A pop up cake hotel
25-3-2013
A bath filled with caramel-coated popcorn, windows and walls clad with macaroons and a meringue carpet. In the London’s Soho the British cane sugar ‘Tate & Lyle Sugars’ created a pop-up cake hotel to promote the new range of gold and brown cane sugar. The cake hotel has eight rooms, each with its own theme and made of a different type of sugar. As the Pirates of the Carribean room, characterized by a huge treasure chest full of edible pearls and coins or the British-inspired golden syrup sugar room with a giant golden lion and tarts in the shape of the British Isles. It took over 2000 hours and more than 600 kilos of sugar to bake the elements for the hotel.
Hotel with an indoor market
25-3-2013
Architect Dean Moran is the winner of the Rethink Hotels competition. He came up with a concept hotel where the focus is not only on the accommodation, but also on the ‘underlying principle of local food’. The hotel, named Allotment Hotel, will include a market where local producers can sell their products. The products, produced within 100 km and grown with sustainable principles, will also be used as part of the dishes the restaurant serves. In the center of the hotel there will also be an open-air courtyard that provides natural light. Dean Moran wants to build the hotel in downtown New York, but there are no concrete plans yet to build the hotel.
Local products in your supermarket
25-3-2013
The Danish grocery superstore ‘SuperBrugsen’ wants to connect communities and stores with producers in their local area by offering local products as alternatives. Customers can suggest locally-made products or suppliers they would like to see in the nearest store by filling in a form on the website of ‘SuperBrugsen’. After filling out a description on their suggestions and reasons why ‘SuperBrugsen’ should collaborate, managers will taste and test the products to ensure they are up to standard. Kind of crowdsource of suggestions. Restaurant owners can also use this by asking for suggestions from their guests…
The Lab in London
25-3-2013
From 25 to 27 April 2013 a new event ‘The Lab’ will be launched at the Tobacco Dock in London, organized by the people behind the ‘Taste Festival’ and AEG organisation. This unique event offers three evenings of gastronomic and interactive experiences with some of the world’s best chefs. Experience the cooking techniques from top chef Alex Atala who’s restaurant D.O.M. in Sao Paulo is currently fourth best in the world, or get inspired during the ‘Noma Flavor Test’ by Lars Williams (Noma’s head of research and development). Check the other participants at their website.
Foursquare for drinks
25-3-2013
Elixr is a new app / social network for iPhone and iPad where users can share their drinks with friends. The new app allows users to take a picture of their drink and post it with a comment and the location. Your friends can view and comment the drinks you share. It’s also possible to see where your friends have checked in and you can rate a drink to help building a grade for the venue you’re at and populates the drink menu for other Elixr Members to see.
Puschkin Whipped Cream
22-3-2013
The Vodka specialist Puschkin has developed a new flavor, ‘Whipped Cream’. Puschkin combines the power of crystal clear vodka with the sweet taste of homemade whipped cream. The ‘Whipped Cream’ need to be served cold and after drinking a shot you need to consume a little whipped cream to enhance the experience. The drink can also be used for making cocktails. The bottle has a frozen and striking look and will be sold in various stores from April in The Netherlands. ‘Whipped Cream’ responds to the hype from America where dessertflavors make the latest trend in beverage. As for example the ‘Salted karamel Vodka‘.
Dining in the green with a great view at Amsterdam
22-3-2013
Earlier we saw that ‘Buitengewoon in het land’ served dinners in the outdoors. This year on June 28, a 5-course dinner of seasonal products will be served on the roof of the building ‘Zuidpark’ in Amsterdam. On the roof of the building there is a 3,000 square meter ‘Urban Farm‘ developed. At the center of this farm, the dinner of ‘Buitengewoon in het land’ will be served. Watch the pictures of last year.
Swimming in the middle of the rainforest
22-3-2013
The luxurious villas of Ubud Hanging Gardens are located in the heart of Bali and are a paradise for nature, culture and art seekers. The villas have spectacular views of the surrounding hills and moutains and overlooks the winding Ayung River and the old temple Ubud. The infinity-edge pool stands on two levels, and overlooks the rainforest with monkeys. Besides this large pool each villa has its own horizon-edge pool. Click to see more pictures.
PoshBurger Bistro
22-3-2013
The Michelin-starred chef cook Conrad Gallangher opened a new Bistro named ‘PoshBurger’ in Las Vegas. The menu consists of Gourmet Burgers like the ‘Kobe with truffle aioli, seared foie gras and a quail’s egg or a wild-boar burger with Armagnac aioli and poached pear. You can find the menu here. The meats are all natural, free-range, grass-fed, humanly raised, sustainable and pesticide free. To get an impression of the Bistro, see more pictures at UrbanDaddy.
Sparkling, flat water or tap water
21-3-2013
During the ‘Water4daagse’ guests can order tap water (for a small fee) at a number of restaurants in Zwolle, the Netherlands. During 4 days the revenue will go to the drinking water projects of Join The Pipe in Africa. The campaign runs from 20 till 23 March and is an initiative of the students at the Landstede Institute in Zwolle and part of Upgraden.nl. ‘Upgraders’ are young people who execute positive actions for a better world. The actions contribute to one of the Millennium Goals or human rights.
Inspiration on your sandwich
21-3-2013
The toaster ‘The Image Toaster’ surprises you every morning with a random image from Google, toasted on your sandwich. The toaster can be connected to the computer via USB and searches for pictures that are related to a date, such as Easter. The toaster roasts the pictures on the slice of bread. This is still a prototype that has been created for a Creative Technology course “Innovation Lab” at the University by Scott van Haastrecht. But it would be nice a portion of inspiration in the morning or even be fun to serve in a restaurant!
Escape Flight choose a destination for people
21-3-2013
Sometimes it’s difficult to choose a destination when you want to get away for the weekend. Recently the travel site ‘Escape Flight’ launched in the U.K. ‘Escape Flight’ chooses a destination for their clients, they only have to give input as what they are looking for, like culture, food, nightlife or outdoor and sort results based on price, hassle or weather. So ‘Escape Flight’ works by finding locations that provide characteristics and attributes selected by the user, rather than searching directly for a specific deal. ‘Escape Flight is currently only operational for flights that depart from London.
Fridge with Touch screen
21-3-2013
Samsung and LG are set to introduce a smart fridge with touchscreen. The Wi-Fi fridge allows you to make a shopping list, or suggest recipes based on ingredients stored inside. The fridge can be connect with a smartphone, so you can continually add ingredients for a recipe. There is also a Twitter feed and Google calendars. With this system the fridge can reduce the food waste. The system without the connection to Evernote has been introduced in 2011.
Meat Free Week in Australia
20-3-2013
“Lamb chop move aside, it’s MY time to shine,” (said Mr Beetroot). This week is the ‘meat free week’ in Australia (18-24 march). During this week Australia needs to think about how much meat they consume, because as a nation they consume way too much. The land-based food sector and also the seafood industry are under pressure. With the meat free week the organisation hopes that people realize that they need to contribute to a brighter future for their environment, animals and farmers by eating less meat and more vegetables. On the website of The Sustainable Table you can download a recipe booklet with meat free recipes.
Easter: Marshmallows and cocktails
20-3-2013
Easter is in the air! In the coming weeks we will occasionally publish remarkable recipes or action on horecatrends. For example, the trend of the last year ‘chocolate room‘. Do you have a special recipe or does your restaurant or hotel plan a special activity, let us know by mail via tip@spronsen.com. Who knows your company might be on horecatrends.
During Easter, you do not just make the dishes special, but also the drinks you serve. Very simple yet fun, decorate a cocktail with a bunny or a chicken made of marshmallow. You can choose to make your own marshmallow, or just buy them. While the kids search for eggs, the adults can enjoy their Easter Cocktail….
Google Birdhouse
20-3-2013
The designer Shu-Chun Hsiao in Taiwan developed a number of birdhouses inspired by the Google Maps icon. Shu-Chun Hsiao creates the Google Birdhouse a merger between the physical and virtual worlds. Today people find their way through technology, the designer wanted to make the birdhouse become the destination as Google Maps does. Actually every hotel or restaurant in the country needs to have a birdhouse like this on the outside.
Pay the bill with an app
20-3-2013
How often did you get a great service at a restaurant and as only point of irritation had to wait too long for the bill? With the new app ‘Cover’, that will be introduced soon, you can walk out of the restaurant without physically paying the bill. The payment is taken from a credit card stored on the app. Guests do make their reservation through the app and enter the payment information. The ‘Uber’s payment experience at restaurants’ according to Clover. It’s a new way of paying that is in particular useful for restaurants, it saves time and turns tables faster.
La Bullipedia a new revolution in gastronomy
19-3-2013
The famous Catalan chef cook Ferran Adrià presented an online encyclopedia called ‘La Bullipedia’ at the University of Barcelona. The project is a new revolution in gastronomy and is primarily adressed to chefs and cooking schools. Ferran Adrià expects that ‘La Bullipedia’ will be operational around January 2016.
Recharge your phone at McDonald’s
19-3-2013
Together with the Finnish company PowerKiss, McDonald’s is developing special tables to recharge your phone automatically when you put him on the table. By using the QI technology and a wireless power transmission the tables can transfer power to phones and / or headsets. At this moment, McDonald’s is testing the tables in Europe.
Cyclists get a free salad
19-3-2013
Bistro ‘Le Repas’ in Brazil is offering a free salad for any guest who rides his or her bike to the bistro in reward for being green. Sommelier Karen Ferrari was inspired by the number of cyclists she saw on a trip to Paris en introduced this action. The French-themed restaurant hopes that the reward will stimulate visitors to come by bike and also to inspire other companies to do something similar.
A note in a lunch bag
18-3-2013
Class up your simple brown lunch bag with the waxed canvas lunch bags from ‘Peg and Awl’. The bags have sewn-in spot for handwritten notes to make it more special. Especially the handwritten notes or sayings are great to put even in a a plain brown lunch bag. And if you add a “free” item occasionally, your customers will know this rapidly by either word-of-mouth or through the social media.
Fancy lunch bag with note
18-3-2013
Class up your simple brown lunch bag with the waxed canvas lunch bags from ‘Peg and Awl’. The bags have sewn-in spot for handwritten notes to make it more special. Especially the handwritten notes or sayings are great to put even in a a plain brown lunch bag. And if you add a “free” item occasionally, your customers will know this rapidly by either word-of-mouth or through the social media.
Fancy lunch bag with note
18-3-2013
Class up your simple brown lunch bag with the waxed canvas lunch bags from ‘Peg and Awl’. The bags have sewn-in spot for handwritten notes to make it more special. Especially the handwritten notes or sayings are great to put even in a a plain brown lunch bag. And if you add a “free” item occasionally, your customers will know this rapidly by either word-of-mouth or through the social media.
Protest Lasagne
18-3-2013
Slow Food Italy conducted, together with a number of restaurants in Italy the campaign ‘Ne le Abbiamo tasche Ripiene!’ last week. This action (from March 6 until March the 17th) was launched to protest against the escalating incidence of food scandals. During this action chefs across the country prepared their traditional filled pasta dishes, revealed the recipe and the exact origin of the ingredients to their customers.
Carlsberg put friends to the test
15-3-2013
A phone call in the middle of the night: your best friend is in trouble. Would you go out and help him? Carlsberg tests some friendships. What would your friends do? Are they true mates?
By Freepik
