Fairytale wedding cake with projection mapping
11-6-2015
Disney is taking wedding cakes to a magical new level by creating interactive cakes with classic Disney tales. They created this great fairytale wedding cake with the help of projection mapping.
A fairytale wedding cake and they will live happily ever afer…
It’s just a simple white cake with no frills, that at the moment supreme, will light up with images projected on the cake. As you can see in the video above, the animations seem to be scrolling down the tiers adding a very Disney touch to the celebration. And who wouldn’t be living happily ever after with a wedding cake like this?
Video projections can be used to create an experience
Earlier we wrote about the artistic collective ‘Skull Mapping’ by Antoon Verbeeck and Filip Sterckx, they created a cartoon in and around your plate. By playing with movement within the projections they created optical illusions on the table. Even before that we wrote about restaurant Sublimotion in Ibiza that also uses video projection for a total experience.
Maastricht pampers guests
10-6-2015
Several visitors of Maastricht were, totally unexpected, pampered last weekend.
Welcoming Maastricht
Last weekend some lucky visitors of Maastricht were unexpectedly surprised by two waiters. They placed a bistro set on various places in the bustling city and invited some visitors to enjoy a cup of coffee with the famous pie from this region and a musical performance. Watch the video impression here.
What you want?
With the “What you want?” campaign the city demonstrates that a visit or experience of the city doesn’t only depends on the hospitable services in hotels, restaurants and retail. The atmosphere and what you can experience are also very important. From arrival to departure, from cultural visitor to shopping lover, the city has to leave a lasting impression to everyone from young to old.
You don’t visit Maastricht, you experience Maastricht
John Aarts, alderman of economy from the city: “Maastricht has no clichés. Boring is a word that doesn’t exist here. Around every corner awaits a new impression, behind every façade a surprise. Although the city is small, it’s unique character is made by the atmosphere displayed throughout the city. You don’t visit Maastricht, you experience Maastricht.”
Eastwood – assemble your own perfect dinner
9-6-2015
Last Friday Armand had dinner at Eastwood, the new pop-up restaurant from DoubleTree by Hilton which is within walking distance of the Central Station in Amsterdam. The restaurant officially opened on 22 May and the location has two functions. In the morning, it’s the breakfast restaurant of the hotel and every afternoon will be converted into a grill restaurant. The tabletops, chalk boards, paintings and lighting get another look. Even the clothing of the staff changes.
Eastwood
The restaurant is located below the hotel and has a great potential. Especially the terrace outside will attract passers-by, even though it is not on the usual route towards the center. The first announcement of the opening was focused on a ‘beer & grill’ concept, the description ‘assemble your own perfect dinner’ would fit better. It is not a restaurant for people that have difficulties with choices since there are so many personalization options possible to meet your unique taste.
Assembling the dishes
The menu includes various building blocks from which the dishes can be put together. Potatoes are served as mashed potatoes, thin fries or hand cut fries. There are several vegetables and other side dishes to choose from, like risotto. For the main course guests can choose between meat, fish or vega. For meat-lovers a great exclusive offer of proper serving up to 800 grams are available.
Choice palette for personalization
With a choice from five knives that are presented on a magnetic cutting board, even the most cynical knife critic will be pleased. Earlier we wrote about using a herb cart and the ability to cut some fresh herbs at the table yourself. Eastwood extends this service with a range of sauces in glass bottles on the cart as well.
Shared ice cream bucket with toppings
The dessert was served as a single bucket of homemade ice cream on the table accompanied with nine different toppings. It’s a feast to work on the dessert this way and share the bucket. It was difficult to keep the special toppings apart, so a stylish card with the ingredients would complete it.
Small details
At Eastwood every detail mentioned before is well thought of. Many of the trends and examples we’ve spotted and published about on this website are integrated in the restaurant. This in addition to details such as stamped paper bags for the bread, name badges for the staff, Amsterdam’s specialty beers, the convenient use of segments in the restaurant at the beginning of the evening (so it looks busy early on) and the view of the bustling city life through the glass walls. The menu is not yet available online (the website is still under construction) but the price level is very okay and it’s a convenient place if you want to adjust portions and styles easily.
Wild Dining
9-6-2015
Recently, a small collective started organizing luxury dinners at extraordinary locations. By the name of Wilddineren (‘Wild Dining’) a train compartment, the attic of the Beurs van Berlage (Amsterdam) and the red toilets of the Patronaat in Haarlem were used for surprising dinners.
Unique Wild Dining
Each dinner has a unique location, unique chefs and a unique dining concept. At the Beurs van Berlage guests were eating between the old boilers at the attic, but everyday locations like a train and a toilet can be transformed into an unusual dinner location as well. Earlier, the guys from Gastrovan, Masterchef cook Elise Calkoen, Seats2Meet, ‘Catering aan huis’ and Patronaat participated in Wild Dining.
Contrasting experiences
In addition to culinary delights, there are presentations, interesting guests, table roulette and live music during the dinners. The organization finds it addictive to surprise guests and bystanders. They want to amaze people and to confront them with activities outside their own paradigm. The organization indicates that the dinners are a reaction to the current overload of parties in old warehouses, food truck festivals and pop-up initiatives of shops and restaurants. The focus is primarily on creating contrasting experiences. With these dinners they aim to compete with theater, cinema’s and concerts, rather than to compete with regular restaurants.
There are a number of dinners scheduled, but the specific time and place will be revealed on the day itself.
Getting started in the hospitality industry
8-6-2015
SVH has developed a game for newbies in the hospitality industry.
Getting started in the hospitality industry
We cannot stress enough that the personnel in the hospitality industry in general and at the terrace in specific is very important. It can be difficult to find the time and resources to train personnel in the right way. For (potential) personnel with little or no experience in the hospitality, SVH will launch the game ‘Getting started in the hospitality industry’. With the app, newbies can learn and test their knowledge and skills. Additionally, a restaurant owner or manager can prepare them for future situations that could occur on the terrace. The app will be launched officially on 22 June, we’re looking forward to testing it.
Hospitality
Because a satisfied guest often means word-of-mouth advertising and a disgruntled guest the opposite, training is important, especially during busy periods. This app is an accessible way to teach and test basic skills. Besides training of the personnel, small welcoming gestures can make a difference as well . Read more about small welcoming gestures in the hospitality industry.
Games
The municipality of Utrecht developed a game last year to positively impact the hospitality as well.
Fooji avoids stress by ordering with emoji’s
5-6-2015
By tweeting an emoji to Fooji you can order food with a simple picture.
Ordering with emoji’s
Although the emoji ordering initially sounds like a joke, it makes the choice for a meal delivery quite easy. The stress that a regular meal order causes can be quite torturous. It takes a mouth-watering struggle browsing through the websites of local restaurants, when you just want the best and most delicious food on your plate as quickly as possible.
Updated weekly
In the Netherlands we are lucky with Thuisbezorgd.nl, that makes the choice much easier. But even on that website it can be quite difficult to select a specific dish. That where Fooji comes in with a matching $15,- dish for every food emoji, delivered by a top rated local restaurant. The restaurants that are chosen by the emoji service vary weekly.
Background and availability
Fooji was invented by Gregg Morton and Erik Zamudio and is initially only available in New York. The app stimulates local economies by including local restaurants and getting them into the mix with the big players. They also want to simplify the ordering process by ordering with emoji’s. The app doesn’t take any special dietary wishes into account.
Geef Café comes to Amsterdam with “pay as you can” restaurant
5-6-2015
Social enterprise Geef Café wants to make healthy and fair food accessible for all the people in Amsterdam.
Pay as you can
The concept is based on the ‘Pay as you can’-model where the guest decides what he or she pays. This allows people with less money to spend to visit Geef Café as well. After several successful pop-ups and an extensive trial period, it is time for the next step: a permanent location in Amsterdam. Therefore, the founders start a crowdfunding campaign and get help from Ben & Jerry’s.
Poverty
The Netherlands has many people who have little money to spend. As a result, these people often have no access to healthy food and eating out is an unaffordable luxury. Hence Judith Manshanden decided to establish the Geef Café with Laura Schön and Rogier Charles in 2013.
Trial and target price
Inspired by the pay as you can-movement in the US, the founders of the Geef Café wanted to open a restaurant in the Netherlands where everyone is welcome. The concept proved to work very well in Rotterdam and generated a lot of positive reactions. Over 80% of visitors were paying more than the target price. “Now is the time for a permanent location in Amsterdam, to inspire so many more people from The Netherlands and abroad,” said Manshanden. The Geef Café is supported by Ben & Jerry’s through the ‘Join Our Core incubator’ program.
Food Waste
Geef Café cookes with vegetables that are normally discarded. During previous pop-up dinners in Amsterdam and during the trial in Rotterdam, a total of 2.500 kilos of waste products was collected from wholesalers and used in their meals.
With the support of Triodos Foundation and the DOEN Foundation they’ve already built a budget. The last push is needed to provide a green light to the Geef Café, therefore they’ve started a crowdfunding campaign at the Doorgaan.nl platform. Donators get various rewards in exchange for a donation. For example, € 150,- gives you a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream party for 50 people.
The campaign ends on 16 July and after that the Geef Café hopes to open as quickly as possible at a permanent location. With 42 days to go they’ve acquired 55% of the targeted goal.
Niven Kunz launches NIVEN foodbox
3-6-2015
Niven Kunz from the Michelin-starred Restaurant NIVEN in Rijswijk launched his own “NIVEN foodbox. The box contains gourmet delicacies that are ‘100% Niven-worthy’ and will have a different content four times a year.
NIVEN Foodbox by Niven Kunz
The products in the box come from suppliers that Niven Kunz trusts and he uses in the kitchen on a daily basis. One of the unique selling points of the box will be the outstanding quality. The products each have their own story and are from small entrepreneurs with a traditional and authentic background. The products can vary from coffee, beer, chocolate to balsamic, chutney and salt. The contents change every season and are aimed for the home market.
Availability and tasting
One box costs €49,95 and is sold at Restaurant Niven as well as through the webshop www.nivenshop.nl. An annual subscription of € 199, – will get you a NIVEN foodbox four times a year and a three course lunch for two, including wine and water served at Restaurant NIVEN.
There will be a pretesting possibility during Taste of Amsterdam, from 4 to 7 June.
Projection at the table with mini-cook
2-6-2015
A cartoon in and around your plate. That’s one cool experience! Antoon Verbeeck and Filip Sterckx created a demo with their artistic collective ‘Skull Mapping’ where they make a mini cook run around your plate and on the table.
Projection at the table
By playing with movement within the projections, static objects seem to move. In addition they add a projection at the table and create optical illusions. One of the examples is the projection of a fork and the placement of a real knife next to the plate.
Video projection in total experience
Earlier, we wrote about the Sublimotion restaurant in Ibiza that uses video projection for a total experience during one of the most expensive dinners in the world. The initiator of that dinner experience then gave as response that “Sublimotion is the cheapest life changing experience you can have”, costing ‘only’ € 1500, -. The mini cook is an example of how you can apply it on a smaller scale yourself.
Siseng, the Asian Food Bar
27-5-2015
Siseng, the Asian Food Bar at the Quai de Jemmapes in Paris opened in December 2014. The food bar adds the Bao Burger to the thriving food scene of the Canal St.-Martin.
Siseng, worth the visit and the wait
The Asian Food Bar rapidly became popular amongst the Parisians! Last weekend there was a long line outside the small, packed but trendy and casual chic bar. Once inside you share a table with others in a tastefully decorated small bar with light bulbs, bare brick walls, dark table tops and bar stools. Very nice but busy servants who are having trouble delivering the food to the guests! And they make delicious cocktails with Asian ingredients like wasabi, ginger and sake. Combine a cocktail, glass of sake, or an Asahi beer with their great spring rolls or croquettes all served with an Asian sauce.
Tip to eat in Paris when you stroll down the canal Saint Martin
You don’t have to stroll down the canal, you can also have a relaxing afternoon with friends there like a lot of Parisians do, but anyway the signature burgers at Siseng are a great tip! The burgers are served in a bao, a steamed Chinese bun made out of rice flour. The bao burger 5 spices contains a beef patty (grilled medium rare, the French way), marinated in the 5 spices and comes with onion tempura, onion confit, rocket leaf and a caramelized tamarind sauce. But you can also choose the chicken burger Kaï with a piece of chicken, breaded in a Japanese style with coleslaw ‘maison’, fresh basil, confit de red peppers and a basil sauce with coconut milk. We also loved the tempura of vegetables and the sweet potato fries, which are really rare in Paris. The menu has been illustrated by Soba Paris.
Inspiration for those seeking for a new restaurant, we think that a small Asian Food Bar like Siseng would do great in Amsterdam or any place in the Netherlands as well!
