Bram’s, Gourmet Frites
2-2-2016
On 11 February Bram Ladage is opening ‘Bram’s, Gourmet Frites.’ At this new, international formula fries are prepared on a high culinary level and will be sold from a remarkable, black shipping container. The pilot store is going to be at the ‘Kop van Zuid’ in Rotterdam.
Bram’s, Gourmet Frites is going international
This new, international formula is going to be a worldwide standard for quality fries, says Bram Ladage partner Rocco Ladage. They are starting in Rotterdam but there is more and more demand from abroad. At the new concept ‘Bram’s, Gourmet Frites’ it’s about traditional preparation. The real Dutch potatoes from the Hoeksche Waard are cut into thick fries and prepared right in front of the costumers. Because these fries are so thick they absorb less fat and they also use oil with ‘good’ fats.
Collaborating with Herman den Blijker
Together with Herman den Blijker, Bram Ladage developed five new stews: Pulled pork BBQ, Captain’s beef, Asian chicken stew, the vegetarian Truffle mushroom and Pumpkin veal stew. With these stews, fries will no longer be a ‘side dish’ but a full meal component.
About Bram Ladage
Bram Ladage is a family company that’s originally from Rotterdam. But apart from Rotterdam they are getting more well known in Europe as well. Besides the formula Bram Ladage itself they also exploit BroodExpress, Ezprezzo, Ladage Events, Ladagerie and The Wold. With Bram’s they are taking the first step to go abroad.
The container is ideal for a franchise business; it will be delivered on location, it’s fully furnished and as franchisee you can start working immediately.
The croquettes in the leading role
4-12-2015
Kroketten (or croquettes) and Bitterballen (small croquettes) are a real Dutch treat. The last two years we spotted a couple of tasty varieties appearing in the market. We have made a list of them.
For years I used to make this Dutch treat at home, using recipes from the book ‘The great culinary croquettes cookbook’ by Edwin Kats, and of course I always got compliments! Truly amazing are the game croquets from this season but the croquettes with smoked eel are very special as well. We even wrote about croquettes with snails and goose meat on Horecatrends, both of whom are no longer for sale, but it truly indicates that the possibilities are endless! ^ Marjolein
Our list; croquettes in the leading role
1. CROQUÉTJE! a pulled pork-croquette
Sausage-maker Paul van den Hooven from Wild Vleesch in Rotterdam, has developed his own croquette under the name of CROQUÉTJE! The first CROQUÉTJE is a croquette with pulled pork which contains meat that is smoked low & slow on a barbecue.
2. Croquette made of Shiitake mushrooms
A croquette with Shiitake mushrooms. Shiitake mushrooms are healthy, delicious and a good substitute for meat. FungiFuturi grows delicious and super nutritious mushrooms in the cellar of an abandoned office building in Eindhoven. They are crowdfunding an innovative snack line of mushrooms. The first product of the line is the shiitake croquette, they presented these croquettes during the Dutch Design Week last October.
3. Bieterballen, croquettes with beetroot
The vegetarian Bieterbal, from Jonathan Karpathios of restaurant Vork & Mes. It’s content? Beet, beet and even more beet! The Bieterbal is available in wholesale at: Deli XL, De Kweker, HANOS and VHC de Jongens. The Bieterbal has also been nominated for the Dutch Horecava Innovation Award 2016 in the category Food & Beverage.
4. Bitter Balzz, a bitterbal with insects
At BUGZZ they make food with insects. Their goal is to bring the durable snack, the ‘Bitter Balzz’ in production. They reached their target amount by 117% on their crowdfunding page. We recently ran into them on the Foodfestival in Amsterdam, where they were already completely sold out halfway Saturday evening.
5. Croquette made from 100% organic spelt
The first croquette and bitterbal worldwide made from 100% organic spelt. Prepared with fresh spices, vegetables and the best organic beef, made by Royal Spelt.
6. Restaurant Valuas’s gluten free croquette
Star restaurant Valuas (*) in Venlo has developed a gluten free croquette. The gluten free croquette is made from ragout of corn, rice and 36% pure beef and contains a crust made of rice.
7. Croquette made from the queen of vegetables
Kwekkeboom introduced a croquette made of the queen of vegetables, the asparagus, in 2013. Since I regularly make a variety of the bitterbal with asparagus in the leading roll, this croquette proves that you can make endless variations with the salpicon of the croquettes and bitterballen.
8. Arancini, the Italian bitterbal
Lightly fried balls made from risotto with a core of mozzarella and smoked ham. Simple and a delicious appetizer! Italian restaurants would have their own variation of ‘our’ bitterbal.
9. Sichuan Bitterballen
For her Sichuan bitterballen Robin Kok used ‘Sichuan style red boiled beef’ that includes ingredients like ginger, chilli bean sauce, rice wine and Chinese dark soy sauce. The Asian bitterballen.
10. Chef Thor
Chef Thor makes bitterballen with different flavours and flavours you won’t expect, such as spinach with Dutch blue cheese, coconut curry with peas or scrambled eggs with porcini mushrooms and truffle. The traditional Dutch concept of a kroket, but just something different and delicious without meat. Chef Thor has been around for six years and have seven different flavours, all vegetarian.
11. Fingerfoodballs
Scelta Mushrooms is the founder of a healthy alternative for the snack range: the Fingerfoodballs. The Fingerfoodballs are vegetable snacks that doesn’t contain artificial colors or flavors.
Berlin’s first Salmon Kebab
21-10-2015
The so called ‘Lachdöner’ from Rauch Zeichen consists of juicy salmon, cucumber, tomato, crispy fresh onion, well-seasoned with homemade honey-mustard-dill sauce and conveniently packed in traditional flatbread.
Salmon Kebab
Berlin’s new specialty, the ‘Lachdöner’ is invented by the self-made entrepreneur and amateur fisherman Ronny Unger. Often there are long lines waiting in front of the ‘Rauch-Zeichen’- food truck, that drives from market to market around Berlin. Beside the Salmon Kebab they also serve a salmonwrap, fish fries, fish buns and smoked fish. Most fish is bought at the company ‘Fischerei Angermünde’ in Uckermark but the salmon comes from antibiotic-free fish farms in Norway. The smoked fish is smoked over beech wood. For his fish ideas Ronny Unger has been awarded the ‘Seafood Star 2015’ as best starter in fish in Germany. Check out the Facebook page of ‘Rauch Zeichen’ for more information.
Inspiration
Check out other kebab concepts;
Like the robotic arm that slices the meat at restaurant ‘Super Kebab’ in London. Or the first European location of Baba Rafi that recently opened in Alkmaar. In Asia, the chain has more than 1,300 locations and the location in Alkmaar serves a kebab adapted to the European market, Kebab 2.0. And in Paris ‘Grillé’ serves a kebab that even the biggest snob can’t wait to be in line for! A Fancy Kebab or as the French say; ‘kebabs quasi gastronomiques’.
Les Bols de Jean – the breadbowl is going French
13-10-2015
Leonie van Spronsen, lives and works in Paris and recently lunched at ‘Les Bols de Jean’ in Paris.
The bread bowl is centuries old and in the United States completely common as chili or clam chowder holder, but in Europe not so much. Well that’s all about to change if you ask internationally renowned baker Eric Kayser and ‘world-famous-in-France’ chef Jean Imbert!
Les Bols de Jean in Paris
Since 2 weeks Jean Imbert, former winner of Topchef France, has a new lunch place right in the city center of Paris where he serves only one type of meal and that is the ‘Bol de Jean’. A ‘Bol de Jean’ is an especially developed loaf of brioche (in collaboration with Eric Kayser) that’s hollowed and the top has been cut off as a type of lid. For in the loaf you choose the dish you would like to try that day, they usually have 5 choices and they change regularly.
A must-visit lunch spot in Paris
Guess what? Delicious! The brioche is amazingly balanced, has a great structure and doen’t taste to sweet. The dish is creatively thought out and seems to match perfectly with the bread each time. On top of that it looks beautiful and it’s a new lunch concept for all Parisians. ‘Les Bols de Jean’ – I say on it’s way to become a new classic!
From the Dutch editor: In the Netherlands the Bunny Chow foodtruck serves similar bread bowls based on recipes from South Africa. Check Jean Imbert’s Instagram account for more pictures.
Birthday Card biscuits; inspiration from Biscuiteers
7-10-2015
The bakery Biscuiteers in London makes birthday card biscuits. It’s something totally different than sending a regular birthday card or a bouquet of flowers.
Besides the normal assortment that most bakers have, Biscuiteers has an extra range with tins filled with biscuits for special events and birthday cards made of cookies. Besides the standard “cookies birthday cards”, you can personalize some birthday cards as well. They can put a name or a small text on it, for example. The bakery Biscuiteers has 2 shops in London and their biscuits are shipped worldwide.
Inspiration from Biscuiteers for the hospitality industry
Recently, we wrote about some great initiatives to bring attention to someone’s birthday, like the Refinery hotel in New York, which offers guests a birthday cake from the famous Magnolia Bakery if they celebrate their birthday at the hotel. By creating something special you can attract new guests, for instance a separate and festive ‘edible’ invitation for a dinner or lunch on a guests birthday! And when you do that, make sure your audience knows what you’re doing. Earlier we wrote that the use of local bloggers and youtube-bloggers can work. Check this video of Tanya Burr, she is one of those new stars known from Youtube. She especially appeals girls of 16+. In a more than 13 minutes long video, she shows all her birthday presents with at the end a birthday card made of biscuits by Biscuiteers. Until today this video has more than 873 000 views. That beats every ad!
Ripples coffee printer
10-8-2015
With Ripples coffee printer, you can print images and text on cappuccinos or lattes.
Ripples coffee printer makes latte art
The Ripples coffee printer can personalize a cup of coffee. The printer can print messages on the coffee like for example birthday congratulations or your name.
Within 10 seconds
The machine costs about € 915, – and combines 3D printing with an ink-jet system. The ink is made of natural coffee extract and is available in so-called ‘Ripple Pods’. The images can be chosen from the online Ripple library or uploaded via the Ripple app. One print takes about 10 seconds.
Wifi
The Ripples coffee printer has a WiFi connectivity and automatically prints on coffee cups up to 17 cm high and 11 cm in diameter. Printing Latte Art was seen earlier in Taiwan, at the Lets Caffe. However, that system was based on printing with cocoa and was not available to third parties. Additionally Ripples focuses its marketing much more on printing catchy messages rather than portraits alone.
Workshop Gertjan Kiers at Julius bar & grill
30-7-2015
Julius bar & grill in Amsterdam opens its doors on Sunday afternoon 6 September for a workshop with the famous butcher Gertjan Kiers of butchery ‘Fontijn Vlees en Vleeswaren BV’. This edition Gertjan Kiers debones a pork and teaches how to get the best out of it. The learnings can be tasted right back during a four-course lunch.
Pork deboned by Gertjan Kiers at Julius bar & grill
The previous workshops on beef and lamb were sold out, this edition Gertjan Kiers will elaborate about pork. In the afternoon of 6 September, Kiers debones a complete pig and provides chapter and verse. He shows how quality meat is cut, shares how a butcher knife is handled and teaches how all parts of the pig are best cooked on the barbecue.
4-course lunch
With a four-course lunch at Julius bar & grill the guests can taste back the lessons about the pork directly. There is a special wine pairing menu for the grilled meat dishes available.
About Gertjan Kiers
Gertjan Kiers is a born butcher with a clear opinion about meat and the meat industry; “Many consumers prefer convenience over taste and some butchers and chefs attach more importance to marketing rather than the product. By broadening the general knowledge about meat, the consumer gets a better piece of meat on the plate and the butcher profession gains the respect that it deserves. ”
This unique workshop will be in Dutch and can be reserved online via www.juliusbargrill.nl/reserveren stating ‘workshop Gertjan Kiers’.
When: 6 September, 2015
Time: 13:00 to 16:00 pm
FoPo Food Powder creates powder of almost expiring fruits and vegetables
17-7-2015
Kent Ngo created FoPo Food Powder which saves almost expiring fruits and vegetables by drying & powdering them.
FoPo Food Powder is a nutritious powder
FoPo food powder is a nutritious powder made from unattractive market fruit that has been freeze-dried just before it expires, in order to help reduce food waste.
Worldwide more than 40 percent of fruits are thrown away, unattractive items which are classified as unsellable are quickly disposed of by supermarkets. All over the world we see initiatives to reduce this food waste. Like our Dutch initiative the Kromkommer and Inglorious foods in France. FoPo food powder is another ingenious solution created by students at Lund University in Sweden, who plan to freeze-dry fruit immediately before it expires. Food that otherwise would have been wasted can be used up to two weeks to two years later.
Freeze-dried almost expired fruit and vegetable waste
Freeze-drying isn’t a new technology, even in restaurant kitchens it’s used frequently to create powder. New is that FoPo aims to freeze solely products that would otherwise be discarded. The powder will be sold to consumers to be used in smoothies, soups etc. Besides that they hope that the food powders will contribute to help feed the hungry, especially in the Philippines, where the operation will be based. FoPo is crowdfunded through Kickstarter with, amongst others, a contribution by Ben & Jerry’s.
Inspiration: Chefs who are working with freeze-drying could try to use their almost spoiled fruits or vegetables and come up with ways to use this food powder, all in order to reduce food waste.
Restaurant in Leiden with homely atmosphere
15-7-2015
The historic building ‘The Volharding’ at the harbour in Leiden in The Netherlands is the home base of homely restaurant ‘Lot & de Walvis’ since a few weeks now.
Homely atmosphere at restaurant in Leiden
The fictional tour of Lot and her van that was named ‘De Walvis’ (translated as The Whale) went through Southern Europe and South Africa and recently ended at the port of Leiden. At ‘Lot & de Walvis’ American Barn wood and authentic weathered materials are used, mostly gleaned together by co-owner Rob van Wijnen himself. In the opening week, neighbours were personally invited for a drink and 80 people attended the neighbourhood drink. Friends and residents got a 25% discount to have a taste of the food in the first week.
Nightmare
The walls are plastered and transformed from sleek and straight into coarse and wavy. It was a nightmare for the plasterer who was used to deliver plain walls, but the result feels very natural. The various areas are named after the various rooms as you would expect in someone’s house. By using the same tables and style both inside and outside, the various areas of ‘Lot & de Walvis’ feel as one. On the toilet hangs a sign “The toilet design is Lot’s next project”, indicating why this space is less connected to the rest of the restaurant and still needs a make-over.
Food and drink
The extensive menu provides the opportunity to have breakfast all day. In addition, there is a cacophony of categories with headings like ‘bites’, ‘sandwiches’, ‘soups’, ‘small dishes’, ‘homemade burgers’, ‘Lot’s favourite dishes’, ‘desserts’ etc. The fans of refreshing fruit water can eat their hearts out with complimentary glasses of water from three jars with for example fresh melon water, citrus water or lemongrass water. There are beers available from the local brewery Pronck Leiden, wine lovers can definitely enjoy themselves and trendy Gin and Tonic lovers are served as well.
The Hospitality Group Leiden
Just as you would expect when visiting someone’s home, new guests are given a tour of the property, which, with its many nooks and spaces is well suited for a discovery tour. The waiters are already experienced in welcoming guests because a part of the crew worked at the party centre La France in Oegstgeest. Lot & de Walvis is part of the Hospitality Group Leiden together with Van der Werff, La France and City Hall. The board consists of the brothers Richard and Wouter van Leeuwen and Rob van Wijnen. Wouter van Leeuwen and Rob van Wijnen are responsible for the hospitality companies in Leiden. Richard van Leeuwen focuses on four Harbour Clubs based in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Scheveningen and Ibiza.
It was a warm welcome at the harbour of Leiden. Although we would have loved to get acquainted with the real Lot!
A postcard instead of a digital message
8-7-2015
In restaurant Eastwood guests can send their greetings on a provided postcard, the recipient can collect a free beer with the card.
Postcard
On every table in restaurant Eastwood guests can find a tool box with napkins, cutlery, menus and even a postcard that they can fill out and send. For people that are quickly bored, this is a much prettier solution than reaching for their instead. The receiver of the card can hand it in for a free beer at the restaurant, now that’s a great thing to find in your letterbox!
Special visit
Guests can indicate how they feel and why they feel like that on the postcard. It’s a nice addition to the gimmicks that we’ve noticed earlier during a visit to the multifunctional (hotel) restaurant. Caroline Receveur is the general manager of DoubleTree by Hilton Amsterdam Centraal Station and also responsible for the restaurant. She says: “We are looking for ways to make the experience for both the guests and the staff as special as possible. Our most recent addition is a book for kids that that describes ‘The tale of Eastwood’, written by Bavo Galama.”
For anyone that wants to be surprised at a dinner, Eastwood is definitely recommended.
