cupcakes and churros. Chök also organizes courses where chocolate plaus a key role, like ‘taller de tapas’ with recipes for salmon marinated in cocoa, making a ganache and a chocolate tortilla with mascarpone.

Pistolet shop Brussels

17-3-2014

A shop that is fully dedicated to the perfect pistolet: a white and round bread with a crispy crust and a slit at the top. Pistolet-original opened its doors in Brussels last year. The breads sold are made according to the recipe of baker Yves Guns and are topped with fillings like shrimps from Zeebrugge, beef with pickles and Ardennes Hesp. The recipes are made along with top chefs Pierre Wynants and Freddy Vandecasserie. Pistolet-original also sells small seasonal dishes, desserts, drinks and a variety of Belgian beers. Click here for more pictures.

Pistolet-original

17-3-2014

A shop that is fully dedicated to the perfect pistolet: a white and round bread with a crispy crust and a slit at the top. Pistolet-original opened its doors in Brussels last year. The breads sold are made according to the recipe of baker Yves Guns and are topped with fillings like shrimps from Zeebrugge, beef with pickles and Ardennes Hesp. The recipes are made along with top chefs Pierre Wynants and Freddy Vandecasserie. Pistolet-original also sells small seasonal dishes, desserts, drinks and a variety of Belgian beers.

Smallest sushi in the world

13-3-2014

Sushi chef Hironori Ikeno makes the smallest sushi in the world, so small that it fits on a grain of rice. The mini sushi looks exactly like a regular sushi and it took the sushi chef years to make the perfect replica. Each sushi weights about 1 gram and it takes five minutes to prepare the sushi. Very long compared to a normal sushi that takes less than one minute. According to guests of the restaurant the mini sushi has a lot of flavor. The mini-sushi originated years ago as a joke when Hironori Ikeno served a mini sushi to a customer.

Kromkommer crowdfunding

13-1-2014

Around 5 – 10% of the Dutch vegetable and fruit produce is wasted because the products don’t fit the ‘common appearance’. Kromkommer wants to use these weird shaped vegetables and fruits for an alternative series of soups. Therefore Lisanne van Zwol, Jente de Vries and Chantal Engelen started a crowdfunding campaign to raise € 25. 000,- and produce the soups themselves. Their goal is to motivate 20.000 crazy vegetable heroes in 2014. According to the ladies, someone is already a vegetable hero after buying one of the soups, because the content would otherwise be wasted. The collected donations will be used for purchasing vegetables from growers, transportation to the factory, production of the soups and design and print of the labels. Donators can choose from a range of rewards like tickets to the launch event (€ 10,-), a visit to the factory or one of the growers and a fair amount of soup packages (€ 500,-).

In 2013 Kromkommer collaborated with hospitality industry wholesaler ‘Zegro’ to reduce waste. With their Kromkommer concept the ladies are nominated for the ‘Horecava Innovation Award’ 2014.

Christmas without bulging

17-12-2013

We recently received the press release ‘Christmas without bulging’ by the Diabetes Foundation. A study shows that the majority of the Dutch people are less eager to eat healthy in December. The Diabetes Foundation concluded this based on search trends in Google. In January people start Googling on ‘healthy recipes’ and ‘diet’ but in December those search terms are hardly used. According to the Diabetes Foundation, a missed opportunity, because delicious and healthy food at Christmas is possible indeed.

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Healthy pizza with seaweed

6-12-2013

Company ‘Eat Healthy’ has introduced a healthy variation of the pizza. This frozen pizza is now available in England and Wales. This pizza is low in fat and sodium with a lot of vitamin and mineral rich ingredients. The pizza has toppings like mozzarella, cheddar cheese, cherry tomatoes, red pepper and garlic powder. To make the pizza healthier the company added a secret ingredient: seaweed. The seaweed is the healthy alternative to salt. According to the company you don’t taste the seaweed because the flavors of the other toppings will dominate. An average frozen pizza contains 300 calories and 13 grams of fat, the pizza of ‘Eat Healthy’ contains 172 calories and 5.3 grams of fat.

Paulaner Brauhaus and Restaurant opened in NYC

5-12-2013

Paulaner International has opened its first micro brewery ‘Paulaner Brauhaus & Restaurant’ in New York City. This is the first Paulaner Brauwhaus that opened in America, perhaps more will follow in the future. At the ‘Paulaner Brauhaus & Restaurant’ six of their special beers are brewed according to the original German ‘Beer Putiry Law’ established in 1516. On tap they will have the beers München Lager and München Dars, Hefeweizen (wheat beer) and two seasonal beers. The Brauhaus & Restaurant have got some bites like the famous German pretzels, sauerkrauts and different types of sausages.

The Yeatman wine themed hotel

4-12-2013

The Yeatman is a luxe hotel in the heart of the wine cellar district of Porto with view on the city and the Douro river. The 5-star hotel is specialized in wine and gastronomy. All rooms have a Portugese ‘wine partner’ that hosts the room decorations, from pictures of the vineyard to branded artifacts. The wine partners hold weekly wine dinners at the hotel with meals that are cooked by Michelin star chef Ricardo Costa*.

Taylor’s Port sponsors the Master Suite 008, one of the most luxurious suites in the hotel. The bed in this suite is placed in a gigantic 28.000 liter wine barrel. According to the legend, the barrel is over a hundred years old. Check here the photos of this phenomenal hotel.

Ghee Easy

20-11-2013

Ghee-easy makes traditional Indian cleared butter from Holland. In India Ghee is used to bake and fry food. It doesn’t splatter nor burn and has a smooth nut-alike taste. According to the traditional Indian Ayurvedic philosophy, Ghee is healthy, stimulates the digestion and supports the absorption of nutrients.