‘Slag op de Schelde’, an unique culinary competition for chefs at the Oosterschelde
5-3-2015
Michelin starred restaurant Katseveer and chef Hans Everse are organizing a culinary competition ‘Battle on the Schelde’ on the 18th of May 2015. Chefs and sous-chefs will compete on board of a ship at the Oosterschelde. They have to prepare dishes with asparagus and a product from the Oosterschelde. Amongst others the jury includes two Michelin starred chefs Edwin Vinke and Dick Middelweerd.
Slag op de Schelde
‘Battle on the Schelde’ is the sequel to the asparagus-amuse competition that was held for nine years in restaurant ‘De Zeelandburg’. Hans Everse, ‘Hero of the Taste of the region Zeeland’ and chairman/speaker of the ‘Koksgilde Zeeland’, has initiated the revival of this culinary competition together with Jessica and Rutger van der Weel, owners of the Michelin starred restaurant Katseveer. Hans Everse indicated in the press release that he only wants participants which are on a high level, that’s why only chefs and sous-chefs can sign up for the competition.
During the competition the participants have to make a dish with asparagus and a product from the Oosterschelde for 20 persons. They have to present it with a matching wine or cocktail. The dishes may be prepared, only the final preparation can be done on the spot. The participants can be assisted by one student.
They want ‘De slag op de Schelde’ to become a yearly returning culinary competition. Participants can sign up at their website, until the 15th of March 2015.
Jury
The members of the jury are Edwin Vinke (restaurant De Kromme Watergang** and SVH Meesterkok), Dick Middelweerd (restaurant De Treeswijkhoeve** en SVH Meesterkok), Sjaak Jobse (SVH Meesterkok) and sommelier Mike Dooms (restaurant De Kromme Watergang**) who judges the food / wine pairings.
Inspiration
This is a great way to put yourself in the spotlight as chef, for the regions it’s a way to promote local products.
Poptails
5-3-2015
Poptails, the summer funs at Sky Bar, Bangkok’s highest rooftop bar at the Lebua State Tower hotel. Poptails are premium classic cocktails paired with brain-freezing popsicles. ‘Poptails’ derived from the two words – popsicle and cocktails.
Poptails are made of…
The master mixologist at ‘The Dome’ at the Lebua State Tower hotel created the poptails to create fun and excitement around his cocktails! Premium is referring to the base spirits – the Havana 3 Years Rum, Absolut 100 Vodka, Olmeca Tequila and Plymouth Gin – that are used to create these cocktails. They serve a Rocky Road Martini: (Chocolate martini) – 1.5 oz Absolute 100 Vodka – 0.1 oz white chocolate liqueur – 0.5 oz hazelnut liqueur, rimmed with dark, Dutch chocolate and garnished with a Rocky Road Popsicle made of chocolate, marshmallow, peanuts, water, simple syrup and milk.
The other cocktails which are served with a popsicle: Berrymania (with a creamy berry / lemon popsicle), The Clover Pop (with a pineapple popsicle) and The Pop Star (with a melon and raspberry popsicle).
The Sky Bar
Due to the Sky Bar’s innovative cocktails, striking atmosphere and spectacular views, it earned the distinction of being named “the most stunning rooftop bar you’ll ever see” by The New York Times and is one of the highlights of Bangkok’s nightlife scene. So, if you’re planning to go to Bangkok, this is the place to drink a cocktail. They also serve a Hangovertinis, a cocktail created for the cast of ‘The Hangover Part II’ while they were filming at Lebua. This cocktail has gone on to become Thailand’s signature drink.
As said the view is amazing and the cocktails at the Sky Bar are delicious! I know, it’s one of those places I can say of: ‘Been there, done that’. But unfortunately they didn’t serve the popsicles then, so I don’t mind going back! ^Marjolein
Annie the Owl Bar – pops up in London
4-3-2015
In London ‘Annie the Owl Bar’, a pop-up bar will open for a week in March. In this pop-up bar you can stroke owls while drinking cocktails. Like all animal themed bars, where you can stroke cats or for example bunnies, the owl themed pop-up bar also originates from Japan.
Annie the Owl Bar
‘Annie the Owl Bar’ is inspired by a bar in Tokyo (the video above is from that bar) and is already very popular. Tickets are only available by lottery. Entrance is 20 pounds and includes two cocktails. The entrance money is going to the charity ‘The Barn Owl Centre’. The bar will pop-up from 19 till 25 March from 8:30 p.m. until 2 a.m. The opening hours are adjusted to the sleeping habits of the owls. The exact location will be revealed to the winners of the lottery on 16 March.
A visit to ‘Annie the Owl Bar’ must be a dream come true for the diehard Harry Potter fan! 😉
Floral workshop with Dutch flowers at the Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris
4-3-2015
The Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris offers an exclusive experience to participate in a floral arrangement class hosted by Jeff Leatham, the hotel’s artistic Director and famous rock & roll florist.
Floral workshop
Jeff Leathman quarterly organizes a floral arrangement class in the Four Seasons Hotel George V. It’s a rare opportunity to meet the famous artist and discover his secrets about how to make stunning flower bouquets. The class starts with a demonstration followed by a practical lesson.
Every month Jeff comes up with a new theme and creates his bouquets with flowers from the Netherlands. Every week 9.000 flowers are delivered at the hotel.
Jeff Leathman
Jeff Leathman is well known for his spectacular floral creations. He’s not only responsible for the decoration of the hotel, he also made the decorations at the grand opening of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, made floral creations for the wedding of Tina Turner and was a guest at the show of Oprah Winfrey.
Power to the Pieper
25-2-2015
The potato is already hundreds of years super nutritious and contributes in combination with vegetables, meat or fish to your daily amount of vitamins and minerals. Earlier we wrote an article about the ‘opperdoezer’ potato . The potato is often put in a negative light. To change this view aardappel.nl launched a campaign: ‘Power to the Pieper.’
Superfoods
Lots of people are fans of the superfoods but after quinoa, goji berries or wheat grass they now want to introduce the potato. The potato contains many essential nutrients. And a portion of cooked potatoes (200 grams) contains 150 calories, almost 100 calories less than the same portion of cooked rice. Besides that the potatoes are also quite cheap and easy to prepare.
Power to the Pieper
The next few weeks the #PowertothePieper potatoes will be placed in the spotlights throughout the Netherlands. All the potato farmers and traders participate in this campaign and have renamed their potatoes into ‘Power to the Piepers’. Take a picture of the packaging with #powertothepieper and share your pieper at the social media.
The icons of McDonald’s: continuing the ‘No Logo’ strategy
20-2-2015
One of our readers e-mailed us a picture of an advertisement with a simple icon, seen in a bus shelter. He suspected that the icon was an advertisement of Mcdonald’s? And he was right. McDonald’s in the Netherlands lets these icons speak for themselves without adding any text.
The ‘No Logo’ strategy
In 2014 McDonald’s USA started the champagne ‘No Logo’. This campaign shows that the products of McDonald’s became brands. Above you can see the first original TV-commercial that was made for this campaign. It was directed by agency TBWA Paris. Now McDonald’s in the Netherlands goes an extra mile by changing its products into just Picto’s. This way they show the Dutch audience that even if their products are advertised as Picto’s, they still are recognizable.
Picto Puzzles based on the Beacon-technology
Besides the pictures you can find on billboards, advertisements in bus shelters and on posters, you can find them as well at more famous places, like the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam and the subway station ‘Beurs’ in Rotterdam. By scanning these Picto Puzzles with the McDonald’s app, you receive a notification to play Picto Puzzle. Mcdonald’s is the first advertiser in the Netherlands who inserts the Beacon-technology.
Virgin Rumors
13-2-2015
Back in August, the yet-to-open Virgin Hotel in Chicago started the #VirginRumors social media campaign. The hotel began encouraging people to spread rumors about the hotel on social media, Virgin Rumors. The person who had the best #VirginRumor would then win a two-night stay at the hotel during the opening party along with airfare and transportation.
Virgin Rumors
The owner of the hotel, Sir Richard Branson, had actually act out one of the Virgin rumors. Richard Branson was tucking the big winner and her fiancée in and was reading them a bed time story.
Lucy
If Richard Branson isn’t able to provide personal advice or read you a story, Lucy is a great stand-in. Lucy is an app that is your personal assistant during your stay. Lucy gives you advice to find the best local restaurants and gives access to the Virgin Hotels chatroom where you can get recommendations from other guests, meet up, or make new contacts. Besides that Lucy is the remote control you need to watch TV or order movies on demand. You can browse the menu and order with a few ticks. Order while you’re out and come back to find a meal waiting for you.
The Bustronome experience: delicious views of Paris
12-2-2015
Discover Paris on a gourmet escapade during lunch or dinner in a bus, the Bustronome experience. Just like the elegant dinners on the Parisian sightseeing boats, the Bustronome invites everybody to discover Paris aboard a double-decker bus converted into a fancy restaurant.
The Bustronome experience
The Bustronome, is a high-end double decker bus which is offering striking views across the French capital thanks to its panoramic glass roof. At the panoramic upper deck, passengers can enjoy a great lunch or dinner while enjoying Paris. A guided tour in a chic, cosy atmosphere.
Delicious meals while enjoying the view
Two of the menus they serve are ‘all inclusive’ with a selection of wine served by the glass to accompany each dish: champagne (dinner only) / white wine / red wine / mineral or sparkling water / tea or coffee. The tour takes 2h15 for lunch and 2h30 for dinner. At the moment we are writing this article, you can enjoy a Valentine’s day menu up to 14 February. Prices range from 65/85€ (for lunch) and 95/125€ (for dinner).
Bustronome offers an inventive cuisine. Specially invited grand chefs regularly offer new culinary experiences. Some examples of what they serve: Chestnuts’ “bonbonnière” / Poultry stuffed with ‘foie gras’ and season vegetables with hazelnuts sauce / Pineapple mille-feuilles / Scallops carpaccio with pistachio and grapefruit / Shoulder of lamb ‘Grand Veneur’ / Brie de Meaux cheese and caramelized apples.
Inspiration
Why don’t we do the same in Amsterdam? Only instead of preparing the food, we could also stop at a couple of those great restaurants we have in Amsterdam and pick up a dish! Imagine, starters, main courses or desserts from Librije’s Zusje (**); Ciel Bleu (**); &Samhoud Places (**), Bord d’Eau (**) Ron Gastrobar (*) and Rijks restaurant. Wouldn’t that be great? #stealmyidea ^Marjolein
Foodtruck special | Heet Brood
11-2-2015
The Summer of 2014 was one of thriving food festivals. With several events focused on mobile kitchens and a lot of food trucks on smaller festivals throughout the country, the open air food offer grew tremendously. This was partly due to the efforts of The Food Line-Up, ‘Vleesch Noch Visch’ and ‘Rollende Keukens’.
Dutch food truck in Amsterdam
Recently an article on Dutch news website Nu.nl announced that the municipality of Amsterdam starts with giving out permits for food trucks on the streets of the Dutch capital. A great trigger to start a food truck special at Horecatrends.com and highlight some of the food trucks mentioned in the (Dutch) book ‘Reizende Sterren’ (Travelling Stars).
Heet Brood
The pictures on this page belong to ‘Heet Brood’, a food truck owned by Josine Beugels. It’s more than a food truck, it’s better described as theater-art-caravan where you can find some cheesy cooking skills with bread.
‘Reizende Sterren’
The book ‘Reizende Sterren’ is only available in Dutch. If you want to show your (favorite) food truck at the website please write to tip@spronsen.com. If you’re interested in the Dutch food truck scene we can definitely recommend the annual ‘Rollende Keukens’ event in Amsterdam in May with over a hundred trucks on one location.
Food films are popular
30-1-2015
Food films are popular. We have the Food Film Festival in Amsterdam since 2011 and at the Berlinale they will also exhibit various food films during the Culinary Cinema program. Including the documentary ‘Cooking Up a Tribute’.
Last Tuesday we wrote about the popularity of food films in an article about the trailer of the film ‘Fucking Perfect’ of Sergio Herman. We used various examples from the past, but recently the program of the Culinary Cinema at the Berlin Film Festival (known as the Berlinale) was published. Which includes the documentary about the owners of El Celler de Can Roca, entitled ‘Cooking Up a Tribute’ which will premiere on 10 February.
Trailer of ‘Cooking Up a Tribute’
The documentary was directed by Luis Gonzalez and Andrea Gomez and is about Summer 2014 when Josep, Joan and Jordi Roca closed their restaurant for a period of 5 weeks. In these 5 weeks, they did a tour of the American continent: Roca n’Roll World Tour 2014. They visited six different places; Houston, Dallas, Monterrey, Mexico City, Lima and Bogota.
Food films are popular and easy to combine with a good meal
In Amsterdam we have the Food Film Festival and we hope that during the next edition they run most movies that are exhibited at the Berlinale. During the Berlinale the Michelin-starred chefs Paco Pérez and Christian Lohse (amongst others) will serve menus inspired by the films. The American chef Alice Waters and the president of the Slow Food movement Carlo Petrini will be honored during this Culinary Cinema. We wonder if it will be such a great tribute as Alain Passard received in 2014. And whether the menus that are inspired by the movies will be prepared by the chefs at the Berlinale as original as the chefs at the Dutch Food Film Festival did during last year’s lunch (Proefwerk). In the article from the website Fine Dining Lovers you can see the list of all the culinary movies shown at the Berlinale. You can book tickets on the website of the Berlinale.
