Dominique Ansel opened a new bakery – in Japan!

25-6-2015

Leonie van Spronsen has lived in NYC and became a fan of the bakery of Dominique Ansel. She now follows his Instagram account and loved the communication around the opening of the bakery in Tokyo.

Last Saturday it was finally opening day at the DAB (Dominique Ansel Bakery) in Tokyo, loyal followers of his Instagram account had been prepared for this day a long time and it did not disappoint.

Hospitality, guest experience by Dominique Ansel

Dominique Ansel seems to be one of those rare people that truly understands hospitality. It’s not about just making beautiful products (which he definitely does by the way) but it’s also about guest experience, it’s about appreciating your customers, it’s about interacting with your customers, it’s about creating a brand experience, and boy is he the master of that. See the snapshots of DAB Japan’s opening day on Instagram.

By tracking the opening day like this on Instagram and explaining and sharing his ideas, his vision and his activities, Dominique Ansel is clearly busy building a hospitality empire. And by being such a humble, cool and inspiring person on social media, there is no one in the world you would want to have that empire more than him.

The next step? Maybe return to Europe to turn us into line-loving pastry fans as well? I vote for Paris! Leonie van Spronsen

Start pilot foodtrucks in Amsterdam

24-6-2015

On 29 June, a pilot with foodtrucks starts at 24 locations in Amsterdam. At these locations fifty food-entrepreneurs and their foodtrucks will rotate every half-day.

Foodtrucks in Amsterdam provide ‘Tasty streetfood’

This Monday 29 June the foodtruck pilot ‘Tasty Streetfood’ kicks-off in Amsterdam. At 24 locations in Amsterdam around fifty innovative food-entrepreneurs will sell their food on the streets. The entrepreneurs will change location every several hours taking shifts on the various locations. The city of Amsterdam is the first municipality in the Netherlands that gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to provide street food from foodtrucks at various spots in the city, besides the well-known food truck festivals of course.

Selected from 150 entries

Those interested could apply until 12 March and in total the municipality received more than 150 entries. The initiatives were valued based on a points system that valued food (whether organic, locally produced, innovative), innovativeness of the concept and sustainability.

Locations and Streetfood app

Because the food trucks change location between the various designated spots every few hours, a wide range of street food offerings will be available on every location. When drawing up the rotation schedule, the municipality will take the requests from the owners into account as much as possible. Check the locations on this image or maps.amsterdam.nl/markten. Want to know where your favorite foodtruck is located at the moment? Download the Streetfood app via ‘Reizende Sterren’ (Travelling Stars) http://reizendesterren.org/reizendesterren.org/?p=344.

Aspire healthy fat burner at the terrace

24-6-2015

The Aspire soda is a fat burner for everyone that wants a healthy alternative at the terrace.

In general the number of refreshing healthy drinks at a terrace can be counted on one hand. Most soft drinks are loaded with sugar and plain water will soon bore you after a few glasses.

Aspire is a healthy alternative

Recently, there are several terraces that serve a soft drink that is sugar free, contains no calories and even promises to burn body fat. It’s ‘Aspire’, a lightly carbonated canned refreshing drink. The drink contains caffeine and is available in the flavors ‘Cranberry’ and ‘Apple with Acai’. The ingredients increase the metabolism, suppress appetite and the drink claims to accelerate weight loss. For the desired effect the producer recommends drinking two cans per day for two weeks, and to combine the drink with a healthy lifestyle (of course).

Ingredients

With ingredients like guarana (energy), caffeine (energy), green tea extract (increase the immune system), L-carnitine (to stimulate body fat burning) and taurine you will buy yourself a booster and body fat burner that does not cause a sugar dip afterwards. It certainly complements the range of beverages at most of the terraces nowadays, not the least because it tastes nice! The drink is already sold at Hampshire Hotels, SportCity, Mövenpick, Healthcity and Corpus. Have you spotted it somewhere else?

The McBike

23-6-2015

This takeout container should actually have been invented in the Netherlands! But McDonald’s has worked with the ad agency Tribal Buenos Aires in Argentina to create this McBike packaging.

Takeout packaging for cyclists at McDonald’s

This cyclist-friendly packaging is a recyclable, compact container for a burger, fries and a drink. The burger and the fries each have their own compartments. You can attach the package to your bicycle’s handlebars. The design ensures that the drink is kept upright.

The McBike packaging will also be launched in the Netherlands

The McBike package is launched in Copenhagen, Denmark. Copenhagen is one of the most cyclist-dense cities in the world. But it’s also launched in Medellin, Colombia. We’re lucky, Amsterdam is also on the list of McDonald’s to launch the McBike … ..

Rooftop concert by Hooghoudt and Kensington

23-6-2015

The Dutch band Kensington and Hooghoudt distillery will end this summer with a bang. They join forces for a rooftop concert somewhere on a roof in the Netherlands.

Rooftop concert

The rooftop concert will be held at the end of the festival season, early September. Consumers can win tickets for this special experience by buying a Hooghoudt bottle or a Hooghoudt Kensington package at one of the Gall & Gall stores in the Netherlands. The Hooghoudt products contain a unique code that could provide access to the concert. The promotion runs from 22 June to 15 August 2015.

Cocktail Maker

It’s also possible to win tickets through the online cocktail maker tool of Gall & Gall. The practical website guides you to the perfect cocktail recipe and looks a bit like the Gastronomixs tool. After choosing a cocktail recipe people can submit suggestions for ingredients. Anyone that sends in suggestions for ingredients via the website, can win a Fever-Tree cocktail workshop as well.

Smaakmakers

Hooghoudt started the collaboration with the band Kensington to attract a broader audience. Check out the road movie from Hooghoudt about these talents from Utrecht. Besides working with Kensington, Hooghoudt works together with young and enthusiastic professionals since January 2015. They call them their ‘Seasonings’ and award-winning bartender Lennart Deddens is one of them. With the ‘Seasonings’ they want to inspire and give everyone access to special mixes and exciting recipes. “But inspiration is more than just good taste, it’s also acquired by shared experiences, such as a unique rooftop concert” says Niels Grootenboer, marketing manager at Hooghoudt.

Stories from WaterReijk Weerribben Wieden

19-6-2015

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.

Life-size milk carton

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.

Famous icons

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.

Cooperation with Weerribben Dairy

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.

Bundling stories

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.

Allergens Legislation: you can make it easier on yourself

19-6-2015

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.

VA Foods, allergen free products

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.

The couldn’t make the law easier but you can make it easier on yourself

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 …

Changing pop-up location Rotterdam Central Station

18-6-2015

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.

Changing pop-up

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.

The Switch

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.

Groundbreaking

“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. “

Asian Baba Rafi format starts in Alkmaar

18-6-2015

The initial establishment of an innovative European kebab franchise will soon start in Alkmaar.

Baba Rafi adapted to European standards

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.

Confidence in the format of Baba Rafi

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.

Kebab for today’s conscious consumer

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.”

The future: being the largest kebab chain in Europe

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.

Fever-Tree tonic

17-6-2015

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.

Quality of tonic

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.

Quinine in the tonic

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.

Ginger Beer and Ginger Ale

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.

Mediterranean tonic

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.

Chef Michael Wolf opens Wolf Atelier

17-6-2015

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

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.

Gallery and Workshop-section at the menu

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.

Chef Michael Wolf

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!”

Van der Valk Tiel glass room design winner

17-6-2015

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.

Inspiration: co-creation around the glass hotel room

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.

Van der Valk Tiel

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: Colorize your stay

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.

Jury

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).

Ramadan Special: Halal Fried Chicken

16-6-2015

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.

Halal Fried Chicken

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.

Offer

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.

Halal

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.

Community

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.

New style shop in the lobby of nhow Rotterdam

15-6-2015

nhow Rotterdam opens a pop-up shop with hip and only local design products.

Pop-up shop in lobby of nhow hotel

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.

Original and affordable

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.

To beef or not to beef butcher’s brunch

12-6-2015

Top chef Erik van Loo ** serves a butcher’s brunch with three butchers at Parkheuvel in Rotterdam on 19 July.

Butcher’s Brunch

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.

Erik van Loo

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.

Tickets To beef or not to beef

‘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.

About IENS CarteBlanche

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.