Rhizome diner Lotus Root - SWAFFOOD

foto: kris vlegels

SWAFFOOD found it's lift off about 3 weeks ago!

First SWAFFOOD-event and perfect place to geth acquainted

with the Japanese food products and Saké.

The Menu

KAKUREI JUNMAI GINJO NIGORI SAKE WITH MINT & MANGO
this saké is unfiltered saké, nigori=cloudy, so when you shake the bottle gently before serving you're separated saké start to mix and starts getting cloudy.

Served in front of the customers with a teaspoon of fine diced mango and a pinch of mint

Apps

TSUNOMONO

(marinated cucumber and sesameseeds)
SUSHI MAKI

(California roll)
ASARI SAKAMUSHI

(soup with uni, shiromiso and saké)
TOFU WITH CONDIMENTS
(tomato confit, yuzu, wasabi on one plate)

A la minute tofu prepared in front of the guests:

Oshitashi (spinache boiled in dashi & mirin, flavoured with yuzu)

demonstration of fresh bonito shavings on a traditional shredder

interactive OYSTER SHOOTER
(oyster, quail egg, ikura, green onion, daikon oroshi, shiso, ponzu)
CSI shooter crime scene investigation, mix youre own shooter!!

SASHIMI HAMACHI, TAKO, SABA, IKURA GUNKAN
Albarino Ca’ del Solo 2007 Bonny Doon, CA

A nice alternative for high acidity saveyourown grapes

TORO AVOCADO TOMATO ROAST TUNA JUS

excellent toro with tuna jus served separetly together with fresh bonito shavings
Shimizu Vintage 2003 Daiginjo Suimutan, Suzuka, Japan (Barrel-aged)

Great dry saké aged on Burgundy casks, slightly smokey aftertaste that perfectly matches the juice and the extreme fragrances of the bonitoflakes

FUNG SHUI COCKTAIL
(umeshu, campari, grapefruit, shiso)

foamed on the table by the ladies

FOIE SAKE KASU & NASU DENGAKU
Château Musar Blanc 2001, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon

This '01 vintage is the best vintage in white since '95 sometimes these whites tend to have a slight oxidation, this one has non at all. It was decanted in beginning of the diner.

Excellent match!

SOBA NOODLE PASTA WITH UNI, NORI & SHARAKU
Tenzan Shichida Junmai Namazake, Ogi, Japan

Aromatic dry saké with a long finish, the uni and sharaku saké wich is a fruitier style, hints of red berries and bubblegum, give the Tenzan even more lenght

YAKI TORI NO UMEBOSHI & WHITE SOY AIR
Pleiades XVI, Sean Thackrey, Bolinas, CA

Great what you can do with chicken!!!

White soy: a rare soy made with more barley to gain a lighter colour, this soy was made for the imperial kitchens. Taste of soy without the colour.

Pleiades 2006 made of Seans secret blend, just to name a few: carignan, petit syrah, syrah, sangiovese, viognier, ...

Complex, fresh tastes, was also decanted in advance.

WHITE SESAME BAR WITH CHOCOLATE SESAME PRALINE
WHITE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE & YUZU ICE
JAVA MILK CHOCOLATE FLAN WITH LAPHRPOAIG
Malvaxia MCMXCIX Passito Bava, Italy
Great dessert with lots of flavours and very modest sugarlevel
Malvaxia is Bavas magical dessertwine made of red malvasia grapes wich give a rosélike wine.

Berries were dried before pressing

SAKE IWANOI VINTAGE 1982 YAMAHAI & 18 MONTH OLD SWISS APPENBERGER (BERN)

Saké has been made for about 4000 years, this style with an slight oxidation is a technique that only started about 30years ago.

Great ripe appenberger, comté style cheese, very flavourfull and not to salty.

As always at the Root Jan & Caroline do their magic Food & Wine match where perfect!!

Thanx guys for the hard work and great evening!!

Check out the blog:

http://chefskitchenblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/reminder-rhizome-dinner.html

Interesting point of view on Lotus Root.
It seems a younger crowd is just getting to know the root!!

http://lafillebacksurleweb.blogspot.com/2008/05/een-michelin-ster-snel.html

Hell yeah!

Las Vegas Restaurants

If there are any hot new concepts to spot worldwide NY, Las Vegas, London, Moscow are today's places to be!
There's no place in the world with such a concentration of great chefs as Vegas!

Here some great places to go to:

MGM:
Joël Robuchon ('l Atelier)
Michael Mina (Seableu, fish/Nobbhill San Fransisco Bay area Cuisine)
Wolfgang Puck (American Bar & Grill food, California Cuisine)
Carlos Buscaglia (Fiama trattoria & bar)
Stephane Chevet & Yoshinori Nakazawa (Shibuya)
Tom Colicchio (Kraftsteak, focus on prime products)
Kai-Wa Yau (Pearl, Canton/Shanghai cuisine)
Noel Santos (Diego, Mexican style)

Our favorites:
-Shibuya (modern japanese with a great winelist)
-Seableu (seafood over woodfire grill, Michael Mina)
http://www.mgmgrand.com/


Mandalay Bay Hotel:
Alain Ducasse (Mix Classic French & American dishes with global accents)
Hubert Keller (Fleur de Lys Traditional French with Mediterranean accents )
Mary Sue Milliken en Susan Feniger (Border Grill, 2 top lady chefs specialised in Mexican and Latin flavours)
Rick Moonen (Rick Moonen's RM Seafood, NY awardwinning Seafood Chef)
Charlie Palmer (Aureole, Progressive American Cuisine, product maniac)
Wolfgang Puck (Tratoria Del Lupo, Wolfgang 1st Italian restaurant, this Austrian born chef stands for innovative Cuisine, owner of the fastest growing catering company of the US)
Michael Mina (Stripsteak)
Sean DiCicco (American Continental Cuisine)
Luciano Pelligrini (Giorgio, Celebrated Italian chef)

Our Favorites:
-Mix (Impressive interior, great food)
-Aureole (with it's wordfamous wine tower!!) Charlie Palmer
http://www.mandalaybay.com/



Wynn's
Bartolotta (Italian Fish restaurant)
Okada(beautiful restaurant - they have a dining room facing the lagoon and waterfall, a teppenyaki room, and a sushi bar)
Wing Lei (great asian food : Peking Duck Salad with Truffle vinagrette and the house-made chocolate ice cream, tender bbq baby back ribs with corn and pepper relish, grilled salmon with grainy mustard sauce, and the lotus-wrapped sticky rice, sushi, the big chewy cookies and the chocolate cake and chocolate ganache tarts. tons of giant peel and eat shrimp. )
Alessandro Stratta restaurant Alex (Classic french riviera style kitchen, much better than Robuchon some suggest)
SW (Steakhouse, corn fed Midwestern prime beef cooked over an open flame)
Tableau
Corsa Cucina
Red 8 (great dim sum menu, har gow, siu mai, and steamed pork buns, all competently executed and bursting with fillings. Veg super fresh!!)

Our favorites
-Alex
-Okada (Japanese)
-Boulud's Brasserie best mussels and fries, Pumpkin Soup with huckleberry coulis and spiced marshmallow (ask for seating on the patio view on the lake of dreams)
www.wynnlasvegas.com/



That's all for the moment folks!

SWAFFOOD

Info and blablabla about Japajuki sh*t for all those twisted minded kitchenwhores!!

http://www.swaffood.com/

De invloed van de puurheid en eenvoud van de Japanse topkeuken is niet meer weg te denken uit onze na-oorlogse gastronomie. Zowel de nouvelle cuisine als de hedendaagse tendensen zijn beiden grotendeels geïnspireerd door Zuid-Oost Aziatische traditionele scene en dan vooral uit het van alle externe invloeden gevrijwaarde puristische Japan.

Soon online

And we've got the shit

Call Us!

0473/815 993

Glensan

or

Lucsan

Bordeaux Restaurants-Bistros

Pont Pierre Bordeaux

Last comments I read on frances gastronomy by Belgian journalists where quite negative.

I must say that in my 1 week travel trough france was that cafés and bistros serve fantastic meat. Duck, onglet, pig trotters, ... great cuissons as ze french zay!!

Chuncks of potatoes deep fried in goose fat and further braissed in the oven with tyme, oignons, garlic.

I must say that café bistros in Belgium still got a lot to learn from ze Fren

In France far better value and meat quality superior.

Anyways heres my view on Bordeaux:

At the centre of Bordeaux is a great wine shop named Cousin & Companie owned by Ijacob Schjerbeck (Danish winemaker of D:VIN) on Place du Parlement (one of the oldest plazas of B).

They have a list of restaurants BYO (buy a great bottle at cousin and have them consult you a restaurant). This is fantastic whe've been helped by Greg an american who got stuck in Bordeaux. Knows the place by heart and helpes you around with your wine choice.

http://www.cousin.fr/

http://www.divin.fr/

Buy an old vintage of D:Vin the name says it all and we import it!!

I bought a Château Picque Caillou 2005 Graves

(Cab merlot in the same prop. little cab franc added)

So young so juicy great now, tough lots of potential.

Reserve in advance!!

La Tupina

Who ever goes to Bordeaux must have eaten there!!

2nd world's best sud ouest Kitchen

Great food, pricy for a bistro (pay for the name) Must do bistro.

Had a great Basque Blond Beer (Bob's beer) as aperitif
Côtes de Bourg Laroche Jaubert 05 great value

Chasse-spleen 2003 was fantastic

every wine I had was subtle no astringence or bitterness.

Bistro de Sommelier

Fun thing to do, great wines, simple food, lots of Brits and Americans.

Viandocks

51-52, Quai de Paludate
Tel : 05 56 49 52 69 - Fax : 05 56 85 54 22

V means stock or beefbroth, it used to be the old manufactury/warehouse of Viandocks.
Best place for beef, by at the counter and chose the waight of youre prefered piece.

Pizzeria Peppone

31 Cours Georges Clemenceau
-0556449105

This place is fun, Great waitresses with sharp t(h)ongues.

Amarone by the glass at 7euro.

Home made pasta, nice cellar where you pick your own wine.

Great italian winerange for reasonable prices.

Reserve or wait in line!!

Café de l'Esperance

Bouillac overlooking Bordeaux great view.

This is the Bistro of St-James an amazing Relais & Château

A four building luxury 18-room hotel with a kitchen, redesign of the restaurant, design of the chairs and tables; 1995 - Expansion of the restaurant,design of an outdoor eating area, a brasserie and a swimming pool overlooking B.

Whatever you eat products come from St-James 2 star across the streeth.
Have an aperitif at ST-James and go eat at l'Esperance!!

At Medoc go to:

Lion d'or

All great winemakers and journalists go eat there.

Great winelist, eat some eal and local stuff.

Cordeillan Bages Thierry Marx

Exteme molecular B.S. for those who look for more than only foodorgasms.

Restaurant that's part of Lynch-Bages

Combine with a visit to the winery.

About Bordeaux:

Great impressive city.

This city is perhaps the best place in France. The city has changed a lot during since early 1990’s, when it was old and dirty, stuck somewhere in history, but now is has been washed, modernized and the shores of the Garonne river has been rebuilt.

Great tramsystem.

You can think a lot of different things about Alain Juppe, the mayor of Bordeaux and ex-minister, but during his time Bordeaux has become one of the best places in France.

Summer Survival

Op vraag van mijn goede vriend David Van den Bosch heb ik mij laten meeslepen in een nieuw project!!
Aangezien ik met 't archief op zoek was naar thema's om het restaurant-runnen wat boeiender te maken, ben ik op enkele toffe zaken gestuit:

Survival
Bij deze laten wij (wim, david en ikzelf) ons dan ook volledig gaan in het koken met Ukon kachels, open vuur, bamboe, munitiekisten, spit, in klei, marinades, middeleeuwse gerechten, soepen, stoofpotjes, ... maar vooral met zo weinig mogelijk producten, plan trekken en een gezonde dosis logica!!

Volgende maand 1ste survival 5-daagse.
Volg alles mee op
www. survivalbelgium.blogspot.com
klick door bij links

Restaurantproject 't Archief Hombeek

The launch of this project started 5 december 07.

This restaurant existed 9 years, ownership by a local couple, family restaurant with a very loyal local crowd. Chef/owner was sous-chef at antwerp Hilton.

Good basic kitchen with a very good local clientele and reputation.

Hombeek is a countryside kind of place where the upperclass people of Mechelen live.

My mission:

open asap the bistro, make it work and booming!

December was great after 6 months my brother and I bought the place.

Expo '58 was a nice theme to start with.

The sputnik was very inspirational, late fifhty's was revolutionary.

For me the sputnik stands for innovation.

First human object to go in space, americans, chinese, the whole world followed this new hype.

Fashion was hot, urban architecture and great furniture came alive with names as Le Corbussier.

A new challenge!!

I had a friend artist Victor Waba expose 2 of his USSR in Space paintings.

The Astronaut and Laika happened the monkey!?

'58 Cadillac Graffiti on the restaurants façade from the young talented "BASEK" (via my good old friendTom Paeschuyzen organiser of Graffiti events, big event this coming october in Wijnegem by Antwerp)

Our full menu we started with:

Pata Negra

Fresh marinated sardines in Sicilian Murgo olive oil and togarashi

Oysters Fine Champagne

Cavaillon & watermelonpearls

Deepfried tofu balls

Stuffed zucchini with shrimps and blackbeans

"Chen Zhen Lamb"

Deep fried lamb in a sweet sour sauce, south chinese speciality from Chen Zhen

Intermezzo:
Electronic (electra, tonic & lime) and Nigori saké with diced mango and minth refreshments

Launch of the SPUTNIK

Baked Alaska

with flames of 5y old Rhum Tanduay from my motherland the Phillys

Sugar cane is a massive, bamboo-like grass of genus "Saccharum", tribe "Andropogonaeae", and family "Poaceae". Scientists call it photosynthetically efficient, in that it creates sucrose from sunlight, air, and water better than just about any other plant on earth. The only ones that come close are sugar maple and sugar beet; not coincidentally, those are precisely the two plants that compete directly with cane in the world sugar market.

Glen's 30th B-day party at 't Archief

http://www.tarchief.be/

Limited places

€ 50,00/pers

Yes indeed it is not a free dinner!!

This money will be donated to 't Archief

Dinner and dance on the 5th of July 2008

Start 20:00h

Welcome cocktail and snacks

Glen's Shut-up-and-eat-menu!!

Wines and drinks all-in.

Beer and spirits all night long.

Those who can't come for dinner are welcome from 22:00h on!!

00:00h

Launch of the Sputnik

from the Belgians Big Apple "Antwerp"

Resident DJ Flavour Lemon

from the westcoast "Bridges"
Guest DJ Monte Carlo

bringing all time Disco and '80s

Please confirm via email
glen@swaffou.com

Glen & Bianca

Glen,I sure wish I could be there to celebrate since I was in Georgetown Hospital working the night you were born. I held you that first day--and took ice cream to your mother! Happy Birthday! I might see you in late September (wedding in Boom).Beste, Dave (David Freitag)

Come see my red '58 Cadillac and enjoy a back to the 50's diner

From 21/6/2008 till 19/9/2008

at 't Archief

Frans Reyniersstraat 17-19 Hombeek (Mechelen)

http://www.tarchief.be/

Chef Mario Ramaekers

Entertainer Glen Ramaekers

50's party 6/9/2008 in open air in coöperation with

Café de Bruinvis

Saké cocktails

As for cocktail, sake goes very well with fruits juice with moderate acidity
cranberry, grape fruit, orange, etc

clear flavor sake(typically ginjo) 1/3
cranberry Juice 1/3
orange juice 1/3
clear syrop sugar
a dash of lemon juice
Mint leaf as garnish

KRISTANČIČ - MOVIA MIRKO IN ALEŠ

On bio living a whole conversation with Ales, winemaker of Movia Slovenia.
talking about sex and winemaking, the growth of the vines is all about sex.
Cleansing the body starts waking up, brushing your theet and scraping of your thongue.
He took my arm grabed my elebow put my underarm upward, talking the size of my elebow-joint with his fingers and said 1,8liters!!
I went ?.?.???
Ok explain.
Yeah! just like me 1,8 l of water after you brush your theet and before you eat.
Than your body is ready for whatever, alcohol, drugs, bad food, ...
Drinking water cleanses the body, its important in the morning, it gives your body positive energy to start with. Than we started tasting his wines.
I was kind of waisted, night before was heavy on the beers.
But no sweat there was only 1 guy I wanted to taste wines on.
And yeah, I drunk every drop of wine Ales poored it was sumptous and made me sober.

Wooooow! All delicate, aromatic but with lots of finesse.

Talking about the bio market in Turin I asked about Combal Zero.

Off coarse I've been there!!

But we are no astronauts, No?
Fantastic, he's a close friend of Petrini (Slow Food) and share his point of view and comments wine has to be there to, or had to be there in years ago, not many winemakers really understand the way of nature.

Similar winemakers are our speciality at SWAFFOU!! Important messages to be brought out.

It's not about all technical sheets and stuff, it's authenticity, the seriousness of product, place, ...

When a belgian journalist went to visit Reinhardt Lowenstein in the mosel and asked R for a technical sheet of his wines. The journalist received 7 pages ... on the history of the vineyard.

The journalist said this is not what i asked!? R didn't say much and send him away.

It's almost Buddhistic, the journalist didn't understand a thing, how much more technical can it be than understanding the soil, the place.

It's about understanding.

In the past I went to visit Claude Courtois (Cheverny) who shared more or less the same philosophy as Ales, Claude said not to spit out the wines cause they’re all sulfite free, total natural wines, local wild yeasts, no additions.
I did the test tasted, everything, over 12 wines and his home made port and even whiskey.
And as he said we weren’t drunk.
Maybe we all where equally drunk so we’d wouldn’t notice the drunkness from eachother, thats possible to?!
Natural wines don’t mess with mess you up and dont give you headaches thats a fact.
Note: Claude Works with old Yquem presses and uses and old potstill with woodfire to heat up the kettle, amazing view.
Ooh yeah, he also told us that every day he kisses Madonnas ass, …
He introduced us to Madonna,

his cow!!

Claude: Winemaking is not monoculture it’s multiculture or at least was a multi-culture, farm, winemaking, the pond.
It’s all about nature, the place, the micro climate. Rows of grapes mixed Gewurztramir, sauvignon, cab franc, freaux, syrah (wich is forbidden in the Loire, he had big trouble with the INAO, they went to court on this ones).

So much like what Ales was telling me, in order to make a wine we must not mix grapes from diverent parcels, we plant different grapes in the same parcel with the idea of bringing the grapes together only from the same parcel.
No parcel mixing!!

Puro
Talking to belgiums best foodies and some other winefreaks about Champagnes and stuff, we came to the conclusion that the perfect champagne or sparkle would be the one with the lies still in the bottle. A kind of RD (Bollinger) but degorging yourself on the moment you will drink it.
Interesting!!
Puro is that sparkle!! Slovenic Pinot noir, méthode traditionele without dégorment.
Ales: Turn the bottle upside down let the sediment go to the cork.
Open the bottle under water let the sediment out, lift the bottle out of the water and serve the perfect clear Rosé.

Why this way?? Not to add anything anymore, keep it pure.
Lot’s of sparkles add liquer de tirage, mix of liquor with or without sugar and even sulfites!! PUro is sulfite free, the soil gives natural sulfites wich the berries carry with them, all natural. So only natural sulfites get into the puro.
Nice dry, complex sparkle I love it.
If you like it more creamy than do it Puro-Jan.
Don’t let the lees out complety, it give the wine more texture and makes it slightly cloudy.
Not an easy technique.
I did it 4 times at Lotus Root.
It's great, presenting it, telling the story to the costumers.
It gives the sommelier purpose again.
Movia as Claudes wines need to be presented and praised by proffesionals!!

Tasted Veliko white
1999 magum
2001 at Tan (Crosscultural Living Brussels)
2004

http://chefskitchenblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/ales-from-movia-hits-lotus-root.html
http://chefskitchenblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/ale-kristani-movia.html
http://vinscourtois.free.fr/
http://www.movia.si/

SWAFFOOD

SWAFFOU launches SWAFFOOD

Savoury Wavering Food From Otherwordly Destinations

old and new contacts from the allmighty, great Luc (whatever!!) led us to some orientall interesting sh*t.

We started out with topnotch, artisan, small production

酒

saké

and moved on with other interesting stuff: make your own tofu, flavoured salt (yuzu, wasabi, ...), sojamilf ... milk!!

miso (different colours) yuzu juice , bonito flakes, old rice variaties, sake residu, wakame, tonburi...
and so much more

tonburi (also named: land, field or mountain caviar)

Tonburi is the dried seed of the summer cypress Kochia scoparia, a speciality of Akita prefecture in Japan.

After harvesting the cypress for its seeds, they are boiled and soaked in cold water for about a day. The outer skin is removed by rubbing it by hand.
The globules are 1-2 mm in diameter, glossy with a black-green color. It has a similar texture to caviar.
Often used as a garnish, it is used in Chinese medicine for urinary diseases and eye fatigue, among other things.

Find our sakélist soon on our site swaffou.com
Or mail me at glen@swaffou.com

Filipino national fish

Tribute to Bangus.

My childhood favourit especially Relleno. Hell Yeah!

I found an interesting article on bangus! Here goes:

Bangus, milkfish, is a silvery, fine-scaled favorite among Philippine fishes because of its sweet white flesh, and its fat belly which melts in the mouth.

Bangus is found on everyday and on festive Philippine tables, and is known as well in Taiwan (sibahi), Burma (nga tain), Thailand (Pla nuan chan thaleh), Vietnam (Ca mang), Hong Kong (Yuk sor), Indonesia (Bandeng), and Malaysia (Pisang-pisang).

Whereabouts

This same species is abundant on the Pacific Coast of the United States; its range extends also to the Red Sea, East Africa, Japan, Australia and Taiwan.

Characteristic

This fish has, however, a characteristic that bequeaths exclusivity, and had prevented wide popularity: it is boney, with many spines, which Filipinos have learned to pick out of the flesh on the plate, or to soften by cooking in vinegar so that they can be ignored.

Working it

Some two decades ago, however, an Iloilo housewife, wishing to spare her husband the trouble, undertook to debone it with tweezers.

Now her technique for removing the 38 branching spines (between the dorsal muscles), 14 along the lateral muscles, and 16 fine ones (along the ventral muscles) has caught on.

In the Iloilo markets, young boys chat and sing, barely glancing at their hands working the tweezers.

Boneless bangus of all sizes are found in markets, supermarkets and restaurants.

Bangus is hard to catch, since the adult fish decline bait and leap over nets. The technique for many years has been to catch the fry at sea and transport these for breeding sometimes a hundred miles distant.

An old account says they used to be captured in April, May, June, July, then placed in large water-filled jars (palayok) for conveyance to ponds.

Today,

advanced aquaculture techniques have enabled the mixing of sea and fresh water in the fish farms, the production of fry, and their speedy transfer to ponds, where they are fed mechanically then harvested, leaping and live, sorted for the market (anything short of perfection, even a few missing scales, is rejected), blast-frozen.

They thus reach customers' tables only a few hours away from the water -- certainly more freshly and quickly than they could from any fish market.

Filipino gastronomy

Bangus is cherished by Filipinos in many forms and for various reasons.

Many remember:

-Fishpond picnics, where the fish are not scaled, just gutted, stuffed with tomatoes, onions, salt and black pepper, and thrown on coals till the flesh is soft and white, and the skin fragrantly charred.

-Sinigang: cooked in broth soured with tamarind or kamias, or guavas and with vegetables

-Paksiw: cooked in vinegar with eggplant and bittermelon (ampalaya)

-Blackbeans or bean cake

-Onions in a soy sauce-calamansi marinade

Although pond fish are not usually prepared kinilaw (briefly marinated in vinegar, ginger, chili, and other condiments) where bangus is available live and fresh, it is, as in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental.

-Chicaron: some restaurants have taken the silvery skin, dried and crisp-fried it into a kind of crackling

-For breakfast it may be split open, marinated in vinegar, salt and pepper, and fried crisp to go with garlic-fried rice.

-Tinapa: Sometimes it is available smoked golden, to eat with a salad of ripe tomatoes, onions and salted duck eggs.

-Bangus Relleno: Mostly at party tables, stuffed with its own flesh sauteed with vegetables and condiments, then fried golden brown.

- The belly is specially treasured for its melting tenderness, and is now luxuriantly marketed in belly-only packages, which has encouraged some restaurants to offer a constellation of "prime-cuts" (fried, grilled, sinigang, paksiw, etc.)

Young chefs to invent nouvelle delights:

-Al Porbe style: cooked Spanish style (with garlic) or wrapped in bean skin and steamed.

Availability

Bangus is now available to all who love it.

It can be small and inexpensive, or large and pricey; it is a constant in wet markets and supermarkets, and as an export product for Filipinos abroad and for non-Filipinos.

At the 1999 Anuga Food Fair in Cologne, where bangus bellies were cooked with ube, squash, seaweed or saluyot (Jews' mallow) noodles, foreigners asked: Where has this tasty fish been hiding?Where?

in the Filipino heart, of course, and in the food memories of many generations.

(Note: Doreen and I have worked together in various projects that promoted Philippine culture. When I left for the States and became involved in the importation and distribution of value-added bangus, I did not have to ask Doreen twice to work with me on a little compilation of bangus recipes.

Together with a very talented designer, Carminnie Doromal and working over the internet, we produced BANGUS DISCOVERY:

A Culinary Treasure from the Depths of Sarangani Bay for Alsons Aquaculture Corporation.Dr. Doreen Fernandez, PhD, chairperson of Ateneo's Department of Communication, writer par excellence and a foodie at heart passed on a few years back. She will be sorely missed.)

Breakfast

Dude, my breakfast!

English pancakes with maple syrup
(I bought the pancakes at delhaize, I was very pleased to find English muffins from the Hovis Label)

Chocolate chili espresso with cardamon
(i used a small home dried chili, better match than long ones, enough spicy to match up the cacao and coffee taste, instead of grinding it and mixing it with the coffee, I broke a piece of chili and let it macerate into the coffee with a spoon of ganache)

Having the spice-sensation, wich gave me a subtle I'm on fire feel, I started looking for refreshment.
I ate fresh Spagetti with tomatosauce (olive-oil, italian pelati with great acidity, chili (long big chili, its not to spicy but gives a nice spicy touch so ground peper isn'nt needed in this dish, rosemary and fresh basil to finish of)
Freshly grated parmigiani regiano.

The spagetti cleans the palate, takes the spice away of the coffee, great tastes

Ready for the next dish!!

English muffin, the one you open up with a fork.
2 slices of Fried turkey saucage in garlic oil, last minute green oignon in the pan.
My favourite hong kong style ketchup (garlic, ginger, sesame-oil, chive whites, soy)
How I love the taste of ginger and chives in the morning.
1 tiger shrimp tempura (2 doughs, second one moister to sprinkle it on the shrimp, my tempura technique needs more practise but I’m getting there)
Ice water and the right oil temperature does the trick!!
In the oil I just mashed the garlic and ate it togheter with the saucage.
Philippino like garlic!!
That garlic stays in my mouth, the fruits later on will takes this away.

Tzak tzak!!

Fresh milk, lichy, peach, papay soup

And (having the philipino manga in mind, no mango comes close to those!!) ripe Kent mango diced up in the skin

Finger licking good

It doesnt get any better than this.

In an hour I’m on my way for dim sum at Oriental Delight Antwerp with the whole 20 brainwashed staff from Oud Sluis.
Even with the kick ass wines I’m bringing to Oriental Delight.

It can't beat my breakfast!!
It almost as good as eating rice with Bangus relleno with bear hands in the rainforrest Mambukal Negros Occidental!!

SWAFFOU US tasting 05/05/2008 l'Amitié Antwerp

American Wines

Electra Orange Muscat Madera California
Electronic (electra & tonic, sugar cane syrup, mint, crushed ice)

Updated Electronic: 75cl electra/33cl Tonic/3Limes crushed into the mix, crushed ice.
De excentrieke Andrew Quady maakt decadente zoete wijnen met een zeer hoge genotsfactor. De wijnen zijn hoogst origineel, en bieden een totaal nieuwe kijk op de geuren en kleuren die we gewend zijn, dit door zijn hoogsteigen systeem van kruidenmaceraties, lichte mutage en zeer koude vinificaties om alle aroma’s te behouden. Electra is bijvoorbeeld een eigen interpretatie van Moscato d’Asti met bedwelmende geuren. Starboard is de ‘aan de stuurboord kant van de wereld’ gemaakte Porto (Port is engels voor bakboord’) enz. Een absoluut te ontdekken universum met bovendien een exceptionele prijs/kwaliteitsverhouding.
With the first sip you feel the wine- light as springtime, delicately sweet, refreshingly crisp, a bouquet of flowers with the taste of peach and melon. Electra is electricity for the mouth!
In 1990, we decided to produce a new type of dessert wine, light, delicate, easy to drink, and very refreshing. We tasted Orange Muscat grape juice as it was turning into wine. When the juice was just on the verge — halfway between wine and grape juice, a small test batch was bottled. The wine tasted wonderful, but the alcohol was only 4% (most wines are at least 12%). The wine was bottled using sterile filtration to prevent re-fermentation and the new creation named Electra after the electric like texture one notices on the tip of the tongue

Wit
Dry Riesling 2006 Hermann J. Wiemer Finger Lakes NY
Deze uit Bernkastel afkomstige Rieslingmaniak wou op de leisteenhellingen rond het mooie Finger Lakes in upstate-New York een kwekerij van oude rieslingklonen opstarten omdat hij dacht dat Riesling ooit een zeer populaire druif zou zijn.Hij startte in 1979 en kon toch aan de verleiding niet weerstaan om te proberen wijn te maken zoals in zijn thuisstreek en met succes.Hij slaagt erin om formidabele Rieslings te produceren die nauwelijks van de Duitse te onderscheiden zijn, werkelijk een der allerbeste nieuwe-wereldexpressies van deze zeer moeilijk te temmen druif.

Pinot blanc pinot gris Au Bon Climat Santa Barbara
Jim Clendenen lijkt meer op een superworstelaar uit het spectaculaire WWF-circuit maar onder deze ‘look’ schuilt een wonderbaarlijke en zeer gevoelig mens en wijnmaker die vooral wereldfaam maakt door zijn werk op terroir-identificatie in California, voor de aanplant van Pinot Noir & Chardonnay, en ook door zijn historisch onderzoek naar Bourgogne uit het ‘pré-Chardonnay’-tijdperk, toen witte Bourgognes gemaakt werden van Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc & Aligoté. Zijn wijnen zijn een ode aan de mineralen, hebben exceptionele diepte en zijn van een absolute wereldklasse.

Courage 2004 Eldon Nygaard South Dakota
Eldon Nygaard kocht na zijn carrière als professor aan de Univ een landgoedje in South Dakota en nodigde zijn collega, een bioloog uit en samen ontdekten ze een vreemd iets op in het woud, dat deels op het gebied van Sioux Indianen ligt. Dit oude bos is helemaal overwoekerd door een wijnrank met 1 centrale wortel. Na nauwkeurige studie bleek het om een 400-jarige stok te zijn, geïdentificeerd als Vitis Riparia, een oersoort. Deze zeer zeldzame fles is waarschijnlijk de enige wijn gemaakt van slechts 1 wijnrank die bovendien nog volledig in het wild groeit. De wijn zelf is zeer origineel en ideaal voor blindproeverijen.

Cigare blanc 2004
Overwicht aan Roussanne uit Paso Robles aangevuld met grenache blanc


Rood
Pinot transfusion Bonny Doon
Om deze zeer bijzondere wijn aan U voor te stellen, laat ik graag de wijnmaker zelf even aan woord :"Luca: We crushed the pinot noir grapes (from the Gimelli Vyd. in San Benito County) and then bled as much juice out of it as we could. We then replaced the pinot noir juice with pinot gris juice (from our own Ca del Solo vineyard in Soledad), hence, a transfusion. One thing that I have observed with this wine, indeed with many of the Bonny Doon Vineyard/Ca del Solo wines is that they are much better with more air. The transfusion is nice the first day but the second and third day it really rocks".Pinot Gris en pinot Noir zijn genetisch verwant en Randall spreekt hier van een 'Dr.Frankenstein experiment'. Een rode wijn gemaakt met witte druiven of ...

Cabernet franc 2005 Hermann J. Wiemer Finger Lakes NY
Until recently, Cabernet Franc was primarily used to enhance the complexity of the great Bordeaux and other Cabernet Sauvignon wines, but it has now come into its own. This wine possesses all the wonderful characteristics of a great vintage - well balanced, aromatic with a soft and lingering finish.

Barbera 2005 Il Podere Dell Olivos, Jim Clendenen
Een project van Jim Clendenen waar zijn tweede passie, Italië, in the picture wordt gezet. Aanplant van in de ‘nieuwe wereld’ minder bekende Italiaanse druivensoorten zoals Teroldego, Barbera, Aleatico, Nebbiolo, … en ze met veel respect om te toveren tot fantastische Italifornians.

Teroldego 2002 Il Podere Dell Olivos, Jim Clendenen
Stokken van Elisabetta Foradori uit Alto Adige

Pinot Noir Andromeda 2004 1.5L Sean Thackrey
Sean Thackrey is naast antiekhandelaar, dokter in kunstgeschiedenis en intellectueel een visionair wijnmaker, met een bescheiden domein.Bescheiden in omvang weliswaar, niet in kwaliteit.Wijnmaken is een kunstvorm, de wetenschap die erachter schuilgaat is puur voor controle doeleinden.Het wijnmaakproces is puur je in dienst stellen van de natuur, van je druiven.De wijnen van Sean Thackrey tasten de grenzen af van onze perceptie, ze zijn intens, diep, eerlijk en gewoon fabuleus en worden enkel gemaakt van low-yielding oude wijngaarden.Ze behoren tot de zeldzame klasse van wijnen die je onmiddellijk doet denken aan de grote wijn zoals ze vroeger gemaakt werden, ze zijn als een Oude Meester, maar dan geschilderd met een graffiti-spuitbus !Orion en Pleiades zijn beiden ‘vineyard-blends’.

Dierberg Arcadian Winery 2003 Santa Maria valley
Arcadian Winery
Joe Davis is een echte Bourgogne adept en zijn wijnen reflecteren zijn liefde voor deze streek dan ook enorm.Zijn wijnen behoren tot de meest Bourgondische die men vinden kan.Joe’s queeste naar de perfect Bourgondische pinot noir begon na het drinken van een fles Clos de la Roche 1978.Zijn wijnmakerstechnieken zijn traditioneel met heel veel respect voor het fragiele evenwicht in de rijpe pinot noirdruiven.Zijn wijnen dragen dan ook een stempel, de stempel van een begenadigd wijnmaker met een zwak voor Bourgogne.Joe koopt enkel druiven van de legendarische top wijngaarden Fiddlestix, Bien Nacido en natuurlijk Pisoni’s Vineyard.

The Vineyard.
The Dierberg’s began planting their 160 acre vineyard in 1997. The vineyard is predominantly a series of small undulating hills with southern exposures and sandy loam soils. Ten different Pinot Noir clones were matched with a variety of limiting rootstocks to maximize the options in the vineyard. Clone selections for Pinot Noir featured Dijon clones 115,667 and 867 along with cuttings from Champagne including clone 31 and clone 13. A total of 25 different Pinot Noir blocks are now planted within the Dierberg Vineyard. At harvest time, each of these blocks are picked separately and their flavor profiles and quality are evaluated as candidates for the final blend. Of particular interest to me are these two clones from Champagne which seem to retain their acidity at riper sugar levels. With this inaugural vintage the blend is primarily clone 31 with 25% clone 13 and 10 % clone 115.
Production
Only the best Pinot Noir grape clusters are handpicked in the vineyard in the early morning hours when the fruit is still cool. Pinot Noir has a tendency to ferment very quickly thus preventing the wine full color and flavor extraction. To arrest the on-set of immediate fermentation, dry ice is added to the small open top fermenting vats. This "cold soak" (at 45 °F) slows fermentation while saturating the juice with rich fruit flavor and true Pinot Noir color from prolonged contact with the grape skins. Concomitant with the primary fermentation is malolactic fermentation (malic acid to lactic acid), which reduces the total acid and imparts softness to the wine. The grapes are pigeaged (foot treaded) 3 to 5 times daily to extract color and tannins. We then press the wine at 1 - 2 % sugar and allow it to complete fermentation in 6 barrels; this helps integrate the qualities of oak in the wine. The wine was aged in 100 % new Sirugue French oak barrels for 22 months and bottled unfined and unfiltered. The bottled wine was further aged 14 months to allow the integration of the wine to become more complete

Jim Vuletic Providence winery

Mind my Flenglish while i mix up some flemish with my english.
Anyways back at some interesting winemakers:

a couple of years back I met Jim at a winediner together with Löwie at Antwerps Fornuis.
It was 1.30 or so people who still were lingering must have been half or completly drunk.
Jim still looked sober lurking on a cigare. So sipping on some leftovers of the magnums Private Reserve 98 I talked to him not really listening and I geuss I didn't even understand what he was saying the wine talked to me instead and was loud and clear so I went on looking for other bottles and drank every drop of every empty bottle there was to find. Nice indead.
I've seen him 6 or 7 times afterwords, conversations about how expensive first growths of bordeaux are and how corrupt the industry is, anyway it's all about those expensive not worth the money bull shit. Same old story but I trully find that instead of buying a Bordeaux wich is overpriced. (I take every chance i can drink one!!) One should concider buying one off Jim's wines, they arent cheap but worthed every penny.

And I hope I ever get the chance on visiting his winery just because of this:
Once there he opens first growths in magnificent years (he personaly knows allmost every first growth winemakers) before having you taste his own wines.

The diner before Lotus root we had a diner at Pain et le vin wich was trully my best food experience since the owner before Olivier became chef there. Guests where Jan, Caroline & little Sky (check out http://chefskitchenblog.blogspot.com/ Kitchenbitch of the week) and a culinary reporter from NY Cosmo and off coarse our friend Dirk. Main coarse was perfect cooked duck with figues very pure and natural, awsome with the syrah 2002.
We finished of a whole bottle of Paradis magnificent.


Providence Wine Dinner at the Root

Providence Nieuw Zeeland
Jim Vuletic was in een vorig leven een zeer geslaagd advocaat. Nu maakt hij één der allerbeste rode wijnen die Nieuw-Zeeland rijk is, bovendien volledig ‘organic’. Een vreemde blend van Malbec, Cabernet Franc en Merlot gerijpt in een ‘cool climate’ zone, een uurtje van Auckland, geeft deze wijn een zeer bijzonder en uniek karakter. Absolute wereldtop. Deze wijnen zijn geïnspireerd door de 1er grand cru classés, Jancis Robinson zei ooit deze wijn houd het midden tussen de finesse in het verouderen van Cheval Blanc en de complexiteit van Haut Brion.
Niet voor niets start Jim zijn degustaties met grote bordeaux in topjaren om daarna te beginnen met zijn eigen wijnen. Providence Syrah is Jim’s versie van Hermitage La Chapelle .

INTRO


WAGYU BEEF ROLLS WITH MIZUNA, SHISO, ENOKI & MACADAMIA NUT COULIS.
Rolletjes met Wagyu, Mizuna, Shiso, Enoki & Macadamia Noten Coulis.
Pinot Gris Pinot Blanc 2005
Au Bon Climat – Jim Clendenen

SCALLOP & SOFT SHELL CRAB WITH
BLOOD ORANGE-STAR ANISE VINAIGRETTE & CHINESE LONG BEAN.
Jakobsnoot & Soft Shell Krab met
Bloedsinaasappel-Steranijs Vinaigrette & Chinese Lange Bonen.
Jim Rose 2004

BRIOCHE WITH FOIE, POTATO & PARSNIP, BRAISED SPICY VEAL CHEEK.
Brioche met Ganzenlever, Aardappel & Pastinaak, Gebraiseerde Kalfswang met Chile.

Providence Matakana 2002

NEW-ZEALAND VENISON WITH MOLE & CASHEW VINAIGRETTE.
Nieuw-Zeelands Hertenkalf met Mole & Cashew Vinaigrette.
Syrah 2002

CHEESE
Providence Matakana 1996


Lotus Root Cali inspired cuisine
Chef Jean & lovely hot wife Carolwine
January 26th, 2007

Jim's in between comment:
Dear Glen,
>
> The menu is fine. My only observation is the braised spicy veal cheek -
> the question is how spicy is it? I believe that the level of spice should not
> be such as to burn the mouth which then prevents you from tasting the
> wine.
> It is a question of the level of spiciness.
>
>
> Kind Regards
> Jim

Heymann Löwenstein article I' ve worked on in 2004

Op zoek naar onze derde ‘Sexy Winemaker’ trokken we naar de Moezelstreek om er een grote wijnmeester, Reinhard Löwenstein te ontmoeten en kennis te maken met de producten die hij verbouwt. Wijnproducten, die de vakpers terecht ‘buitengewoon’ noemt -. Löwenstein slaagde er immers in een droge wijn met internationale faam te produceren, die perfect aangepast is aan de terrassenbouw van de Moezelstreek, te Winningen.

Riesling, verhaal van cultureel erfgoed, microklimaten en terroir.
Reinhard Löwenstein wordt door zijn omgeving bestempeld als een rebel.
Deze reputatie heeft hij verdiend door zijn fanatiek streven naar het maken van topkwaliteit riesling en zijn baanbrekende ideeën in verband met de kwaliteitsbepalende factoren van wijn.

Reinhard Löwenstein: "Het geheim van grote riesling schuilt in het begrijpen van de ‘terroir’. Juist daarom is een van onze belangrijkste taken te proberen om de identiteit van elk microklimaat en zijn effect op het finale product te achterhalen."

Löwenstein is voorstander van kleine selecties.
Kwaliteit ziet hij niet in het streven naar meer wijnsoorten maken en verbouwen op grotere schaal.
Hij vertrekt vanuit het idee van een culturele aanpak waarbij hij door de wijn de regio wil communiceren en laten proeven.
Het resultaat is veelzeggende riesling, met hooggeconcentreerde fruitaroma’s en zeer complexe, persistente mineraalexpressies, die best tot uiting komen bij een ‘sec’ vinificatie. Veelal worden de wijnen betiteld als de Moezelriesling ‘nieuwe stijl’ en dit omwille van hun smaakrijkdom, hun subtiele harmonie en de intense belevenis van hun terroir-expressie.

Reinhard Löwenstein:"Wanneer ik een ondergrond bekijk, weet ik gevoelsmatig of hij goede wijn zal voortbrengen… Elke ondergrond levert op zich een ander karakter aan de wijn.
De terroirexpressie van mijn wijnen wordt complex genoemd, maar dat maakt het voor mij net aantrekkelijk.
Producten, die gemakkelijk te achterhalen zijn, zijn niet zo interessant om mee te werken.
De veronderstelling meer zonneschijn, betere wijn is niet van toepassing bij riesling.
Riesling tiert het best in koele klimaatzones en geeft het beste resultaat bij een zo lang mogelijke vegetatieve cyclus, om een rijpe smaak te ontwikkelen. Daarbij komt dat extreme temperatuurverschillen van zonnige dagen en koude nachten op het einde van derijpingsperiode het aroma bevorderen. Een van de bijzonderheden van dit deel van de
Moezel is de terrasbouw.

Schieferterrassen
De Schieferterrassen bestaan uit tot twintig op elkaar geplaatste terrassen, die het mogelijk maken op de extreem steile hellingenwijn te verbouwen. De blauwachtige kostbare grondlaagformaties, vooral bekend van de beroemde wijngaarden van de midden-Moezel sublimeren zich tot de riesling Von Blauem Schiefer, een wijn met zeer expressief en delicaat karakter.

De gele tot roodbruine grondlagen, die men op de Winninger Röttgen aantreffen, geven zeer exuberante wijnen, met altijd hints van rijpe, witte perzik en meloen.

Winninger Uhlen is een uitzonderlijke wijn gaard, die van de wind is afgeschermd door een rij bomen en is als een natuurlijk amfitheater naar het zuiden gericht.
Hier is de grondlaag donkerrood gekleurd en bedekt met een laag zachte kalk van een tiental meter dikte. Wijn van deze bodem vertaalt zich in sterke minerale accenten en fruitaroma’s. De wijnpercelen Röttgen en Uhlen worden ook de ‘premier grand cru’ percelen genoemd. Enkel op deze percelen reflecteert de wijn het
karakter van het ‘terroir’.

Wanneer is de riesling klaar om te drinken?
De eerste drie tot vijf jaar van hun leven, zijn het de primaire aroma’s, die men associeert met verschillende fruit- en bloemsoorten met meestal een hint van verse bodemaroma’s. In de rijpingsfase, die daarop volgt, komen de aroma’s van gedroogde vruchten en fijne complexe kruiden boven. Stilaan beginnen ook de mineralen te spreken en wint de wijn aan smaak, distinctie en persoonlijkheid.

Sommelier Glen Ramaekers ging op zoek naar het ideale evenwicht tussen rieslingwijnen en gerechten en vonden de ideale keuken in Chinese stoomgerechten of Dim Sum, op basis van fijne specerijen en delicate evenwichtige smaken.

Schieferterrassen 2003
Aangename frisse neus, uitstekende balans tussen mineralen en fruit.
Zachte fruitige mond met prikkelende minerale toetsen op de tong.
Heerlijk bij gestoomde ravioli van garnaal met jonge lente-ui en sojasaus (Ha Jeung),
of gestoomde varkensballetjes met roze garnaal (Siu Mai)
Prijs: 16.00 euro

Röttgen 2001
Kruidig vol, elegant en complexe dominante aroma’s van lentebloesems en rijpe appel.
Suggestie bij gestoomde korfje van rundsvlees met gember of gestoomde inktvis met
rode pikante chili.
Prijs: 28,50 euro

Uhlen "R" 2001
Zeer rijke, meditatiewijn (om bij na denken en weg te dromen).
Vol en krachtig in de mond met een elegante afdronk.
Te schenken bij krab en tarowortel omhuld met zeewier of oester met zwarte bonensaus
en lente-ui.
Prijs: 38,65 euro
Al deze wijnen zijn verkrijgbaar bij http://www.swaffou.be/ / Dim Sum geserveerd door Oriental Delight, Van Wesenbekestraat 46-52, Antwerpen.

Touring I 6 I JULI ‘04

Yeah back in the running dudes!! Say Cheese

Wine and chees combos:

classic combinations are young/old clarets or old burgundy.
My good old friend Harry the cheese ripener alway told me a simple bottle of red goes with an assortment of cheese. Not to expensive, wines with a touch of oak wood are ok but not to expressive and exhuberant wines nor delicate wines. Vin de pays, italian/spanish tables wines, plain reds are ok.
But this isn't really pairing up!! It's a cheap no brainer.
Whites always work, bringing freshness and harmony.
What works for me:
goats and white soft cheeses: acidic wines, sauvignon types, Frenchy loire sancerre, pouilly: grassy, citrus driven. I would suggest it but not drink it myself!
I'd go south african colombard or old "Clos du Bourg" Vouvray from Huet, chenin with lots of grace or François Cotats old sancerre!
I chose a Argentinian chard, unwooded, lots of exotic fruits mostly pineaple, a chard quite fat with great acidity.
Great Petit Gabriel (belgian ardennes cow milk) with ginger/mango chutney
to be continued ...

Forgotten Grapes

Great wines with interesting grape varieties I've been working with:
-Tazzalenghe di Buttrio 1998 from Giralomo Dorigo coming from north Italy Friuli.
After all these years there still is a lot of body in the wine, beautifully ripened but still din't reach it's peak. I remember tasting a sweet wines made from picolit, very interesting flavours, quince and dried peach, aromatic almost muscat like but more body reminds me of viognier mouthwise.
-From Germany's Württenberg Fürst zu Hohenlohe-Oehringen: Samtrot Auslese Trocken 1997
Lightbodied, delicate pinotesk like with a hint of sweet spices and dried herbes.
Wich is more than normal there Samtrot is derived from the Pinot Meunier grape.
It did reach its peak but a fantastic glas of wine to start of a fine diner.
Fürst zu blablabla carries an interesting range of red wines made of less frequent used grapes such as: muskattrolinger, lemberger, schwarzriesling (wich is eventually pinot meunier where samtrot is derived from), dornfeller (more sturdy and richer).
All in all heavy but delicate wines each one of them with great aging potentials.

Wine and cheese

Harry Schockaert one of the 13 members of the Cercle des fromager affineurs.

Harry, who new me since my parents started their catering business in the centre of Mechelen late 70's, isn't fond of being called a "fromager"!!

He is not a cheese maker but an affineur or ripener, he makes the cheese ready for consumation or better still he makes cheese edible.

Ripening cheese is quite a job, i grew up eating Harry's fantastic selection of cheeses and untill now I stay amazed by these flavours, texture and aromas it's thrilling!!

We just started of a pretty interesting wine and cheese course we organise once a month via Bongo (check out the link!).

H. has been giving cheese tastings forever at his shop pairing it up with classics: starting of with fresh cheese and artisan cider, goatcheese with sauvingons from the Loire, creamcheeses with fresh young alsacians, more aromatic cheeses with whites from the Costières de Nîmes with lots of viognier in, ...

So I tought why not change the wines with New World wines and and try out other combinations.

H. is convinced that whites are a better match with Cheese wich is very right. But certain chilled reds are fantastic too!! Fortified wines (Cali sweets from Andrew Quady, Bouteille Call: Bonny Doons port of syrah with Tullamine raspberries, pink sparkels from Piemonte, oxidatif whites, ... Food and winelover, pro and contras come on and join the tastings!! Discover and intervene in our search of perfect combinations.

Important fact of keeping cheese!!

Wine just like cheese has to be served at the perfect temperature for maximum enjoyment.

At most places cheeses are kept in refrigerated areas, mostly the cheeses aren't ripened then.

Therefore at home or at the restaurant we ripene the cheese further ourselves or bring the cheese to a certain temp before serving. After serving it mostly we trow it right in the fridge again. Wrong!!!!! Not good, bad very bad, NO CAN DO!!

When cheeses are well ripened they must be kept at 12-14° celsius not colder!

The cheese is ready, putting it back is destroying the work and time spent to make it "a point".

Once the perfect ripeness is achieved we must keep the temp steady, of course keeping it at room temp we create unwanted bacteria, so let's use our grey mass for those who have it at least.

Perfect place to keep it is the winecellar, eat your cheese within the week!

Since I've been working with SWAFFOU I got the opportunity on onganizing winediners at high end restaurants and have experienced this:

All over the same mistakes are made over and over again, cheeses to cold or to old.

H. always says he's afraid to eat cheese at restaurants because of the they way the cheeses are treated, I must sadly confirm his critic.

Stop big cheeseplatters and focus on specific cheeses, make a course combined with complemtary flavours and off course the perfect winematch!!

At restaurant t'Archief wich I consult we always carry 3-4 different cheeses, 300-400gr each wich i personaly select on perfect ripeness. They come in wednesday and by sunday most of it is finished if not I have the staff enjoy it and let them discover the cheese as well as the leftovers of fruits, jelly's and wines to combine with.

Chee(r)se!!

Choosing wine in restaurants

Choosing a wine in restaurants.
Do you make make your own winechoice on the winelist; looking for a good deal?
Or do you enjoy being led by the restaurantmanager or sommelier??

Every restaurant has it's own way of dealing with wines some focus on the demand of the consumer, others look for wines to match the restaurant philosophy or make it match with the chefs kitchen. Some want to specialize themselves in a certain style.

Depending on following points I would make a decision:

-Is the restaurant based in a wineregion

-Type of kitchen

-What's on the winelist

-What's the budget

-Who is the sommelier

-Do we know the restaurant or staff