Doritos Crunchy Crust Pizza
9-12-2014
Pizza Hut Launches Doritos Crunchy Crust Pizza In Australia.
A lot of pizza inspiration
This Doritos Crunchy Crust Pizza is a great addition to our article: 10 times pizza inspiration and inspiration for Dutch pizza makers. On the other hand the pizza makers from Australia could be inspired by the pizza from Domino’s Pizza with sausage in the crust and with sauerkraut. Recently, we also spotted a pizza with 99 cheeses. The inspiration for this pizza comes from the ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ movie where they try to seduce a Ninja Turtle with a fictional pizza with 99 cheeses, although described in the movie as a ‘culinary impossibility’. World champion pizza maker, Johnny di Francesco from Melbourne proved them wrong and made one.
Doritos Crunchy Crust Pizza
The pizza crust is made of melted mozzarella cheese layered with smashed Doritos and sprinkled with cheddar cheese. So kind of like a pizza meets nachos! Another example of combining everyone’s favorite fastfood items! Pizza hut serves this crunch at different pizza’s. Would you like to taste a Doritos crunchy crust pizza? Or should we start a social media campaign to bring this crust to the rest of the world?
The Frozen Butcher
4-12-2014
Last weekend we’ve tasted two new hamburgers from The Frozen Butcher, the Iberico Burger and the Angus certified Burger. We really loved their taste! On their website we learned that The Frozen Butcher has a whole range of burgers aside from the Iberico and Angus burgers; a Wagyu burger, a US beef burger, a lamb burger and an organic burger.
Frozen in time… Fresh on your plate
The burgers are immediately frozen after production by using special freezers to guarantee the true butcher’s quality. This technology enables them to produce without artificial preservatives, colouring agents or other additives.
SIAL Innovation Award 2014
At SIAL Innovation 2014 the Frozen Butcher won the award in the category Meat Products. The jury, made up of independent experts, selected the concept as winner because of the premium meat quality, the clean design of the packaging and the valorization of the country of origin.
Serve your guest a burger to their liking
Great way to use these burgers in a burgerbar; your guests can pick their own meat, each with another taste, another origin and another story! Give your guests a choice in buns and ingredients and let them design their favorite burger at your restaurant. ^Marjolein
Flying robotic waiters
2-12-2014
By end-2015 autonomous flying robotic waiters will be deployed at 5 outlets of the Timbre Group in Singapore. Infinium Robotics Pte Ltd chief executive officer Woon Junyang signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Edward Chia, managing director of Timbre Group, on 31 October this year.
Prototype
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong observed an autonomous flying robotic waiter serving food during a demonstration at Singapore’s National Productivity Month 2014 Launch Event at Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre.
Seeking productivity-related government grants
The costs are high but the flying robotic waiters could be a solution for the labour-crunch in Singapore and the robotic waiters do allow human waiters to focus on higher-value tasks such as explaining the menu, upselling and getting feedback from customers. At this moment both Infinium Robotics and the Timbre Group are seeking productivity-related government grants to help offset deployment costs.
The flying robotic waiters at work
Do you want to know more about these robots? CNBC did an interview with the owner of Infinium-Serve and had a demonstration in the studio.
Free pizza slide with A-grades
1-12-2014
The Greenville House of Pizza in New Hampshire is offering its young customers the chance to earn free slices with homework and good grades. The strangest marketing actions are organized to inspire young people to earn a free meal at a fast food restaurant. Last year for example, we read in an article that girls could get a free slice of pizza if they showed their “boobs” in a Pizza Place in Illinois. (Not) a good example of trying to get more guests through community involvement. 
Stimulate students with pizza slices
The owner of the Greenville House of Pizza, a 28-year war veteran helps young people with their homework and treats free pizza slices if they get an ‘A’. In addition, students can do their homework in his “Study Hall Special“ until five o’clock in the afternoon and in the meantime enjoy a slice of pizza for only 35 dollar cents. The owner even helps with the homework, if he understands the subject!
Social commitment
My youngest daughter is currently in high school and sometimes I hear that she didn’t consume her lunch but ordered a pizza with friends instead. Knowing this makes the action above much more sympathetic and that occasional pizza slice is eaten anyway! ^Marjolein
Tribute to Alain Passard
28-11-2014
In our humble opinion a chef can’t get a better tribute! Eight chefs who have ever worked for and are inspired by Alain Passard, have jointly catered a dinner in honor of his cooking style. Initiated by Le Fooding and sponsored by San Pellegrino. ‘Alain Passard et les Arpégiens’; Björn Frantzén, Sven Chartier, Mauro Calagreco, David Toutain, Tatiana Levha, Bertrenad Grébaut, Marc Cordonnier and Ludo Lefebvre.
Reunion: Chefs tell about Alain Passard’s cooking style
Vegetables, respect for the product, watching and listening to the product, the product of this moment has the most flavor, be careful with heat and a fine balance between fat and acid. A great tribute to Alain Passard.
Great tribute
Great idea to organize a similar tribute to a Dutch chef around the presentation of a magazine or book, like the ‘Lekker’, the GaultMillau (from the Netherlands), ‘Grootspraak’ or around a special edition of Delicious.
A Christmas wreath as dessert for the whole table
24-11-2014
Desserts shared by the whole table, like a Christmas wreath from meringue, is one of the fine examples you can come up with for Christmas. If you have great examples you’re willing to share, we love to mention it as inspiration.
On a regular basis we hear that the ideas we show at our website are not in line with the daily reality of the restaurant or hotel entrepreneur. There is too little time to bring ideas, with your own twist, in practice. Earlier this year we have written about the trend in Bistros to serve desserts for the whole table. Like a giant profiterole or chocolate balls which are broken at the table. It provides a lot of commotion at the table and is very easy to adapt to your own capabilitees!
Inspiration from colleagues and Pinterest
Chefs with Michelin stars are sharing inspiration, Grant Achatz (among others from Restaurant Alinea in Chicago) for example inspires us regularly with video’s like this one about his menu with as dessert the chocolate ball. Inspiration other chefs can use for their own dishes. Pinterest can be another source of inspiration.
A Christmas wreath as dessert
Wherever you look for inspiration, sharing a dessert with the whole table is special and cozy in the Holiday season. Last month I made a huge long profiterole, filled with lemon curd and sour cream and fresh fruit for a party. Profiteroles can be made in all kind of shapes, so it’s easy to adapt it to Christmas. Last weekend, I made a Christmas wreath from meringue with raspberry sauce, fresh red fruit and some holly leaves as decoration. Easy and fun to eat! ^ Marjolein
Signature cheeses; chef Edwin Kats makes Noble cheese
21-11-2014
Create your own cheese. Mirjam van Hest offers chefs and businesses this opportunity. Interested? Feel free to contact her. Last month we wrote an article about the company of Mirjam van Hest, Mir’s Heart & Soul, and about the Amstel Cheese she designed with Chef Rogér Rassin (chef at the InterContinental Amstel Hotel and its restaurant La Rive). In this article you can read about how Mirjam got the idea for her business, how the Amstel Cheese is co-created and the flavour notes of the cheese.
Noble cheese
Recently, she made a cheese with Edwin Kats, chef-owner of restaurant Noble in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands. Mirjam uses Dutch milk from cows which are grass-fed in the area between Heusden and Altena as the base for her artisan, extra creamy farm cheese.
Edwin Kats about his Noble cheese
“After I had literally earned my Michelin stars as chef in the Netherlands, I wanted to achieve more and look further. That is why I worked for more than four years as Executive Chef in Lebanon and China. I’ve seen and learned a lot. My new challenge is to make as many people possible, enjoy that knowledge. Making this cheese in cooperation with Mirjam van Hest is one of the ways to show my experiences. I’ve added a lot of herbs and spices from my voyages. The Noble cheese ensures a unique taste experience. The Noble cheeses is a delicious dessert but is a surprising appetizer as well and I have used the cheese in a couple of wonderful recipes.”
The Dutch recipes Edwin Kats created with his Noble Cheese are here! See here where you can buy the cheese.
A new Dutch delicacy; the ‘speculaas kroket’
20-11-2014
For all those who visited the Netherlands and did taste one of our most famous delicacies, the kroket, Febo created a special ‘kroket’ for the festivities around ‘Sinterklaas’. A kroket with a spiced biscuits filling. Their video explains it all! If you check #speculaaskroket on Twitter you will a lot of reviews on the taste.
A magnifying spoon
20-11-2014
Designer Ernesto D. Morales has designed a spoon made out of magnifying glass as part of a series of absurd products for his fictional company Object Solutions. The spoon is intended to enable the user to inspect each area of a meal prior to consumption to ensure the absence of glass, hair, bugs or other contaminants. The food can be eaten using the same implement. Restaurant owners worldwide shouldn’t be surprised if their guests start scanning their dishes before they start eating with this magnifying spoon, if the spoon goes into production! At this moment the only possibility is to subscribe for a limited edition at his webshop.
Ernesto D. Morales about the magnifying spoon: ““You may be the victim of needless contamination, but you’ll be damned if you’re ever caught eating it.”
Coffee and Cake at the high level of Michelin
18-11-2014
Chefs who have been awarded with multiple Michelin stars often use their name to open ‘gastro bistro’-like restaurants. Some chefs connect their name to a bakery. For example this last year, some Fika’s (a rendezvous for coffee and pastry) opened in Stockholm. This summer I even stood in line at the Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller (two restaurants with three Michelin stars) in Yountville, California. Meanwhile, the Thomas Keller group already has five branches of the Bouchon Bakery, one with a café.
High level of Michelin at fika coffee shops
Recently I read an article in The Guardian by The Foodie Traveller who writes about the development of ‘Fika Bakeries’ in Stockholm. Some famous chefs with Michelin stars did open a bakery, where they use their talents to lift the original Fika coffee shops to a higher level in Stockholm.
The Green Rabbit bakery
The Green Rabbit bakery opened in May 2014 and is owned by Mathias Dahlgren (two Michelin stars with his restaurant Mathias Dahlgren at the Grand hotel) and his executive chef Martin Berg in Vasastan, Stockholm. They seem to include delicate blueberries and raspberries muffins in their Fika.
Wienercaféet, Lindeberg Bakery and Patisserie and Culinary Center K-märkt K-Mart
Wienercaféet is also an example of a Fika Coffeeshop. Wienercaféet opened last year by Daniel Lindeberg, who first worked with Björn Frantzén (Restaurant Frantzén, number 23 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants Pelligrino). Daniel Lindeberg left Wienercaféet already to open Lindeberg Bakery and Patisserie in another part of Stockholm. In the culinary center K-märkt Daniel Roos (world champion pastry chef in 2012) opened a bakery, with chef Johan Gottberg and sommelier Jens Dolk.
Which Dutch chef follows these examples?
Just a bakery where we can buy great sweet and savory pastries, fruit salads, cakes and specialties of the chef, possibly with a coffee-to-go. In the neighborhood of Leiden please. I’m in Stockholm late December and will take a look at the concepts and would love share my experience with chefs who do have plans in this direction! ^ Marjolein van Spronsen
