Cooking on stone at De Librije
Jonnie Boer decided to move his restaurant De Librije from the former monastery in Zwolle to an indoor courtyard and was sure to make the kitchen the center of the restaurant, made by Dekton by Cosentino. read more
Jonnie Boer decided to move his restaurant De Librije from the former monastery in Zwolle to an indoor courtyard and was sure to make the kitchen the center of the restaurant, made by Dekton by Cosentino. read more
A music festival with a star level food line-up. This summer Japies Hof introduces besides numerous of musicians topchefs as Richard van Oostenbrugge, Pascal Jalhay and Syrco Bakker. read more
At the redaction of Horecatrends we spot a lot of national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write articles about, the smaller trends we use in our column ‘Trends we spotted this week’. This week among others, an article about sneakair who made a shoe which can help you find your way, getting high in Amsterdam with cannabis chocolates and a DIY kit to make your own wine! Perfect for the winelovers! If you like to read the whole article, click the title. Enjoy reading! read more
On the 28th and 29th of May the Culitruck festival will take place in Hulst, The Netherlands. Restaurant ‘t Vlasbloemeken (1 Michelinstar) will be presenting and serving a home-made lobsterburger: the Mc Lobster. We asked chef Eric van Bochove why he wanted to participate in the festival and what the guests can expect from the Mc Lobster. read more
Last April we wrote about the ‘photo ambassador’ of the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea. Recently we also read that 35 Fairmont Hotels & Resorts started cooperating with photographers, united in Flytographer.com. This app connects travellers with professional photographers in over 160 cities worldwide. Consumers who are visually oriented are constantly seeing high-end lifestyle photo’s on social media, the result is that they also want the same type and quality photo’s. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts and the Four Seasons Resort at Maui are accommodating their guests to achieve this. read more
Last week the Tangla hotel opened in Brussels, part of the Tangla Hotels & Resorts, HNA Group. The introductory video from the Tangla hotel explains what the HNA Group means with Chinese hospitality. read more
A lot is happening in the world of craft beers. At this moment we have more breweries in the Netherlands than Belgium and every bar has a variety of craft beers on the menu. One of the new trends is to age beers, something which is already done by brewers or pub owners in the past. Thanks to the Bourgondische Bierkelder (the Burgundian Beer Cellar) this process will be available for the public as well. read more
Yes, you read that right. Burger King opened a private spa in one of the locations in Helsinki. Would you go to a spa in a Burger King? The red-blue sauna does feature a TV though and Burger King towels. And it’s possible to order a Whopper and eat it in the spa.
The Scottisch craft-beer brewery BrewDog is set to move forward with its plans to open a craft beer-themed hotel. They will build the BrewDog hotel in the neighbourhood of their brewery, with a ‘PUNK IPA’ tap in the hotel rooms. A true BrewDog experience. Through a crowdfunding campaign which ended last week they managed to raise 19 million pounds. The money is going to be used to build the new hotel and a new brewery. They will also invest in more pubs.
This has to be a paradise for the real pizza lovers in New York. You are now able to order ‘the pizza box pizza’ at Vinnie’s Pizzeria in Brooklyn. Instead of getting your pizza in a regular box, you will now get your pizza in an edible pizza box. Just think ‘out of the pizza box’! 😉
At the redaction of Horecatrends we spot a lot of national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write articles about, the smaller trends we use in our column ‘Trends we spotted this week’. This week among others, an article about an artisan tortilla maker, the New York Times starts selling ingredients for recipes of their cooking website, and a link to an edible flowers guide! By the way did you know that you could eat banana peels? We found an article with recipes and will most certainly try one of those. If you like to read the whole article, click the title. Enjoy reading! read more
Toren Overhoeks was the former Shell Office and is currently being transformed into a vertical city. After 40 years of ‘isolation’, A’DAM Tower is going to let the general public enjoy this unique place in Amsterdam. A’DAM Lookout will be situated in the crown of the A’DAM tower. This will be an iconic observation platform which is missing now in Amsterdam. read more
At the website of Designboom we spotted the initial plans for a network of cable cars connecting Chicago’s city centre. Will these Skyline cable cars replace the hop-on hop-off busses in Chicago in the future? It could become Chicago’s unique feature like the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the London Eye. read more
Last Tuesday restaurant HanTing (1 Michelinstar) in The Hague tackled a world’s first. As the first restaurant in the world Michelin chef Han Ji launched an innovative Tea Menu. With each dish a matching and different tea was served, which, in combination with the food, has a positive effect on the human body. We tasted this Tea Menu! read more
Although the Netherlands is known as being the cannabis city of the world, we don’t have chefs pioneering with cannabis. As California prepares for the possible legalization of recreational marijuana in November, Los Angeles-based chef Chris Sayegh is on a pioneering mission to take haute cuisine to a higher place with his cannabis infused menus. read more

KLM Royal Dutch Airline recently launched a global social media campaign, named the KLM Must See Map. Consumers can create a map of their destination and approach friends via Twitter, Facebook and email to get some tips about attractions and interesting activities. When the map is completed, KLM prints the map and sends the city card to the consumer for free. The campaign is made by Code d’Azur and is active in 24 countries.

A 134-year old fort has been converted into the luxury Spitbank Fort Hotel. The old fort is located one mile outside of Portsmouth Harbour in Hampshire and was used by British nationals in defense of boats and aircraft’s. The history of the fort is remained intact by brick walls, fortress windows and old cannons. The Spitbank Fort Hotel is equipped with many luxuries, such as a rooftop pool, sauna, sun terrace, champagne bar and 3 restaurants. The hotel can be reached by helicopter or boat. More inspirational pictures on the website of the hotel.

Instead of the standard figure drawing with milk foam in the cream layer of a cup of coffee, make it special with latte 3D art.

Via the twitter account of Kobe Desamaults we saw this beautiful long term movie about the preparation of duck by chef Seiji Yamamoto. Through the online video channel Tokyo Gastronomy by Friendroid, there are several videos to see about gastronomy in Tokyo.

At The Hague Hollands Spoor train station, the first fully vegetarian snack bar will open on 5 April. Visitors can choose a healthier and meatless version of the croquette, frikadel or hamburger. The products are 100% vegetarian and a majority of the product range is also vegan. Besides the snacks, there is a choice of vegetarian and vegan sandwiches, small dishes and organic drinks.

Texel gets a new typical product, a Texel whiskey. The whiskey is not for sale yet, but the creator and producer Joscha Schoots has laid a good foundation. The whiskey is distilled with, so far as possible, ingredients of Texel. The distillates are still maturing on barrel. The salty air and the soft water of Texel, play a role in the typical taste of the whiskey. Joscha Schoots hopes to present the first whiskey bottles in 3.5 years.

The Diabetes Foundation in the Netherlands has introduced a new online platform with recipes for cooking with diabetes disease. There is often a lot of confusion about what you can eat when you have diabetes. Besides that, eating healthy food is an important part of the treatment and can reduce the impact of diabetes. For theses reasons, the Diabetes Foundation created a website with recipes, cooking tips and facts about diabetes. People can also send recipes and they are checked by a dietitian and will be added with the nutritional values. It will be a platform of and for people with diabetes.

TOP Food Lab regularly organizes jam sessions in the kitchen to experiment with products. Responding to the trends vegan, raw food and sustainability, a jam session resulted in a ricotta cheese made of almonds. The ricotta cheese of almonds has the same texture as dairy-based ricotta, the flavor is different (more nutty, less cheesy) and includes an acid that is also used in the production of cheese, that results in a cheese-like experience. The ricotta cheese contains no milk and is suitable for people with a lactose and cow’s milk allergy. TOP Food Lab wants to experiment more with curing, brining, using different kinds of molds and bacteria to make a ultimate mold cheese of almonds. The goal is to sell these cheeses in shops and restaurants.

Besides the traditional concierge, Renaissance Hotels introduced a digital concierge. The hotel started working with the Navigator program last year. The Navigator offers suggestions for restaurants, shops and sightseeing in the surroundings of the hotel. The Navigator displays information that is generated by hotel employees and by Wcities, an online destination content provider. You can open the program via the site or an App.

Heineken was looking for an intern events and sponsorship when they received 1,734 applications. For this reason Heineken devised an interview where the candidates could not be prepared for. Heineken examined how the candidates responded in unexpected situations, such as hand-in-hand walking, a recruiter who feels unwell and on a fire alarm. After the applications, the three best candidates were selected and people could vote on the candidates. Guy Luchting won the internship.

The Japanese brewery Sankt Gallen Brewery has brewed a stout beer that is chocolate-flavored by using chocolate malt. The beer has 8,5 percent of alcohol and can be served in a glass made entirely of chocolate. After drinking the chocolate-flavored stout beer, you can also eat the glass to enhance the chocolate flavor of the beer.

The Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad opened a restaurant cafe on the ground floor of a new building in Amsterdam on 18 February. On the second floor the editors of NRC Handelsblad and NRC.next are located. The official opening is on 6 March, until then, NRC readers can test the menu. The restaurant gets a ‘newsy’ look, there are screens with the latest news and the ceiling has a see-through to the editors. Soon there will open some meeting rooms for training, lunches, dinners and meetings. From April onwards NRC will organize daily lectures, debates and courses. NRC is not the first newspaper that opens a restaurant, earlier we saw that the Canadian newspaper Winnipeg Free Press opened a cafe.

Our former colleague Christel Hendriks started working at a new hotspot in Amsterdam; Wannemakers!. Since early 2013 Wannemakers! opened its doors at the Singel in Amsterdam. At Wannemakers! you imagine yourself in a ‘La Dolce Vita’ atmosphere and surprising and enjoyment are high priorities. Wannemakers! is open from 08.00 am onwards for breakfast, lunch or dinner. But also for a cup of Single Estate coffee or a coffee-to-go. The restaurant is open Monday through Saturday and offers a French-inspired menu which is being renewed every two to three weeks. During the summer guests can relax on the terrace that is located next to the canal.

After the unique locations like the ‘Laurenskerk’ in Rotterdam and the ‘Concertgebouw’ in Amsterdam, this year on 6 April the fifth edition of MUST will be celebrated in the Kurhaus Hotel in Scheveningen. The party is in the Kurzaal, with entertainment and DJ’s like Erick E and Funkerman. All of the 252 rooms of the Kurhaus hotel are available for the visitors of MUST. The sale of the hotel package starts on 21 February.

Jiva coffee cubes is a new form of instant coffee with a deep stronger taste. The coffee beans used for the Jiva coffee cubes are from Colombia. The beans are freeze-dried and blended with unrefined cane sugar, known in South America as panela. Panela acts as a bonding agent and the coffee is pressed into cubes and individually hand-wrapped. The Jiva coffee cubes dissolve in hot water or milk and taste strong. At the moment, the coffee cubes are wrapped by hand, the owners are looking for funds to purchase a standard packing machine.

The video above shows how to make music with vegetables and fruit. Through a special technique the electrical signals are converted into keyboard signals. By making music with the vegetables you create more experience during making a salad.

By using the font Ecofont you can save on ink and it is a simple way to anticipate on sustainability. The Ecofont software leaves small holes in the letters and saves printer ink. These holes are never visible on screen and our brains ignore them on paper. The savings on ink costs can be up to 50%. Hospitality businesses can save on ink by using this font for invoices and letters and it promotes environmentally sound behavior within the organization.

Two Parisian patisseries have transformed the classic choux pastry with a new look. With the opening of the two stylish boutiques the éclairs become more popular in France. Every morning the pastry chefs of l’Atelier de l’Éclair make the éclairs fresh and by hand. Besides the famous sweet versions of the éclairs, the two boutiques are also selling savory éclairs. For example goat cheese pesto and chorizo-sun dried tomatoes éclairs. The unexpected savory flavours allow customers to settle in for an entire meal of éclairs.

The company PerfoTec provides the solution for a part of the food that is lost between harvest and consumption (30-50%). PerfoTec has developed a technology to extend the shelf life of fresh fruit and vegetables. By measuring the respiration rate of fruit and vegetables and adjusting the packaging accordingly, the shelf life of fruit and vegetables can be extended significantly. This gives the package the right amount of oxygen. According ‘Duurzaambedrijfsleven.nl‘ PerfoTec belongs to one of the world conquering innovations in the Netherlands.

We always say that local tapas is often received with enthusiasm by the guests, this is also the case at Catering Hanenburg. The company introduced the Frisian tapas 5 years ago and recently opened its cookery school at LOKAAL55. What started with organizing a reception for little budget with local dishes for a Frisian client, resulted in a success. Today the Frisian tapas is still a success. Many ingredients are besides local also sustainable. For example the Frisian cheeses, such as Riperkrite, Terschellinger red cheeses, clove cheese and blue cheese. But also the Frisian dry sausage from various butchers and tapas with shrimps and Frisian crostini are sustainable. On the picture you see smoked eel from the Sneekermeer with sushi rolls of beetroot and cream of potato.

In Canada Budweiser is appealing to hockey fans by offering them their very own ‘red light’. Every time their team scores, the light will go off with a honk. The light is connected via Wi-Fi network. Fun applicable for pubs as well! Maybe an ‘orange light’ for the Dutch soccer fans?

Rachel Howard searched in the heart of London for unusual bars en restaurants. She visited more than 100 locations looking for authentic dishes, magical interiors or eccentric hosts. At the Condé Nast Traveller website she gives a preview and reveals a few of her favorites. Like the secret cinema Wirled Cinema, shown on the picture above. The cinema is intimate and has a small bar where you can order cocktails, pizza and popcorn. The cinema is hidden in an alley and hard to find. Read the whole preview at the website from Condé Nast Traveller.

Hospitality is a subjective matter. What I experience as hospitality can be bothersome for others. However there are hospitable gestures that always score with guests. Especially small gestures can make quite the difference, these are the gestures that guests will remember fondly in years to come and maybe even make them come back. In the article ‘Small gestures in hospitality’ we do give great examples…. Click here to download the bookled for free.

Just great to watch, kids about Valentine’s Day. No trend or anything but we started this morning with a smile.
Have a nice day. Video and image courtesy of YouTube, Small Fry

Today one of the famous fast food item ‘currywurst’ (curry sausage) will be introduced at McDonald’s Germany. After the German specialties Big Rosti and McBrezer, the ‘McCurrywurst’ will be sold in approximately 1.400 locations. The next six weeks visitors can order the ‘McCurrywurst’ in combination with a Kaiserroll or with fries in a menu. McDonald’s Germany hopes that the McCurrywurst will soon become the company’s next classic menu item.