Michelin-starred Swedish chef Niklas Ekstedt opens restaurant ‘Ekstedt at The Yard’ in London
30-8-2021
Next month, multi award-winning Michelin-starred chef Niklas Ekstedt will open his first restaurant outside of Stockholm, launching Ekstedt at The Yard, part of Great Scotland Yard hotel in Westminster. Set within the historic 5* hotel which was once the site of the Metropolitan police, the hotel’s new flagship restaurant will open on 17th September, bringing Niklas’ signature style of wood fired ‘old Nordic’ cooking to the UK for the very first time.
Nordic cuisine a little closer to home, we’re kind of jealous of those foodies living in London! We love the idea of the chef combining his Nordic cuisine with seasonal British products. The Great Scotland Yard Hotel opened last year with a ‘grand unlocking’.
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Trends we spotted | Week 34
26-8-2021
At horecatrends.com or hospitalitytrends.eu we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the other trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.
WIth this week links to articles about Restaurant Esmé in Chicago, founded by Jenner Tomasko (executive chef at Grand Achatz) who focuses on art and community with even a à la carte menu for ‘walk-ins’. Sounds like Chicago has a new culinary hotspot.
Starbucks opened their 10th ‘farmer support’ centre in Varginha, Brasil with the purpose to offer valuable resources to local coffee communities.
UPSIDE Foods partners with three Michelin star chef Dominique Crenn. Crenn will develop recipes and give culinary advise and if allowed she will use the lab-grown chicken in her restaurant. This is the first collaboration in the cultivated meat industry with a three star Michelin chef.
De Koningshoeven brewery is the first in the world to market a completely alcohol-free Trappist beer: La Trappe Nillis (0.0%). And McDonald’s published their Purpose and Impact Report of 2020-2021 with four impact points: Jobs, Inclusion and Empowerment, the Plant, Food Quality & Sourcing and Community Connection.
Duke’s Mayonaise started collaborating with Champion Brewing Company to produce the perfect beer that fits with a BLT sandwich: Family Recipe (5,1% ABV, 27 IBU). Kind of ‘Mayo Beer’. The new ‘food shopping’-app, Grownby, connects farmers with buyers. Wouldn’t it be great to have such an app as a cook? And getting messages like the strawberries are now ‘ready to eat’!
CandyCan gummy bears are gluten-free, plant-based, low-sugar, low carb and contain vitamins. Is it an idea to lay a bag of Gummy bears on top of a pillow for children visiting your hotel? Or to put a bag in a ‘Happy-Meal’ kind of box?
Oreo opened their first café in New Jersey. The café consists of a shop offering Oreo cookies and other Oreo treats, and fast-service where you can order Oreo treats. And in New York another sweet hybride is gaining popularity: the Croffle. This is a soft, buttery and layered croissant toasted in a waffle iron and sprinkled with different toppings.
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A craft beer hotel in Manchester | The DogHouse Hotel by BrewDog
24-8-2021
Independent craft brewer, BrewDog, has recently opened its hop-ly anticipated immersive, craft beer hotel: DogHouse Manchester. Located in the city centre, just five minutes from the Northern Quarter, beer fans can enjoy 18 rooms of bespoke BrewDog touches, such as in-shower beer fridges, draught beer taps and fully-loaded mini-bar, plus an epic taproom with 30 taps of craft beer and a rooftop bar perfect for stargazing.
We love some of the features at the DogHouse hotel, like the free beer for reusing your room towels; the 24-hour hotdogs, orderable via WhatsApp and of course the lobby bartender to check-in each guest with a complimentary beer. Or the canine package for the more than welcome four- legged friends, we wonder if this includes a beer for the dog as well? Or check out the beer shower!
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Trends we spotted | Week 33
20-8-2021
At horecatrends.com or hospitalitytrends.eu we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the other trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.
With this week links to articles about the most spectacular off-menu dish at the rule-breaking Japanese restaurant Shuko in New York and to the ‘Cuisine Solaire’ by restaurant Le Présage in Marseille. It’s Europe’s first solar-powered restaurant.
In London you can enjoy cocktails and high tea’s at a disused train station, check out the great 1940s themed high tea video at Cahoots Underground in the article. Also opened in London: a new immersive cocktail experience, Mr. Tipsy’s Down The Hatch! With a lot of OTT-ness!
French food tech start-up Gourmey is working on lab-grown foie gras that could allow restaurants to continue to serve the highly-prized delicacy in an ethical way. Great news for foie gras lovers, it looks like it and the chef who tried it says it also tasted the same.
The new pizzeria Pazzi in Paris is staffed entirely by robots, from order-taking to prepping the dough to putting the pizzas in boxes. Check out the video, as guests you can follow your pizza being made!
We love the idea behind the ‘random acts of kindness’, as does Domino’s Pizza in the USA, they started their ‘Surprise Frees’ Promotion. Until November 21, 2021, they are surprising randomly selected fans with free menu items.
And a link to an article about the new ‘Taco Bell Defy’. The 3,000 square-foot restaurant concept located in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, utilizes a two-story model for “the frictionless future of Taco Bell”.
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Late Rooms | Willy Wonka-inspired hotel room at the Chocolate Box Hotel
16-8-2021
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, a holiday booking site has paired up with one of its hotel partners to create a Willy Wonka-inspired stay. Guests can expect the full experience in the novelty room at the chocolate-themed hotel, including lickable wallpaper, unlimited in-room treats including a chocolate fountain and if they wish, a chocolate bath.
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Trends we spotted | Week 32
12-8-2021
At horecatrends.com or hospitalitytrends.eu we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the other trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.
With this week links to articles about the announcement that a visit to an indoor restaurant, gym or theater in New York will only be allowed for those vaccinated as of August 16. All in a dramatic step to fight rising Covid-19 cases.
Alain Ducasse and Albert Adrià to open an 100-day trial restaurant in Paris and more and more luxury brands are accepting cryptocurrency. The Dolder Grand hotel in Switzerland and BitLux private jets have teamed up for the world’s first crypto-based luxury travel partnership.
Panera Bread, Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros. Bagels have teamed up to create Panera Brand, boasting nearly 4,000 locations and 110,000 employees across 10 countries. All three brands are owned by Luxembourg based JAB Holding Co.
Interesting development: startup Cecilia, the interactive bartender for airports, VIP lounges, stadiums and venues or even hotels. Cecilia mixes 120 cocktails per hour! And an article about 3 robots that can tap beer: Ebar, Revolmatic and Macco Robotics. In the article a video from Ebar.
The Raffles Hotels & Resorts continues global expansion with new openings in 2021 and beyond. With this year their second hotel in Dubai, Raffles The Palm. Check out the other openings in the article.
IKEA in the USA is going to sell candles that smell like Swedish meatballs and another great example of how to use TikTok. The chef of the Italian Embassy in London, Danilo Cortellini spotted pasta chips and decided to upgrade the recipe!
Klimato from Sweden lets restaurants calculate their CO2 emissions per dish, interesting development! And we spotted shampoo bars, a completely plastic-free alternative in bars. A distinctive, sustainable alternative for your amenities!
For fans of the series La Casa de Papel, Netflix and Fever created the immersive experience that is located in the French ‘La Monnaie de Paris’, the institute of the French currency.
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S.Pellegrino® Destination Dining | A culinary series exchanging iconic dishes between world-famous restaurants
12-8-2021
S.Pellegrino® Sparkling Natural Mineral Water’s Destination Dining program returns this fall with an expanded series to connect more communities through culinary cultural immersion, one dish at a time. S.Pellegrino has partnered with restaurants across the U.S. and Latin America — in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and New York, and internationally in Argentina, Brazil, Panama and Peru — to exchange their most iconic dishes, bringing a taste of a new community to food lovers.
It remains a nice idea to swap places for a short period of time, as has been happening for years at the Grand Gelinaz, or to work together in a different way. The nice thing about S. Pellegrino® Destination Dining is that it fits in perfectly within this period, the chefs create each other’s dishes. I imagine that you could taste vegetable dishes from Alain Passard at a restaurant of a chef in the Netherlands. Many foodies must be enthusiastic about that, right? You can also do this locally like the 010/020 dinners, get your local press involved and create a buzz. ^Marjolein
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HIM+ puts the Dutch region ‘Achterhoek’ on the map with hospitality concepts with a story
9-8-2021
Disclaimer this article is more interesting for Dutchies.
Dutch hospitality, quality and accessibility from the region Achterhoek for a large audience. That is what the Horeca Inspiratie Maatschappij (HIM+) stands for, the parent organization of various food and hotel concepts in the region Achterhoek. The group gives national monuments from the region a new, connecting function as a meeting place where contemporary enjoyment is the key issue. The group recently expanded with the acquisition of Hotel de Wereld (Hotel The World) and the opening of the brand new boutique hotel Villa Wanrooy. In addition, HIM+ is fully committed to sustainable and circular catering concepts, of which the Green Michelin star obtained in March 2021 at restaurant Lokaal in Villa Ruimzicht is a direct result.
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Trends we spotted | Week 31
6-8-2021
At horecatrends.com or hospitalitytrends.eu we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the other trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.
With this week links to articles about hotel Paradiso, the new cinema hotel in Paris. Each room is a cinema with screens and 10,000 movie titles. We love to order room service here, dialing 007 of course. And AI software company Acelerate provides next level of service for restaurants and ghost kitchens.
Leap™ is created by Beyond Leather based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Their vegan leather would be a great product to create aprons from to use in a sustainable restaurant! MeaTech, a technology company specialized in cultured meat, announced the launch of cultivated pork development.
Our Dutch painter Van Gogh is very popular digitally at the moment, with the ‘Beyond Van Gogh’ show in Anaheim, the ‘Immersive Van Gogh’ in Hollywood and the same immersive in London as well.
Los Angeles brunch dons Eggslut are set to launch a brand new restaurant in Shoreditch this summer and what better way to celebrate than by creating a rather imposing-looking edible breakfast cloud.
In July SMiZE Cream by Tyra Banks launched with nationwide shipping and the grand opening of its first-ever ice cream shop location in Los Angeles. Do you know the meaning of SMiZe? We didn’t!
In Hong Kongthe first CBD spa, Cannable opened . Here they offer an array of CBD-infused treatments to promote comfort and peace of mind. And also in Hong Kong ‘Dang Wen Li by Dominique Ansel’, check out the images of the Peanut Beef Satay and the sea salt croissant in this article.
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‘Chick-in’ and enjoy a staycation at the House of Harland
6-8-2021
KFC is offering fans the opportunity to book an exclusive one-night KFC themed staycation in the House of Harland. Located in London, each room is filled with delicious details, from a private cinema room, to a Finger Lickin’ ‘Press For Chicken’ button and Hot Winger Arcade Machine. It’s no secret that 11 herbs and spices make things all the more tasty, so in celebration of the lucky number, House of Harland will be open for 11 nights between the 18th – 29th August. And because they love a theme, rooms are available to book exclusively on Hotels.com from 11am on 11th August for just £111 per room per night (see what they did there!?), with 100% of proceeds going towards the KFC Foundation.
We’ve spotted hotel takeovers like this before, including one by Nutella in Nappa Valley, the Taco Bell hotel in Palm Springs, and even a Barbie® House on Airbnb. To celebrate Barbie’s 60th Birthday! It remains a fun way to work together and usually it is combined with a good cause.
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Chef Niklas Ekstedt
The Scotland Yard
