Bouzy, Wine & Food at the Denneweg Hague
25-9-2015
Bouzy, Wine & Food opened at the Denneweg in The Hague. The wine & bites bar was founded by Martijn Verbruggen and Stefan Verleer and is a place where wine lovers will feel at home.
Bouzy
Co-owner Martijn Verbruggen: “Bouzy is an accessible place with a tough but warm vintage look and natural light from the many windows. The wines are the heart of Bouzy, we have over 100 wines, including 25 open wines of which several champagnes. We serve wines that we get from wine specialist suppliers who share their gems for us. In addition, we import champagnes from small producers ourselves via our company G-Bubbles.”
The name Bouzy
“Bouzy is named after the French Grand Cru area ‘Bouzy’, which is known as one of the best terroirs of Champagne. Next to the wines Martijn and Stefan serve snacks and bistro-style dishes like bruschetta, flammkuchen, bites of fish and meat, charcuterie, salads, cheese, desserts and coq au vin.”
Wine events
Bouzy will be a place where special wine events take place. Recently Lucas Payà was at the restaurant to present the new innovative wine system Coravin of catering professionals. He was sommelier at the former Spanish three-star restaurant elBulli for five years.
About Martijn Verbruggen and Stefan Verleer
Martijn Verbruggen (34) worked as a master-sommelier in (star) restaurants as Savelberg, Seinpost and Catch by Simonis. Stefan Verleer (34) worked as a manager and maître-sommelier at restaurants Zoute Zoen and South of Houston.
Opening hours
Bouzy, Wine & Food is open from Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00 to 23:00 o’clock. Next to the regular opening days there will be regularly activities on Sundays.
KOST event to promote a healthy Dutch cuisine
18-9-2015
KOST is an event about the Dutch food culture for everyone who cares about our daily foods. The first edition will take place on 21 September.
Dutch cuisine
Chefs, producers, scientists, farmers and policymakers explore the possibilities to put the Dutch food culture and Dutch cuisine firmly on the map and make it healthier. They will do that together with speakers like Kobe Desramaults, Robert Kranenborg, Julian Baggini, Linda Roodenburg and Martin Caraher during the KOST event on 21 September at the Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam.
Platform ‘Van Moeder Natuur’
KOST is an initiative by the ‘Van Moeder Natuur’ platform (freely translated as the ‘Mother nature platform’). The platform focuses on a healthy Dutch food culture. This includes enjoying healthy, delicious and natural products packed with nutrients. Next to that, it means making time for food again by home cooking and enjoying meals together.
Day program
During the day program interesting topics are addressed. The program is compiled by various well know curators from the Dutch food culture like Mac van Dinther, Joris Bijdendijk, Joris Lohman, Samuel Levie and Helen Kranstauber).
Kostelijk dinner
In the evening there is a Kostelijk dinner (translated: Delicious dinner). The chefs responsible for the dinner are Joris Bijdendijk (RIJKS®), Albert Kooy (Dutch Cuisine), Luc Kusters (Bolenius), Benny Blisto (BAK), Sander Louwerens (Citroen), Willem Schaafsma (Eindeloos), Jonathan Karpathios (Vork en Mes), Geert Burema (Merkelbach), Nel Schellekens (de Gulle Waard), Dick Soek (Piloersemaborg) Eef Bolado (As) and René van der Veer (De Veldkeuken). Drinks are arranged by Niek Beute (De Klepel) and Ard Muntjewerf (The Lobby).
A delicious program. Unfortunately, it’s merely in Dutch and both the day program as well as the dinner are completely sold out.
Grocery store Christmas Festival in Utrecht by Albert Heijn
16-9-2015
The grocery store chain ‘Albert Heijn’ organizes a Christmas festival by the name of its instore magazine.
Allerhande Christmas Festival
Albert Heijn is organizing a major food event in Utrecht on 11th, 12th and 13th of December. The food festival is called ‘Allerhande Kerstfestival’ and is located at the Railway Museum in Utrecht. The event is scaled to 40,000 visitors and is a logical continuation of the recent food festivals popping up all over the country.
Workshops and inspiration
Visitors can inspire themselves by tasting food and drinks and get help from experts during various cooking workshops. Saskia Egas Reparaz, director of marketing & format of Albert Heijn explains the choice of the food festival: “Christmas is an old festival where every family has its own traditions and customs. We celebrate Christmas for 128 years already and help our customers every year again with new ideas, inspiration and lots of special Christmas products. This year, we want to offer our customers something extra with the ‘Allerhande Kerstfestival’. It’s the tastiest inspirational event for the holidays. In preparation for Christmas, anyone can gain additional ideas to create his or her own special Christmas.”
From drinks to dessert
With the Allerhande Christmas Festival, visitors of all ages can get in the mood for Christmas and inspire themselves for the Christmas dinner. They can literally walk through the menu from starter to dessert and taste, participate in workshops, watch live cooking sessions by renowned chefs and get tips from experts.
Christmas Shop
Everything at the festival can be bought at the special Christmas store or can be delivered home or pre-ordered at Albert Heijn grocery stores. Besides inspiration, the event is meant for entertainment and fun. The Winter Wonderland stage includes a ‘wish tree’, a winter barbecue and market stalls. Furthermore there is live music, an ice rink and mulled wine.
Ticket Sales
The tickets are for sale from 5 October and cost ten euros per person. Registration for the cooking workshops is done online via allerhandekerstfestival.nl.
Amazon free take-out delivery
15-9-2015
Amazon starts with one hour free take-out delivery for premium members in Seattle.
Free take-out delivery
Online retailer Amazon.com Inc. has begun a free take-out delivery service. Amazon Prime members get free delivery on their take-out orders from dozens of outlets and receive them within the hour. The Amazon Prime service costs $ 99 per year.
Delivery of beer, wine and spirits
A few weeks ago Amazon already announced that they began with one-hour delivery of beer, wine and spirits in Seattle. The city is the only place in America where customers can order beer and spirits via fast mail-order. In the rest of the country the delivery is limited to wine. Amazon offers a fast delivery service for alcohol in London already.
Growth of the delivery market
With the rapid deliveries Amazon wants to compete with restaurant delivery parties like GrubHub. The American GrubHub is comparable to the Dutch ‘Thuisbezorgd.nl’. The company delivers take-out meals from 30,000 local restaurants and has customers in 800 American cities. Americans spend an estimated 70 billion dollar on takeaway and delivery meals in 2013. With such numbers offering a one hour delivery service for take-out pays off. In March 2015, total sales in restaurants and bars was higher than the grocery market (!) for the first time. With the expansion of the delivery market, restaurants can increase sales at peak times, without adding extra seats.
Slow Cow relaxation drink
11-9-2015
The Slow Cow relaxation drink clears the mind.
Slow Cow was developed by three hyperactive stressful entrepreneurs. They sought, and found, an alternative to energy drinks. A drink to help relax, focus and concentrate. Together with various partners and investors they launched Slow Cow in Canada in 2008.
Slow Cow ingredients and effect
Slow Cow promotes the feeling of natural tranquillity. The drink does not cause sleepiness or fatigue and isn’t the opposite of an energy drink at all. Slow Cow was developed in Quebec, Canada. The drink contains almost no calories, no caffeine, no sugar and no preservatives. It does contain extracts of green tea, valerian, chamomile, passionflower, lime blossom, lemon grass, potassium and sodium.
Alternative
The creator present the soda as an alternative to every day’s hectic pace, the adrenaline and race against the clock. In terms of taste it could have been a bit less sweet in our opinion. That will probably be due to our limited energy drink consumption normally. It is certainly an interesting alternative to high school students who are regularly hyper on the caffeine and sugar bombs that they consume in large amounts.
Mascot
Slow Cow mascot Harry plays a leading role in the promotional campaign. His mission is to help the Dutch people to relax in their increasingly stressful daily life. Through his discoveries, he reminds us constantly about his message “It is important and urgent to adopt a cool lifestyle.” Harry is the champion of ‘cool’ and relax. He embodies calmness in all situations.
Bulletproof coffee and FATwater
1-9-2015
Bulletproof Coffee is a branded coffee drink consisting of “Upgraded” black coffee blended with grass-fed butter and “Brain Octane oil” (coconut oil). The drink is supposed to boost cognitive performance and has opened a stand-alone bulletproof café in Los Angeles last year. FATwater also contains coconut oil extracts and water, a new product from the same Bulletproof company.
Bulletproof coffee
We already spotted the drink while writing an article back in September 2014 about the pop-up coffeebar in the black box in Ghent (Belgium). The pop-up coffeebar was part of CrossFit Ghent. The original recipe of Dave Asprey is created in 2009 and is originally based on the Yak-butter tea from Tibet. The coffee consists of a special coffee, butter from grass fed cows and a special kind of coconut oil. Just blend these 3 elements and you’ll have your Bulletproof coffee.
Dave Asprey now sells his own ‘Upgraded’ black coffee and the ‘Brain Octane Oil’ (an 8-carbon fraction of medium-chain triglyceride oil). Dave Asprey even claims that the drink will have you lose weight. The drink is very popular amongst sportspeople and entrepreneurs. Although we have read a couple of reviews which say that there is no scientific base for the claims and some people have been drinking so many Bulletproof coffees that their cholesterol level increased! Last year the Bulletproof coffee got a lot attention on shows like Good Morning America and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, like the above video shows. Here a link to another video showing Dave Asprey making a Bulletproof coffee.
FATwater
At the website of PSFK we read that from the makers of Bulletproof coffee also comes FATwater. Another drink laced with coconut oil extracts and a punch of energy. The statement of Bulletproof Coffee about their new product: “Experience clean-burning fuel from fat instead of sugar. Using patented nano-fusion™ technology, FATwater concentrate is an emulsion of Bulletproof® XCT™ Oil and purified water, ready to be stirred into water or beverage of your choice.”
Inspiration
When and where can we drink Bulletproof Coffee and FATwater in Europe? Wouldn’t it be great to be the coffee company that introduces these drinks in Europe? Would you try one?
Cotton candy cocktails
25-8-2015
Cotton candy cocktails are hip and specific on Pinterest and similar websites you will find many varieties!
Recipes for cotton candy cocktails
We haven’t figured out what to think about it, but the effect is great and recipes can be found all over the internet …. The cotton candy cocktail in a lot of variations. The idea is that you serve a glass filled with cotton candy and pour over the liquid. The cotton candy melts before your eyes, and give the cocktail an extra sweet and surprising element. We have seen simple recipes with cotton candy in which you pour over bubbles but also the recipe on Tablespoon where the candy is covered with Marshmallow Vodka and Perrier water. We even saw ‘cotton candy coffee’ pictures on Pinterest but we decided that it makes our coffee too sweet….
Also nice alcohol-free
Also very nice to serve as a non-alcoholic cocktail. It’s also a real treat at children’s parties! Most recipes for alcohol-free cocktails are made with 7-up but sparkling water is another possibility.
We have pinned some photos on our board Food & Beverage on Pinterest. From cute to professional.
#teainspired: the Dilmah Real High Tea Global Challenge
17-8-2015
The Sri Lankan tea brand Dilmah organizes the Real High Tea Challenge since 2007. This challenge is a contemporary approach of – and a quest for – the ultimate high tea.
#teainspired By Dilmah
The tea brand Dilmah, whose name is composed of the names of the two sons (Dilhan and Malik) of the owner Merrill J. Fernando, is known in almost 100 countries around the world for its quality. The tea industry has been revived by companies like Dilmah, through innovation, quality and freshness. Earlier we wrote about initiatives of this progressive tea brand which always seems to strike the right tone and push the right buttons to reach their targeted audience. Late 2014 they organized the first School of Tea in the Netherlands for example.
The Global Real High Tea Challenge in Sri Lanka
In recent years the Dilmah Real High Tea Challenge was organized in fourteen different countries. The culinary top of those countries were challenged to explore, understand and apply the product tea and its gastronomic options. They were challenged to use the ingredient tea (Tea Inspired Cuisine) and match it with food (Tea Pairing). The composed dishes were combined with pure tea, cocktails and tea mocktails (Tea Mixology). The winners of the local Real High Tea Challenge have qualified for the final, that took place last month in Sri Lanka.
The global High Tea Challenge is won by…
The team from the Museum Art Hotel of New Zealand won this culinary challenge with the innovative high tea theme: ‘The Meeting of the Senses.’ A high tea with integrated taste, smell, touch and sound. The Dutch Restaurant Vermeer also managed to do well, they won a gold medal and received an award for the most ‘tea inspired dish’.
The Dutch Challenge
In 2013 Dilmah Netherlands organized the first edition. This was won by the team of the InterContinental Amstel Hotel Amsterdam. The second Dutch edition in 2014 of the Real High Tea Challenge was won by Restaurant Vermeer in Amsterdam. Both teams represented the Netherlands at the international competition.
Coravin – drinking wine without opening the bottle
11-8-2015
10-8-2015 – Last Saturday our colleague Bram Kosterink attended a demonstration of the Coravin. Coravin is an innovation of Greg Lambrecht: “My dream was to magically pour wine from bottles without ever pulling the cork. The remaining wine could then go back in my cellar, so that I could enjoy it again, whenever I desired.”
Drinking wine without opening the bottle
Coravin is a way of opening a bottle of wine without having to remove the cork. Never before it was possible to pour a glass of wine without opening the bottle. Coravin makes this possible. Even the capsule doesn’t have to be removed. The wine glass via a stainless steel needle with a teflon coating, the remaining wine is pressured with the noble argon gas to prevent oxidation. The natural evolution of the wine in the unopened bottle will not be affected because the cork closes after the needle has been removed.
Natural cork
Coravin can only be used on bottles with natural cork. “Right now our focus is on targeting and market this system in Europe. After that we will start thinking about expanding our product portfolio, including to be able to use a similar system on wine bottles with a screw cap.” said Robert van Dijk (Marketing Communication Director at Coravin Europe BV). Coravin has different needles which makes it possible to positively influence the speed of the pouring, they even developed a ‘faster pour needle’ especially for the hospitality industry.
The best wines by the glass
The system is already for sale in many parts of the world. In Europe, the system is widely used in places like London and Paris. Some restaurants even have a separate section called ‘Coravin wines by the glass’ on their wine list. The Coravin section offers the best bottles of wine which are available by the glass. One of the best examples we encountered is the wine list at The Ritz in London. Here you can drink a glass of Burgundy, Le Montrachet from 2009 for ‘only’ £ 130, =. For a tasting glass of one of the most expensive wines in the world you can go to the wine bar Ô Chateau in Paris, they even pour the Chateau Pétrus per glass.
The financial impact
The Coravin will cost you € 299, =. For this amount you will receive a Coravin, two capsules filled with the argon gas, a display for the Coravin and a cover for a wine bottle (suitable for a blind wine tasting). The argon gas capsules are sold separately for € 19,95 per two pieces. They also sell a variety of needles besides the standard needle, like a the ‘vintage needle’ for wines with old corks and the ‘faster poor needle’ capable of rapidly pouring the wine, one needle is sold for € 29,95.
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.
