Laugh your pants of
20-4-2015
At the ‘World Laughter Day’ (the first Sunday in May), Herengracht Restaurant & Bar in Amsterdam serves free ‘bitterballen’ (this is a typical Dutch treat, mini croquettes).
Herengracht Restaurant & Bar in Amsterdam is located right at one of the canals. The ideal place for a quick stopover while cruising through the canals. Herengracht Restaurant and Bar will launch a special boat catering menu this spring. Serving a nice and delicious lunch on the water of the Herengracht (one of the main canals). To start the boat-catering-season the Herengracht serves the free ‘bitterballen’ in collaboration with ‘Oma Bobs’, to the boats coming by and the visitors of the Herengracht Restaurant and Bar.
The boat catering season starts with a playful ‘Laugh your pants off’
The typical Dutch saying: ‘Laugh your balls out of your pants’ is freely translated in English as ‘Laugh your pants off’. That’s why The Herengracht Restaurant and Bar is serving ‘Bitterballen’ (balls) at the ‘World Laugther Day’.
‘World Laughter Day’ was founded in 1998 within the motto: “We do not laugh because we are happy, we are happy because we laugh” and takes place every year. On 3 May to boats on the Herengracht canal and visitors of the restaurant or bar can pick up their free ‘bitterballen’. “We will distribute the mini-croquettes as start of the boat-catering-season and because we need more laughter” Says Wessel Kuipers, co-owner of the Herengracht Restaurant and Bar.
Crowdsourced campaign by Grolsch
17-4-2015
This May Grolsch exists 400 years. To celebrate it, Grolsch organizes a crowdsourced campaign. The beer brewery is going to make an anniversary video and asks everyone from 18 years and older to upload a video of the ‘popping’ of a Grolsch bottle.
Crowdsourced video
We have seen a similar crowdsourced campaign in a different branch. New Balance asks their customers to make videos while running and upload it to the website Together We Run.
Participate in the Grolsch campaign
To participate in the campaign, you’ll need a swingtop bottle to pop. According to Grolsch, it will sound better if the bottle is at room temperature.
A video of popping a swingtop isn’t enough for the lead role in the anniversary video. A unique location is needed as well. The more unique your location is, the better your chances are to win a role in the video.
Grolsch advises to keep your phone horizontal. This makes the image better viewable and prevents the Vertical Video Syndrome (VVS).
In the hospitality industry, you can use the camera’s on the smartphones for your benefits as well. Organize for example an event with hundreds of livestreams from the phones of your guests through Periscope.
Canned food in the hospitality industry
15-4-2015
Since the start of company Bommels Conserven they are convinced that canned food is tasty and trendy. That’s why they’ve launched the concept ‘Een nieuwe blik op de tafel’. (Freely translated as ‘You can clearly see the table’).
The concept is meant for the hospitality entrepreneurs who want to keep their guests entertained with products which are easy and simple to present at different times of the day.
Canned food
The canned fish will be served at the table. It’s a complete concept with a wooden cutting board that is the connecting tool to present the products which are: canned fish, bread and garnitures matching the recipes of the fish. This cutting board is specially designed to fit the canned fish exactly, the bread is presented and there’s space for bowls with different garnitures.
How does it work?
The guests can choose the cans from the menu. These will be served by the waiters and presented on the cutting board with the matching garnitures. Serve with homemade bread for more flavour.
For the launch of this concept, Bommels Conserven is still looking for entrepreneurs who would like to introduce it. Contact Dineke van Bommel for further information.
Hop Theory creates beer bags
14-4-2015
Hop Theory, beer enhancing sachets, is a new product that aims to enhance a regular beer with a sachet that works in a similar way as tea bags. The sachets are filled with a number of different ingredients like hops, fruit peels and coriander seeds, all natural flavors. The ‘beer bag’ enables you to customize your favorite beer.
Beer bags instead of tea bags
Hop Theory, has a patent pending for their beer infusion method. The sachet is a soilon woven mesh filter derived from corn starch, thus 100% biodegradable. The ingredients are sourced and manufactured within the U.S. Each ingredient is prepared in a certain manner (dried and/or ground) to improve flavor and the rate of dispersion. All ‘beer bags’ are wrapped individually to preserve their contents.
The company behind the idea of these beerbags, Hop Theory, is currently seeking funding at Kickstarter. They’re looking for 25.000 dollar and with still 25 days to go and more than half of the amount pledged, this shouldn’t be a problem.
Ciel Bleu IPA made by Brouwerij ‘t IJ
13-4-2015
Three years ago, two-star restaurant Ciel Bleu launched its first IPA (India Pale Ale) in collaboration with the renowned Amsterdam brewery ‘Brouwerij ‘t IJ’. While the intention was a single collaboration, guests kept asking for a new beer.
The chefs Onno Kokmeijer and Arjan Speelman thus faced the challenge to brew a new gastronomical beer that would taste even better than the first IPA. After many sessions and trying all kinds of ingredients, they chose kaffir lime as the main element of the Ciel Bleu IPA 2.0 beer. This citrus fruit is also known as Djeroek Poeroet and is widely used in the Asian cuisine. The dry-hop with Waimea and Citra hops gives the beer a flowery, freshly bitter character.
Brouwerij ‘t IJ
The brewery of Brouwerij ‘t IJ has two locations, one in East Amsterdam, next to the Gooyer windmill. This is also where the brewery began and where the pub is located. The second brewery is located on the Zeeburgerpad. The pub is opened every day from 2 pm to 8 pm. All the beers are brewed in the traditional manner, without filtering or pasteurization.
Ideal food pairing and serving
In restaurant Ciel Bleu the beer is served in a wine glass at a temperature of 10 to 12 degrees Celcuis. Dishes with mostly fresh elements best match the Ciel Bleu IPA, such as citrus combined with sweet elements. Like any IPA beer, it tastes best within a couple of months after production. The beer is available at the Ciel Bleu restaurant and several specialty beer shops. Of course the beer is also available at ‘Brouwerij ‘t IJ’ itself, which is worth a visit as well!
Order your drinks through OpenTabs
10-4-2015
Guests of food court The World don’t have to wait to order their drinks anymore. They can order through their phones whenever they want to. The company eMove.me made this possible together with its German partner OpenTabs. They created the OpenTabs app and launched it in the Netherlands.
The World
On Wednesday 8 April The World officially opened its doors in Rotterdam. Guests can go there for the new dining concept by Wesley Ladage, son of the famous french-fries baker Bram Ladage. For this concept he works together with restaurants Asian Glories and O’Pazzo.
OpenTabs
You can order drinks from the espresso bar and wine bar of The World with your mobile phone. Each table in this section of The Word has a QR-code. This code can be scanned with the OpenTabs app and the menu appears on the screen. Make a choice and place your order. If you’ve paid, the restaurants promises to deliver the order within the five minutes.
Grab & Go
From half past seven in the morning, you can choose the ‘Grab & Go’ option. You can order for example a coffee and a sandwich and can pick it up when you want, without having to wait in a queue.
According to the CEO of eMove.me, Martijn Lukaart, this will be the future for the hospitality branch/industry and retail: ‘’The technology is becoming more sophisticated which, means we have the possibility to respond to your customer’s needs in a better way. This is not only convenient for the customer, who doesn’t have to wait any longer, but also for the entrepreneur.’’
The Roast Bar and Rotisserie
9-4-2015
The Roast Room is the new restaurant of Michael and Saskia Deenik and opened officially on 8 April. The Roast Room is a butcher shop, roast bar and rotisserie in one, located in the RAI Amtrium at the Europaplein in Amsterdam.
The butchers cut the meat that’s used in the restaurant themselves and they make fresh sausages and burgers as well. The vegetables and herbs for the restaurant come from a five floors City Farming space on the south side of the Amtrium.
The Roast Bar and Rotisserie
The Roast Bar on the ground floor is a brasserie which is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If the weather allows, it’s possible to eat outside at the terrace. The bar is decorated with large copper beer tanks filled with Warsteiner lager and the special beers.
The Rotisserie, a fine dining restaurant which is open for lunch and dinner, is located on the first floor. It includes a roof terrace for sunny days. The open kitchen has a Rotissoire, a charcoal grill, Australian Beech-wood furnaces for gas burners and a California South Bend-broiler that can heat up to 1,400 degrees Celsius.
Interior
The interior is the work of Studio Modijefsky and Studio Molen, who were responsible for the interior of Visaandeschelde as well. Restaurant Visaandeschelde is from the same owners. A bronze ‘Tower of Babel’ with shiny sausages welcomes guests at the entrance, an iconic butcher’s leg dangles in front of the butchery and a giant bronze ‘Ginger’ chandelier is one of the other unique cool features of the restaurant.
Beam: The smart projector that fits in any light socket
7-4-2015
Beam can turn any flat surface into a big screen. It is a powerful projector equipped with a smart computer, all inside a beautifully designed casing.
Beam is already funded on Kickstarter
You can play games, watch movies or share content from your smartphone or tablet. You can also watch TV on your bedroom ceiling or project recipes on your kitchen wall. Next to that, Beam can assist you in your daily activities, like waking up in the morning with the latest news and your agenda or showing you your social updates when you come home. Beam is easy to set up and control with the Apple or Android app. You can screw it into any light socket or use the included power cable to place it on any flat surface.
With Beam the makers have created an easy to use ‘internet of things’-device that can entertain and assist you throughout the day. The patent for the technology inside Beam is pending. The fundraising went amazing, they raised more money than expected.
Inspiration
If you watch the video above you can easily imagine the use of the Beam in restaurants or hotels. Imagine your specialties of the day projected on the walls or a wall of pictures in your hotel lobby, presenting your menu, pictures of your wellness center or digital paintings. Or what do you think about presenting the kitchen crew while working on the plates of your guests? In a bar Beam could be used to project games on the tables.
Alternative for candles on the table: wine bottle with the Bottlelight
7-4-2015
The Bottlelight is a simple wine cork that has been hollowed out to place a mini USB powered light within it.
All you have to do, is to charge the lights and place it within a used wine bottle (or another alternative bottle). The white light of the LED creates a little lamp, the color is adjusted by the color of the bottle. The lamps will shine up to three hours on a full charge. Created by Suck UK.
Septem beer
3-4-2015
Septem beer is a Greek beer. In Latin Septem means ‘seven’. The meaning inspired the creators of the beer to create various beers and name them after the days of the week. During Terra Madre in Turin Armand tasted all the different types. This included the Tuesday and Wednesday variant, however these are not available anymore.
The beer variants are: Monday’s Pilsner, Thursday’s Red Ale, Friday’s Pale Ale , Saturday’s Porter, Sunday’s Honey Golden Ale en Septem 8η Μέρα (Septem’s eighth day).
Microbrewery
The microbrewery of Septem is located in Orologio (Greece). The microbrewery was founded by the Greek oenologist (wine expert) Sofoklis Panagiotou and the economist Georgios Panagiotou. They began with their first distribution of the bottles of beer in June 2009.
Masterclass in brewing beer
Sofoklis Panagiotou gives a masterclass in brewing beer in Amsterdam, on Monday 13 April 2015. He will explain how he creates his award-winning beer. It’s also possible to taste the beer afterwards!
You can reserve here to participate the masterclass.
