Restaurant Waag opened in Leiden
29-7-2015
This month ‘Waag’ opened in Leiden. The Waag was once the bustling center of Leiden but was barely used until recently. This summer, the monument is the vibrant heart of the city again.
The Waag as backdrop for traditional events
Guests can enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner at the Waag under the magnificent vaults of the monumental Boterhal or in the new glass construction. The Waag remains the backdrop for the traditional presentation of herring and white bread on 3 October and the Waag will be renamed the House of Saint Nicholas in late November.
Interior
Great Persian rugs and a special lighting plan transform the stately monument in a place where it’s pleasant to stay. A wall full of old scales refers to the past, when ‘The Waag’ was the commercial centre of the city and traders had their goods weighted.
Glass construction
To relieve the monumental Waag and Boterhal an additional glass construction was built behind the high, vaulted room of the Boterhal. Here is a large open kitchen located in the glass construction with a private entrance to the Mandemakers Alley.
Chicken in the lead
Freshly grilled chicken plays a major role at the Waag. On a Josper charcoal oven chickens are freshly grilled in French or Portuguese style. In addition there are salads, pastas and culinary classics like a sirloin steak, prawns, satay and a burger on the menu.
Terrace in 2016
The monumental ‘Waaghoofd’ will be the location of the new ‘Waag’ terrace in the spring of 2016, and has room for 150 guests. To achieve this the main bridge of the Waag is moved to Catharina Alley in late 2015.
Debut BV – Hospitality Management and Development
The Waag is part of Debut BV, which is responsible for several successful restaurant concepts as Mad Mick’s Breakaway Café Rotterdam, STAN & CO, Belgian Beer Café Olivier in Utrecht and Leiden, the Mexican restaurants of Popocatepetl, Hometown Coffee & More in The Hague and Stadscafé Progress in Eindhoven.
Do you have a secret menu?
23-7-2015
Hot in the USA: secret menu’s at fast food chains. From fast food chain In-N-Out, to Shake Shack to McDonald’s. Why not create your own ‘secret menu’ as a cafeteria or small fast food chain?
Last year I did visit the fast food chain In-N-Out in California, my daughter who worked and lived in New York already heard about their (not-so) secret menu. Recently I saw a video of Anthony Bourdain discussing his appetite for burgers of In-N-Out. This chain has been offering customer-created riffs on the menu which have been passed down through word of mouth since the 1960’s. At their official menu it has just three burgers (a hamburger, cheeseburger, and the ‘double-double’), it’s ‘not-so-secret’ menu adds six more. I tasted the iconic ‘animal style’ burger with a lot of grilled onions and mustard. Did I like it? Well it certainly was the most tasty fast food burger I have eaten on the West Coast. But I didn’t eat many!
How to create a secret menu
The appeal of the secret menu is a delicate matter for restaurants. You can’t promote them because of the fact that it will instantly lose its secrecy factor. It’s a matter of involving your fans and let them spread their favorite ‘secret menu’ through social media and locally through word of mouth. For more information read the article ‘Secret Burger Menus, Explained’ on Eater.
You can even check the secret menu’s at fast food restaurants in your vicinity at the website Secret Menus. At this website I even read that one of the secret menus at In-N-Out is called the ‘Flying Dutchman’. Just two patties and cheese, very trendy without gluten! ^Marjolein
Unique pop-up restaurants in Amersfoort
15-7-2015
Coming Friday, 17 July there will be a pop-up dinner at a secret location in Amersfoort. There are still some seats left for adventurous food lovers.
Adventurous dining at pop-up restaurants
Visitors of pop-up restaurants are open to adventure and often naturally spontaneous. In addition, the hosts do a lot to break the ice and the reactions to the diners are positive. An interesting side effect is the free publicity the host location gets with such a dinner, and it offers unique closing events for locations as well. Two weeks after a dinner at the Porsche dealer one of the dinner guests bought a car and a number of sites closed shortly after the pop-up event, where the dinner leaves a nice final memory. There have been dinners at a gym, a library, a car dealer, a farmer barn and an art gallery. The initiative for the pop-up restaurants at special locations in the region was created three years ago at restaurant ‘Bergpaviljoen’ in Amersfoort.
Surprise
The dinners host never more than 50 people at a communal table. Visitors come alone, in pairs or small groups. The location of the dinner will be a surprise until the day itself. When ordering tickets, guests fill in their mobile number and dietary wishes and leave their mobile number. They receive a text message with the location on the afternoon before the dinner. For € 59.00 per person, guests receive a welcome cocktail, appetizer, a 3-course dinner, plenty of white and red wine and mineral water, bread, coffee and tea with a digestive and sweets.
Superfast dinners in a giant jukebox during the funfair
13-7-2015
Ibiza Restaurant in Tilburg (The Netherlands) turns its façade temporarily into a giant jukebox during the most famous funfair in the Netherlands.
Superfast dinners
Restaurant Ibiza lies at the fairground and at any day of the funfair the public can enjoy a delicious dinner at a number of fixed times. Dinner will take no more than one hour, guests don’t want to lose too much time! The meals in the jukebox are accompanied by musical entertainment. The giant jukebox will be on the ‘Heuvelring’ in Tilburg from 17 July to 26 July. Tickets are available through the website and range in price from € 19.99 to € 29.99 for a meal and two drinks.
Inspiration from the funfair in Tilburg
Tempting your guests with a great meal, served within the hour and a special entrance and music … Ibiza restaurant becomes part of the fair. A great way to approach their potential guests. What happens nearby your restaurant this summer? Anything you could anticipate on at an original manner? What would generate a lot of free publicity in advance and a lot of extra guests at the event? Restaurant Ibiza really understands the guests that are coming to the funfair, they love theatrical gestures, a good dinner and they need a lot of time to enjoy the amusement rides!
Antwerp’s urban park: Summer Josephine’s
10-7-2015
This summer it’s already the second edition of the Summer Josephine’s, an urban park in Antwerp. The storage areas of City Brewery De Koninck are this summer the place to enjoy summer cocktails, specialty beers, fine food and a nice atmosphere again. Owner Kasper Stuart created a great space here to escape the hectic pace of the city life.
Daily summer festival
There is a central ordering caravan where you buy drink tickets and order food. there is a gourmet restaurant as well. The meat is purchased locally and cooked on the Big Green Egg or Mibrasa-wood oven. They also serve fish and vegetarian dishes.
Responsible for the design with a high vintage feeling is Designer Not Before Ten, this company is, among others, responsible for the design of Balls & Glory Antwerp & Ghent, The Brewery De Halve Maan (The crescent) in Bruges and Club La Rocca in Lier.
In the area of Summer Josephine’s, which is reached by a long hallway where you can enjoy graffiti by famous graffiti artists, you’ll find plenty of eye-catchers. Like, pallet constructions, vintage sofas, old-fashioned lampshades and second-hand accessories. And have a look at the beach chairs, a sandbox for the kids and picnic benches.
Inspiration: special cocktail evenings at Summer Josephine’s
Kasper Stuart also organizes special evenings around :Pimm’s Cup, one of our favorite cocktails. But also around the Cointreau Fizz. With a special cart for the Pimm’s Cup and a Cointreau Fizz bike on the site. Fun for a large summer terrace!
Affordable quality in cosy and casual restaurant Jack Dish
10-7-2015
Restaurant Jack Dish opened at the Stadionplein in Amsterdam on 7 July.
Sometimes you stumble upon something and everything seems to fit in. After a spontaneous visit to the unfortunately fully booked BautZuid, a round at the major construction site of the Stadionplein in Amsterdam didn’t gave much hope for another proper cosy and casual dining place. Until we spotted Jack Dish. At first glance, a small cafe, but once inside it was visible that the restaurant consist of two rooms. Add a huge terrace to that, and you have a restaurant that can feed many mouths and steel as many hearts this summer.
Affordable quality
With a cosy interior, a lot of plants and a half open kitchen, the restaurant is decorated with a fine touch. The Facebook page gives an impression of the recent renovations of the restaurant. The high kitchen counter is the best spot in our opinion. There you are at eye level with the enthusiastic former chefs of Restaurant Braque who are already nicely attuned with each other and the equipment (including a Big Green Egg). Restaurant Braque got a 10- by late Johannes van Dam (famous Dutch food critic) in 2010 and restaurant Jack Dish continues the aim for affordable, high quality and tasty food.
Holy Günter
The menu offers various main courses such as chicken, salmon, eggplant (vega) and rib-eye. Although the rib-eye unfortunately was sold out, the pain was eased by a drink on the house. The crowd was relatively young and was merely from the neighbourhood, which made it a fine casual atmosphere with congratulations, greetings and smiling faces all around. With crispy fries and a variety of specialty beers, of which Holy Günter is my absolute favorite, this restaurant will provide a lasting boost to the Stadionplein. ^Armand Sol
Magic Placemats, the new coloring
9-7-2015
Pamper your little guests with a magic placemat, a 3D digital coloring picture, and give them a visual experience in your restaurant. They are likely to remain in their seat longer, because seeing your own drawing come to life with the Prismar 3D Studio app is, of course, super cool!
The possibilities of the magic placemats
You can choose from standard magic placemats that can be brought to life in 3D with the Prismar app. The ‘magic drawings’ can be personalized and you can even create your own magic placemats. Photos of the magic personalized placemats can be shared through social media. Great for a ‘Share and Win’ campaign to gather email addresses, likes etc …
Additionally, certainly with older children, the possibility exists that they will be able to concentrate longer…. with the result that the parents can drink an extra glass of wine. It’s an ideal combination of old (coloring) and new (apps). So grandparents can enjoy watching their grandchildren draw a coloring picture and kids can still use their parents’ mobile or iPad!
Beer pong cleaner with The Slip Cup™
8-7-2015
The Slip Cup creates ‘clean’ beer pong without changing a single aspect to the game. Mighty popular in the USA: beer pong. And often played in bars, whereas the ball touches the ground, the beer doesn’t get any healthier!
The Slip Cup™, is a cup insert for beer pong that fits into 16 and 18 ounce disposable cups.
Catch the ball and it doesn’t land in your beer anymore. The patent-pending protective barriers fit right onto your typical party cups and even feature a ‘catch element’ that keeps the ball from bouncing out and falling on dirty floors. The brothers behind the invention have raised over $40.000 (at Tuesday 7 July) toward their $70,000 Kickstarter campaign goal. The backers will score a 20-pack of Slip Cups when they’re ready later this summer for all kinds of ‘clean’ beer pong gaming. They added numbers at the bottom of the Slip Cups and created 15 Brand-New Drinking Games with the Slip Cup!
The film about Great Coffee
3-7-2015
Watch this gorgeous short film (15 min) about Great Coffee. It is the story of passionate coffee connoisseur Søren Stiller Markussen, the owner and founder of Great Coffee in Aarhus, Denmark.
Great Coffee
He visits a coffee farm from Frederico Pacas (Café Tuxpal) a farm with six generations experience in the family that’s based in Finca Santra Petrona, El Salvador. He also visits New York for inspiration and notices that the baristas are all pursueing a unique style.
In the video Søren Stiller Markussen shows three different traditional methods of processing coffee beans.G
– Natural: drying the coffee with the skin
– Water processed: rinse the skin of with water
– Honey processed: Processed with honey Black (without water) and yellow honey (with water)
By measuring the sugar level during the fermentation process, the process can be stopped at the right moment to get a full, sweet body. The desired sugar content is 18-22% and takes about 4 hours to ferment, after that carbon dioxide and alcohol will start to form.
During the movie the coffee connoisseur gives a glimpse into his personal life as well. He explains his motivations in his life, in which Jiu Jitsu and swimming in the sea play a significant role.
York & Albany brings the beach to central London
2-7-2015
The sunglasses, flip flops and beach balls thrive well at the city oasis of York & Albany’s Beach Shack in London, where you immediately get the summer vibe.
Be transported from the heart of London to a beach bar at the courtyard of Gordon Ramsay’s York & Albany. The seaweed Martini or Bacardi Rum slush served in a mini bucket with scoops as spoons will definitely get you in the mood, otherwise the alcoholic popsicles with Pimm’s liqueur will do so.
Beach Menu
At the restaurant they serve a selection of tempting bites such as mini fish ‘n’ chips, bite-sized Cumberland sausages and jars’ with pickled seafood. For the big appetite, there is a Beach BBQ menu that includes grilled burgers and vegetarian kebab with salad, fries and potato salad but without the usual sand between your teeth.
Ice cream with caramel popcorn and cotton candy
If baking in the sunshine isn’t enough, a choice of sugary desserts will get you in the sandal-mood. With raspberry custard doughnuts, banana split ice-cream and a do-it-yourself ice cream machine that’s offering soft serve scoops of strawberry cheesecake with candy floss and caramel popcorn. Wow! Now that’s an ice cream cone (referred to as a 99) for the 21st century!
Beach bar arrangement for groups
Londoners don’t have to travel to the coast during these hot days, they can put their feet in the sand at York & Albany’s Beach Hut as well. The selfies made there will give the impression that they originate from the beach in Camden and not from central London. The beach bar is available for exclusive dinners up to 12 guests. For thirty pounds per person, guests can enjoy different savory and sweet snacks and two cocktails.
It’s a wonderful way of enjoying the summer feeling in town, even during less sunny days!
