Great start of the Restaurantweek in Leiden

11-11-2013

The Restaurant Week in Leiden starts today and runs until November the 17th. Participating restaurants donate one euro per couvert to the charity ‘Het Willem-Alexander Kinderfonds’. But last Thursday (November the 7th) René Redzepi, chef and owner of Restaurant Noma ( Copenhagen), ushered this week by lecturing about his latest book, ‘A Work in Progress’. The event was attended by over 250 foodies and chefs. The happening was a co-creation between LeidsLekkers ( the organizer of the Restaurant Week in Leiden) and Niels Vreeling, who recently realized his dream, Babooka , a quirky bookstore. A relaxed lecture and book signing, during which amongst others, restaurant Kitch& and Restaurant in the Doofpot (one Michelinstar) served delicious appetizers. At the last restaurant, René Redzepi dined before the lecture. According to the owner, Anton Verschelling, the entire kitchen team was very excited to show their skills to the ‘master’. Given the level of their appetizers that were served during the book signing session, this must have been no problem!

Grand cafe Van Buuren opens in Leiden

11-6-2012

Recently Grand Café Van Buuren opened in the city center of Leiden (The Netherlands). The interior has classical and modern elements. There are classy paintings, a cozy fireplace as well as a modern wall painting and a set of turntables. The name of the café is partly inspired by DJ Armin van Buuren.

Trends we spotted | Week 15

15-4-2024

At horecatrends.com 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:

• Perfect Imperfection at Café Visscher – the Japanese tradition of ‘Kintsugi’ applied to their crockery – the gold-colored lacquer nicely matches their logo.
• Barilla® and three-time Emmy Award-winning composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer teamed up to create the Al Bronzo Soundtrack.
• ‘SpongeBob SquarePants‘ restaurant opened in Sao Paolo, Brazil.
• True Gamers has launched a project to create the world’s first eSports island in Abu Dhabi.
• And on Instagram: Espresso Martini popsicles and did you know you can enjoy cake and tea at Buckingham Palace this summer?
• Michelin introduces a new rating system for the finest hotels in France, with 1, 2, or 3 keys (clefs).
• De Beren launches Legacy ‘84 custom sneakers, find out how you can become the owner of these sneakers!

Enjoy reading!

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Smells Like McDonald’s

9-4-2024

In everyday settings like elevators, subways, or conference rooms, one often encounters a familiar scent: McDonald’s. Though unseen, its presence is unmistakable, akin to the brand’s iconic logo or jingle. That is why McDonald’s Netherlands leveraged their iconic smell in their latest campaign.

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Poké Perfect Opens Largest Location in Rotterdam

19-3-2024

Opening – Poké Perfect is launched a new location on Oude Binnenweg in Rotterdam. The menu features healthy, fast, and delicious poké bowls, side dishes like tempura shrimp, and health boosters such as various vitamin shots. This will be the largest outlet for the successful chain, which continues to operate at full speed.

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Croissant craze | What does 2024 bring?

25-1-2024

Marjolein van Spronsen blogs about the croissant hype with for example broissants, cube- and round croissants, croffles, crospresso’s, cragels, tracos, cronuts and Christmas croissants. read more

Is your restaurant or hotel offering a ‘Black Friday’ deal?

21-11-2023

Is your mailbox also filled with a flood of ‘Black Friday’ deals? Your social media feeds and the internet probably as well. However, there are very few ‘Black Friday’ deals from restaurants and hotels among them. Too bad! We have searched for some examples of how, as marketing for  restaurants and hotels, you and your guests can benefit from real ‘Black Friday’ deals.

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Trends we spotted | Week 32

11-8-2023

At horecatrends.com 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 including a couple of them on reservation fees at restaurants in the hope that this will reduce the number of no-shows. In New York, more and more restaurants are turning to this system. Leonie van Spronsen recently wrote a blog about this subject. It’s kind of a double standard that lots of guests don’t want to pay a restaurant fee while we pay, without any problem, in advance for tickets to Taylor Swift.

A unique combination; a Latin-American fine-dining experience on a London train, the Supperclub.Tube. Also in London: the Vagabond’s Wine Bars where you can choose from as many as 140 varieties of wines!

Aperol sorbet floating in prosecco, sounds delicious! It’s served at Il Terrazzo in department store Nordstrom in NYC. The sorbet is made by il Laboratorio del Gelato. And also in NYC –  the hottest new sushi bar is hidden in The Vault of Saks Fifth Avenue. Great idea, an omakase inside a small corner of a retail outlet?

A touring mini club, Fandangoe Discoteca invites people to dance out their grief! Created by artist Annie Frost Nicholson and it will come to the Netherlands as well. And International Hotel Capital Partners is the new owner of Hilton Garden Inn Leiden Hotel.  

Located 4.5 hours from NYC, in Watkins Glen, is the world’s smallest diner, which is also appropriately named ‘World’s Smallest Diner’. And we read about an Instant Noodle Factory in Queens, they serve 88 different instant noodles options with 30 different toppings.

The popular experience, Dining in the Dark, is returning to Amsterdam on August 31, this time it takes place at the NOMAD aan het IJ. And we love the design of the Costa Rican Suitree Experience Hotel with treehouse style rooms.

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Proeftuin Noordwijk | Restaurants in Noordwijk serve dishes of the future

30-1-2023

Recently nine restaurants in Noordwijk started serving dishes of the future. The chefs in Noordwijk are inspired by local and sustainably grown seasonal products, recognisable on the menu by the stamp of ‘De Tuin van Holland – Proeftuin Noordwijk’ (the garden of Holland – trial garden Noordwijk).

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Trends we spotted | Week 43

28-10-2022

At horecatrends.com 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 article about amongst other Toca Social, this is a great place to watch the World Cup in London and you can even kick a ball yourself! In Paris you have a lot of ‘Bars à’ and even a ‘Bar à Couscous’, it’s called Bladi and you can create your own bowl filled with Couscous.

From 1 hotel to 115 hotels in 25 years… That’s worth a party. Fletcher Hotels did it and celebrates 25 years of experience in hospitality with…

Restaurant Pastorale (**) in Belgium stops after 30 years, chef Bart De Pooter starts new fish restaurant in Antwerp! And our favorite baker from New York Dominique Ansel opened ‘Dominique Ansel Las Vegas’ at the Caesars Palace.

Do you know where the Trafalgar square Christmas Tree comes from? We didn’t but it’s an annual gift from Norway since 1947. Also in London: The Warmer Room will open, it’s a grand return of the London Nightclub inside a toilet. Dancing with 80 others in a toilet, created by The Warmer People.

Our hometown Leiden gets a rooftop bar at a famous building in the middle of the city, Zirkus restaurant, rooftop bar & ‘spielplatz’. And a sneaker collab: BOBBY’S Gin X KangaROOS, cocktail culture in your shoe closet.

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