As big fans of Noma, we’re interested in everything connected to them. So when we found out about Empirical Spirits it didn’t took long before the first bottles arrived in Amsterdam.
Empirical Spirits is a flavor company founded in 2017 by Restaurant noma alumni Lars Williams and Mark Emil Hermansen. [ Continue reading ]

Upcoming 9, 10 and 11 October, two-Michelin-star chef Edwin Vinke from restaurant De Kromme Watergang is going to serve an exclusive dinner in the Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Embassy in Amsterdam as this year's edition of the super inspirational Steinbeisser‘s Experimental Gastronomy initiative. The dinner is entirely plant-based (vegan) with all ingredients from biodynamic or organic agriculture sourced in the Netherlands. Edwin Vinke is since 1993 owner and chef of the two-Michelin-starred restaurant De Kromme Watergang. Pleasure, passion and perfection form the basis of Vinke’s kitchen for which he was awarded “Chef of the Year” in 2011 by Gault Millau. For this edition Edwin Vinke will feature historical and curious flowers, herbs and vegetables. A special challenge for a chef that takes his inspiration from the Zeeland waters. [ Continue reading ]

With the official team presentations, which will take place this evening, the Tour de France fever in our hometown Utrecht is slowly reaching a highpoint (with the tropical temperatures of recent days also playing a significant role in this development). Although the little brother of Amsterdam has gained significantly growing international attention in recent years, because of its beautiful canals and historical city center with a more laidback and less touristic atmosphere - for many people the host of the Grand Départ is still unknown territory. As we have been happily living in Utrecht for quite some years now, we teamed up with Rapha to introduce our city properly and created a little map with all of our favorite destinations when it comes to Food & Drinks, Art & Culture, Antiques & Obsessions, Fashion & Design, Markets & Flowers and Hideouts & Escapes, which we named Utrecht's Finest. For those first getting to know Utrecht, or those who are curious what it is what makes the city special for us. [ Continue reading ]

On the 30th of April, a very special new meeting place for lovers of art, design and food opened its doors in the city of Amsterdam. In a monumental building in between the streets Rokin and Nes, right in the heart of Amsterdam. The initiative of cultural entrepreneur Jessica Voorwinde combines an exhibition space for art and design and a spectacular barroom, which was designed by Lex Pott, resulting in an incredible hybrid for lovers of food and art under one roof. By collaborating with astonishing people of the creative industry Voorwinde created a playground for all art-lovers. A place where people can meet and enjoy various inspiring events and exhibitions, taste some amazing ’culture bites’, have a drink at the marmor bar or buy a design from exquisite designers. Whenever visiting Amsterdam make sure to stop by and be inspired. [ Continue reading ]

Pure tea from around the world, hand-processed using different, traditional production methods, suitable for multiple hot or cold infusions, since its foundation in 2012 the remarkable Berlin-based Paper & Tea and its whole-leaf teas have gained an ever growing following among gourmets and a discerning lifestyle segment with a focus on creativity and healthy living. Up until now, P & T, along with its founder, Jens de Gruyter, have been pursuing their endeavor of promoting and making authentic tea culture accessible to a broader audience from the first Paper & Tea concept store in Berlin-Charlottenburg. The day after tomorrow P & T will open its second store in Berlin-Mitte, the heart of the city, innovatively building on its existing brand philosophy: allowing modern consumers to discover tea through a unique retail experience. The systematic way of presenting products, developed for the original concept store, has been adapted to match the fast-paced environment of the Alte Schönhauser Strasse, resulting in another inspirational store. [ Continue reading ]

The newly re-opened Paris-based La Ferme Saint Simon is a restaurant with a great heritage. In 1933 the restaurant opened its doors for the first time on Saint-Simon street, named after the famous French writer Louis de Rouvroy, Duke of Saint-Simon. At that time the restaurant, located close to the Musée d'Orsay and the Louvre, was named Au Bougnat. Subsequently the restaurant was acquired by the famous duo Denise Fabre and Francis Vandenhende who renamed it and made it a legendary Parisian address. Years later, in 2007, Ferme Saint Simon was acquired by Dario Dondelli, and finally in 2013 it was acquired by Marcelo Joulia and Laurent Limouzin, friends and associates through their Group Food & Fun. Joulia and Limouzin have updated the concept, while maintaining its founding elements: a classic and easy cuisine by chef Ali Iguedlane in an entirely new elegant decor, designed by French architecture and design agency Naço Architectures. [ Continue reading ]

In collaboration with Amsterdam's number one chocolate store and personal favorite, Chocolátl, Monskin and Reluct created the very fascinating Choco Nebula: a cloud of chocolate. The project focusses on the fragrance which is extracted from single estate chocolate bars. A custom designed nebuliser evaporates chocolate particles in a cloud of supercharged chocolate fragrance giving the user an intense chocolate experience without actually eating it.  [ Continue reading ]

The impressive temporary summer-restaurant on 'Vuurtoreneiland', close to Amsterdam, is a wonderful initiative by Staatsbosbeheer, who owns the island, Restaurant AS, Nooitlek, the Lloyd Hotel and the Cultural Embassy. Open for costumers since the beginning of July and running until the end of September; on Thursday until Saturday evening and on Sunday afternoon one can enjoy dinner or lunch during any kind of weather in the temporary erupted glass greenhouse on a truly stunning location. [ Continue reading ]

This week The House of Peroni will open its doors in London. For one month only it will showcase todays most exciting creative talent defining contemporary Italian culture. You will get a chance to attend at events and workshops including a talk with Giovanni Alessi Anghini about what inspired the creation of his iconic products, a tour with Andrea Morgante looking at the Italian influence on Londonʼ skyline and much more. [ Continue reading ]

Recent innovations made in the 3D printing technology really inspire us. A field of 3D printing technology that profoundly amazes is the use within the food industry. One of the designers using the technology is the New York-based Henry Richmond V. Young who earned a BFA in Product Design from Parsons the New School for Design and has a transdisciplinary approach in his work. With great interest in music, cuisine, and perfumery, his work grows to focus on experience and ephemera. Young's most recent project, Ad Tempus, is a series of dessert plating arrangements that aims to connect food and design. Young collaborated with chef Veronica Duboise to create the series, which is designed to adapt and evolve. [ Continue reading ]

Find. Eat. Drink. is an online database and iOS app that highlights the best restaurants, drinking holes, and food shops around the world, according to professionals in the industry. This includes experts like Michelin-star chefs, coffee roasters, bartenders, sommeliers and food writers giving their personal recommendations in a fashion that reminds of the recently released printed guide Where Chefs Eat. Find. Eat. Drink. lets one browse offerings in over 120 major cities worldwide, utilizing the app there's the option to use your location to show you what's nearby, filtered by particular cuisine and price class. [ Continue reading ]

While we are crossing Japan, enjoying some real Japanese traditions, here's some more Japanese inspired European business. Paper & Tea founder, Jens de Gruyter and his team, have made it their mission to make fine teas and tea culture more accessible to a broad audience in Western-Europe. In order to achieve this they opened a bright store on the first of December 2012 at the Bleibtreustrasse 4 in Berlin. In the store the presentation system of the teas encourages self-directed discovery, through a immediate sensory experience and dialogue in order for the customer to familiarize with the wide range of the offered. The store's interior, designed in collaboration with product designer Fabian von Ferrari, resembles a mix of aesthetically purist concept store and natural history museum. [ Continue reading ]

It is believed that wasabi was first used where it was found, growing wild in Japan's valleys of Mt. Heike, Mt. Mizuo, and Mt. Bahun. The locals gathered wild wasabi to use as a condiment with slices of raw yamame, and raw venison. In addition to use as a flavoring, the stems and leaves of wasabi were also pickled and eaten as a vegetable. At one point the wasabi was shown to Tokugawa Ieyasu, a Japanese warlord of the era, who liked it so much declaring it a treasure only to be grown in the Shizuoka area. [ Continue reading ]

Where Chefs Eat is the latest publication on dining by Phaidon. The publication, with an aesthetic reminiscent of commercial printing from the 1950s and '60s, features over four hundred chefs who have given restaurant recommendations in the ultimate insiders' guide. The chefs recommend restaurants in eight categories: breakfast, late night, regular neighbourhood, local favorite, bargain, high end, wish I'd opened, and worth the travel. The book is organised by continent and divided by city, but restaurants are listed in no particular order making the use of the guide somewhat of an surprise act.  [ Continue reading ]

Tê Timer is a collaboration between Swedish Afteroom and Taiwanese Waterfall, materializing the relationship between tea and time in one product. The joint venture is a bound publication of a graphic arts collection curated by Waterfall and at the same time a container of a tea brick produced by Afteroom.  [ Continue reading ]

The ultimate gift of tea: Twelve Months of Bellocq. [ Continue reading ]

We would like to present to you yet another (overwhelmingly beautiful) food magazine named FOOL. Don't be misguided by the name of the magazine, because the magazine founded by Swedish husband and wife Lotta and Per-Anders Jorgensen is nothing to be fooled with. Lotta and Per-Anders named the magazine 'FOOL' as a play on the word 'Food' and foolishness which is what modern gastronomy is about in their eyes. The exquisite eye of the highly experienced food photographer Per-Anders makes that FOOL takes food photography to the next level. [ Continue reading ]

Via our friends at Protein we discovered another great new (food) magazine: Gather Journal. The bi-annual magazine created by former NYLON fashion editors Michele Outland and Fiorella Valdesolo started out of their shared love for food and wanted to be more than your average recipe-based magazine with boring aesthetic. Assisted by the renowned food stylist and chef Maggie Ruggiero who edited the recipes, they created the first issue in only three months. Every issue has one particular theme (the first issue is based around the theme Float)  and is divided into chapters, based on the way we divide our meals into amuse bouches, starters, mains, and desserts. [ Continue reading ]

During Art Basel, the Vitra Design Museum opened an exposition dedicated to a number of innovative Dutch designers. The designers were invited to join a partner from the region in developing a design project. The spectrum of partners ranged from the molecular biology laboratory of the firm Roche to the only female charcoal maker in Switzerland.
Studio Wieki Somers teamed up with chocolatier Rafael Mutter to create the ‘Chocolate Mill', a large cylindrical block of chocolate from which delicate rosettes can be shaved off with a crank-turned blade. Various patterns are integrated into the block using different types of chocolate, creating a flipbook effect as the layers are scraped off. [ Continue reading ]

Love The Selby’s view on Copenhagen’s Fiskebar. In the raw and light interior with the beautiful aquarium ‘you can snack in the bar, kick back on the sofas, sit at the tables inside, or enjoy the evening sun from under the canopy outside. You can share… [ Continue reading ]

Last week we were invited by Alexander Guy, the long lost grandson of Joseph Guy IV and the man behind Joseph Guy Cognac, for a Guy’s Night In. A night with a selected group of Dutch style bloggers, good food and delicious cognac cocktails. Since it… [ Continue reading ]

Featured a while back in one of the first ‘On The Shelf’s’, the Gli Spaghetti Dei Martelli is definitely one of our favorite pasta’s in one of the best and classic designed packaging! Just found this really nice series of pictures of the Tuscany pasta makers… [ Continue reading ]

We’ve put together a special Queensday shelf, to celebrate the color orange (and the queen of the Netherlands…) 1. Knit-ted look book fall 2010 2. Journal de Nîmes Nº6, the Dutch issue 3. Cuvée René Gueuze Lambic Beer 4. [ Continue reading ]

1. Diner Journal 2. Karl Lagerfeld – Metamorphoses of an American 3. Vintage soda water bottle 4. Vintage Kaweco Pen set 5. Kusmi Tea from The Village 6. Vintage coin holder 7. Vintage denim… [ Continue reading ]