Zen Tea, Chinese High Tea

20-11-2015

Lotus restaurant in Vlijmen offers a Chinese High Tea with six different kinds of tea. A Chinese tea ceremony with sweet and savoury snacks and a refreshing dessert. A real Zen Tea.

High Tea has been popular in The Netherlands for a while now, in several restaurants it’s even on the standard menu. Besides the ‘standard’ High Tea, we’ve never heard of a High Tea at a real Chinese restaurant in The Netherlands. Our colleague Lennert Rietveld from Van Spronsen & Partners hospitality consultancy met Willem Man while he was giving a presentation about culinary trends for Chinese entrepreneurs at Koninklijke Horeca Nederland. He enthusiastically told him about his High Tea service at his restaurant Lotus, the Lotus Zen Tea.

Lotus Zen Tea

Zen Tea was created during an inspiration session with the staff and it’s definitely a good way to fill up the less busy moments. Lotus Zen Tea starts with a refreshing towel, followed by a Chinese tea ceremony. According to the ritual, all the teacups will be placed on the table and the first cups of tea will be poured. Next to tea, guests will also get a glass of rosé. Then the sweet snacks will be served which were made in cooperation with de Vermeulen & Den Otter bakery. Think of macarons with flavours like lychee, ginger and green tea, diced coconut cake, lemongrass cookies and lightly salted cashew cookies. After a zen moment more savoury snacks will be served. Steamy baskets containing dainty dishes such as Sieuw Mai and Ha Kaauw, prepared by chef Tak Kee Yeung will be stacked on the table. The Zen Tea ends with ice cream made of red pepper and star anise with fresh fruit. The ice is specially designed for restaurant Lotus by ’t Heusden Ijshuys. The Zen Tea is also available in an completely vegetarian kind, it lasts about two hours and costs € 25,= per person. Restaurant Lotus also has designed special gift vouchers. Sounds great right? The magazine Pâtisserie & Dessert has also written an extensive article about the Lotus Zen Tea.

NICE DAY | A new Chinese takeout restaurant in New York

25-8-2020

The restaurant group behind the Chinese fast-casual mini-chain Junzi Kitchen is launching a new Chinese takeout restaurant NICE DAY at 170 Bleecker St, New York City, bringing beloved American-Chinese food back from their modern kitchen and with an easy online ordering system. Nested within junzi kitchen’s Greenwich Village location, NICE DAY will serve as a pop-up and act as an updated model of traditional Chinese takeout restaurants, where the dishes such as Kung Pao Chicken and Mapo Tofu will pay homage to the classic American-Chinese flavours that have earned rave reviews for generations.

Great initiative by the Junzi restaurant group to revitalize the American – Chinese dining. As the traditional Chinese restaurants in the Netherlands are facing exactly the same problem, NICE DAY might be an inspiration for those Chinese entrepreneurs who are willing to adapt to a more modern concept of the Chinese cuisine. 

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Happyhappy tea time | Asian high tea at Happyhappyjoyjoy

24-1-2019

It’s Happyhappy tea time! From the 14th of February you can book your Asian High tea at Happyhappyjoyjoy in Amsterdam, an colourful Asian streetfood hangout. During the high tea you’ll be able to enjoy a bamboo basket full of carefully selected Asian sweet and savory bites including a hot pot of Jasmin tea to share.

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Taiko New Year | Rice as ingredient of the ninth year

31-10-2023

Taiko Cuisine, the restaurant at Amsterdam’s Conservatorium Hotel, named ‘Best Asian Restaurant 2023’ by Gault&Millau, launched its ingredient of the year on October 30^th: rice. Inspired by the Chinese New Year, Taiko Cuisine annually celebrates its birthday with a ‘Taiko New Year’.  On this occasion, chef Schilo van Coevorden always presents a product that he puts at the centre of his menu for a year. This year, it’s rice.

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Trends we spotted | Week 42

24-10-2023

At horecatrends.com we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the other trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.

With this week links to articles about amongst other the self-flying air taxi by the Chinese firm EHang has just been cleared for commercial flights!

We’re Smart World and the European Best Vegetable chefs wrote a recipe book, their first ‘Radilicious’-cookbook.

New York Pizza introduces their ‘Thin & Crispy’ base and four action pizzas in the Netherlands. And  Mama’s Koelkast (mama’s fridge) opened in Amsterdam in May this year. A concept through which mums, who cook with love and passion, are given the chance to do so professionally.

As usual a couple of great inspirational Instagram posts:  for example the ‘Crompouce’, dry-aged fish by Quique Dacosta, great looking Taiyaki cones filled with pumpkin spice ice cream and Halloween inspiration from Shake Shack.

W-Hotels, part of Marriott Bonvoy’s global portfolio of over 30 brands, announced the highly anticipated opening of W-Sydney! And also located in Sydney: The Poetica Bar & Grill they serve Oysters Flambadou, topped with nduja and guindillas.

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SHIROKIMONO | Sake + Art Innovation

18-7-2023

Nozomi Japan Inc. is expanding its business to the world and will hold reception tasting events in the U.S. and France for their fermentation + art themed high brand sake “SHIROKIMONO”. This sparkling sake will only be available at selected restaurants in 2023 and there will be no general release.

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Trends we spotted | Week 24

16-6-2023

At the editors of Horecatrends, we receive many trends from home and abroad every day. We pick out the most interesting ones, other short trends we collect in the ‘Trends in Brief’ section.

With this week links to articles on, among other things, the land-based production of Atlantic bluefin tuna by German company Next Tuna. And hotel chain Four Seasons highlights the restaurants with a total of 32 Michelin stars within their chain.

Dishes from Netflix dinner shows are on the menu at their first-ever pop-up restaurant: NETFLIX BITES. And a summer concept from London: Jack & Boule with eight bocce courts and plenty of street food and drink stalls.

Subway has entered into a master franchise agreement with the Chinese company Shanghai Fu-Rui-Shi Corporate Development Co. with a target of 4,000 new branches on the mainland in 20 years.

A tasty non-alcoholic alternative to the Spritz: Crodino! This orange non-alcoholic drink is now also available in 17.5cl bottles. Ice cubes in a large wine glass, pour Crodino on top, orange slice in and enjoy! And Hertog Jan has introduced a premium beer called Grand Pilsener, with time as the main ingredient.

Lacoly has launched a WhatsApp service that, among other things, allows hotel guests to opt to skip the daily cleaning of their room and instead have a tree planted by Hotels for Trees.

City ID has announced their expansion to a historic place in Lisbon, the Baronesa building. After renovation, the apartment hotel will consist of 88 units. And Accor has partnered with start-up Alltheway to offer a solution that simplifies travel by transporting luggage between city centres and airports. Launch is in Paris.

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Trends we spotted | Week 39

3-10-2022

At horecatrends.com we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the other trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.

With this week links to articles about amongst others a Coffee Cocktail Challenge by Mr. Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur to create a delicious coffee cocktail, and one of the newest alcohol flavours according to chef Todd English is Mexican spiced gin, Mexigin.

GROHE, a leading global brand for complete bathroom solutions and kitchen fittings, recently unveiled a new water-recycling shower concept, great idea for small boutique hotels or B&B’s? And Voyager Space named Hilton officially to be its hotel partner to elevate the guest experience in space.

Starbucks opens its 6,000th store in China and 1,000 stores in Shanghai! And Ibis hotels in Bangkok and Sevilla exhibit original art IRL, while @ibisstyles followers on Instagram can win an NFT.

The CloudBar opened 1,000 feet above The Magnificent Mile at 360 CHICAGO and Taco Bell introduced their new Beyond Carne Asada Steak. And in the Netherlands we enjoy a new dairy brand ‘Kalverliefde’, it sells milk from farms that keep calves with cows.

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Visit Oakland launches the Oakland Vegan Trail

23-8-2022

Visit Oakland launches the Oakland Vegan Trail, an online gastronomic guide that boasts 20+ plant-based restaurants found in the town. With culinary hot spots serving up delicious globally inspired vegan cuisine from American to Chinese to Ethiopian, Filipino, Mexican, Thai and so much more, visitors can taste their way around the world – all while staying in Oakland.  There’s even vegan coffee, donuts, and ice cream!

Great idea and we think a Vegan Trail would work for many other cities as well!

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Trends we spotted | Week 32

12-8-2022

At horecatrends.com we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the other trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.

With this week links to articles about the first restaurant in Europe of Panda Express opened at Ramstein Air Base in Germany and the peanut butter s’mores Pizookie® returns to BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse.

Some openings: Bacon Nation will open on the second floor of the D Las Vegas on Fremont Street this fall. Nobu Hotel, Restaurant, and Residences will Launch in Danang, Vietnam and the 7Pines Resort Sardinia opens as part of the Destination by Hyatt portfolio.

Last week we published a recipe for a ‘frozen salted espresso martini’ spotted on Instagram. This week we spotted the Instagram account of ‘Our Life Corner’ with delicious looking drinks, like the Mango Tea Cream Cheese.

An interesting article about how cities are banning robot delivery vehicles from the sidewalks. As usually the problem of technique going faster than legislation. And Whole Foods co-founder John Mackey and a team will launch a plant-based restaurant & wellness chain.

Are you going to Paris in the first week of September or do you live there? Check out CookieWay, ‘le pop-up bar à cookies de Subway’! Chef and restaurateur Jean Georges Vongerichten opens massive Seaport marketplace in the restored historic Tin Building located in lower Manhattan.

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