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paulbrussel

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Everything posted by paulbrussel

  1. Strange enough I always found it hard to find top food places in Amsterdam. I have been several times to Pascal Jalhaij at Vermeer**, but he has gone there; I don't know about his succesor but I heard good stories about him. And there is always the excellent La Rive (althought it last his second star this year - didn't understand why!). And there is Yamazato* in the Okura Hotel. In the upper middle class, there doesn't seem to be much. I liked Breitner and Le Hollandais. And lately the restaurant Elkaar seems to be good. No one mentioned the famous Nam Kee restaurant?
  2. Helder just retired.I think you are referring to Pascal Jalhaij - he was gone from Vermeer of NH Hoteles in Amsterdam to the Palace Hotel in Noordwijk to open the restaurant Chatillon. (I went there in December 2005 and was not very much impressed and did not see any evolution since two years before.)
  3. Oud Sluis is definitely the best and most inventive (I was there again 10 days ago and had never eaten as good as that time).Then there is the excellent Hof van Cleve but as UE says: it is a bit less excuting as Oud Sluis. De Karmeliet is good as well, but more in the HvC style, and a little less good as HvC. Comme chez soi is, in my view, not worth trying: it is extremely expensive, not very modern and not worth 3 stars. Parkheuvel is very difficult: the chef Cees Helder who merited the 3 stars left this summer. It has been taken over by chef Erik van Loo from the Zwethheul, a two starred restaurant near Rotterdam. I must say that De Zwethheul has always been very good, but I am not sure whether you should already try Van Loo in his new place since he took over the old staff of Parkheuvel and I suppose he has to get used to his new teams. For Brussels I also would strongly recommend Sea Grill of the SAS hotel: a very interesting, two star restaurant with a modern cooking chef Yves Mattagne.
  4. On the other hand, Blumenthal seemed to have been informed by a Michelin inspector that it would be wise not to move to another, more lucurious place. So I don't know whether the ambiance at Can Roca is the main reason. It was suggested earlier that the Roca brothers haven't been in the possession of their two stars long enough to deserve already their third.
  5. You are quite right, Bux, and even the waiters were not that good in English, nor in French. The Roca-brothers on the contrary do speak well French.
  6. I am not sure; there was a specific menu that included indeed several courses from other years, but I don't remember what courses were in that menu.I will try to copy the menu here (unfortuantely in English while I had prefered to have it in the original language, because of wahat Bux is stating: the mistranslations).
  7. Hi Pedro, Can Roca was great! We had twice the surprise menu (three snacks, three tapas, 10 courses, 2 desserts and 4 petits-fours) for only 90 €. (I had my personal conviction confirmed that this restaurant deserves more teh three stars then Sant Pau does.) They managed to prepare us two completely different meals each day!
  8. They themselves translate in the English version of the menu: "Piglet with almonds and gentian".
  9. Went there once for dinner, in May 2002 (so I do admit: it is a long time ago). Unfortunately I was not impressed at all: not by the food and certainly not by the service. They dared to put me as a single diner in the middel of the huge dining room, although almost no one else was there. Remarks were not appreciated. Food (I took the simpliest menu) was not impressive either. There was no harmony, somte times dominancy of one part of the dish over the main ingredient, repetition of ingredients (quite a few tomatoes in different dishes). And by the way, I did speak French (nevertheless, the servers spoke either French or English to me; I always had to wait what language they would use, and how to adjust to them). Edit: this poor experience never made me come back.
  10. Well, normally I think that the most excellent chefs also are very good in seafood. I have the idea that amongst top chefs seafood is more appreciated then meat. Anyway, my experience at Le Bernardin was quite disappointing; my last visit at WD-50 the most interesting of all my restaurants in NYC. Personally I like very much the Sea Grill in Brussels for its seafood - the restaurant I visit already since more then 10 years: creative (not innovative) bur very interesting (well, I must admit: I have been there about a 50 times). It has two Michelin stars.
  11. In Dutch they are called "negerzoenen": kisses of negroes. A few weeks ago, when the most important Dutch dictionary was published in a new edition, a group started to have this word deleted, being discriminating.
  12. Two months earlier then usual, on 1/12/2005 the new Guide Michelin Benelux will be published. Today, there was already the press release with the news. Netherlands The Netherlands has now three restaurants with three stars. After Parkheuvel (Rotterdam) in 2002, De Librije (2004) now the most innovative and young chef Sergio Herman of Oud Sluis got his third star. No one is surprised about that. One restaurant, also more modern, got his second star: Ron Blaauw (near Amsterdam). There are 13 new one star restaurants, some without surprise as e.g. Seinpost in Scheveningen, De Gieser Wildeman in Noordeloos or Auguste in Maarsen. La Rive of the luxury hotel Amstel in Amsterdam goes from two to one star, which is quite surprising (and in my view not justified). The Netherlands ends up with three ***, six ** and 71 * restaurants. Belgium Belgium still has its three *** restaurants: Hof van Cleve (Kruishoutem), De Karmeliet (Brugge) and Comme chez soi (Brussels). Hostellerie St-Nicolas in Ieper gets its scond star. But three restaurants loose their second star: Bellefleur (Kapellen), Bijgaarden (near Brussels) and Au Gastronome (Paliseul). The latter two I am not surprised at all. There are 14 new one star restaurants; 15 lost their one and only star. Some new stars are evident like 't Overhamme in Aalst or Couvert Couvert in Heverlee (Leuven). Belgium ends up with ends up with three ***, ten ** and 79 * restaurants. (No information about Luxemburg.) In my opinion Michelin, as the just published GaultMillau guide tends to appreciate modern and cerative restaurants more and earlier (like Oud Sluis and Ron Blaauw), and does no longer highly award the more classic restaurants, like La Rive (more modern classic, I would say) or Bijgaarden.
  13. Thanks for the explanation. (Next week I will check again whether I was right last time in esteeming the Roca brothers that high, although this time I won't have lunch first at Carmens place :-).)
  14. That surprises me too. Last year I went foor lunch to San Pau and for dinner to the three brothers at the same day. I thought thta Can Roca was superior to San Pau.
  15. Thanks for the review on the meal. Oud Sluis is in my view the best restaurant in the Netherlands and the most creative. It received today its third Michelin star in the Guide Michelin Benelux 2006, so there are now three ***-restaurants: (Oud Sluis, De Librije of Jonnie Boer in Zwolle, and Parkheuvel of Cees Helder in Rotterdam). There ar more creative restaurants that follow the moleculary culinary trends. One of them is Pascal Jalhaij who used to be **-chef of Vermeer in Amsterdam but left that restaurant last year (caused by different views with the management of the NH Hotel in which Vermeer was located). Jalhaij started a new restaurant on 1/11/2005: Le Chatillon, Palace Hotel, Noordwijk. (I will visit the restaurant next week, so I can only tell then how he has evolved after one year on leave.)
  16. Well, I had lmunch at Can Fabes, going by train from BCN; very easy and about 30 minutes, I think. Can Roca is also very easy to reach by cab from Girona and Girona is easy to get to by train as well from BCN.
  17. It all depends what you like, I think. For me, I use of course eGullet. Then: Michelin, GaultMillau and Champérard. The last two existing in French. Michelin 2005 has not been published yet, as far as I know; GaultMillau 2005 is very recent (la couple of weeks ago), so quite up to date. Champérard 2005 was published a few months ago.
  18. Chez Marie is not easy to find indeed. perhaps only the lunch menu (16 €) might be interesting; for dinner it costs à la carte between 46 and 60 €, according to Michelin. The a la carte menu is rather short and expensive (they don't serve prix fixe menus for dinner). The dishes are really good, but in my view not very interesting culinary wise. Do mind that the wine list is big but also quite expensive. For De la Vigne...: the wine list starts with quite moderate prices (14 €?), and a good prix fixe menu is served for dinner at 20 €; for lunch there is a menu for 12 €. As regard starred restaurants, you good also try Le Passage, which has a lunch menu for 20 €. For dinner it has become more expensive over the years. The best value for money lunch, I think would be the two starred restaurant (uptill 2003 three stars) Bruneau where you can have a three course menu (several choices), which comes with three amuses-geules and including an aperitif and drinks for 65 €. (Without drinks: 45 €.)
  19. Well, discussions are always possible on the scores and are always personal. My last meal at Sketch, I gave it 17/20 (Gagnaire in Paris I have given a few times 19.5/20); the last at Gordon Ramsay RHR got 18/20 of me. As said, all personal, of course!
  20. What sort of restaurants do you like? Furthermore: in Brussels lunches are generally much, much cheaper then dinner. Is 25 € including drinks or only for the meal? For dinner I can only recommend for that price: De la Vigne... à l'assiette, r. Longue Haie 51, 1000 Brussels; tel. +32.2.647 68 03.
  21. Other examples could be added. For years the three star restaurant in Brussels, Comme chez soi, was considered by many not longer as a three star restaurant, but since Wynants is the Paul Bocuse ambassador type of Belgium, it kept the three stars; at least, the latter is what was suspected. Hof van Cleve in Kruishoutem has been considered for years to be a three star restaurant. Only this year it got its third star (after having been given 19,5/20 by GaultMillau last year). Some think that the Belgium restaurant Clos St-Denis deserves its third star as well, since a long time. Another example is the excellent Parisian restaurant Le Carré des Feuillants of Alain Dutournier, for whom was expected since years a third star as well. Unfortunately, on specific restaurants will not be commented, and of course: difference in opinions is also possible.
  22. Derek, Thank you so much for being here and replying to so various questions that gives more transparency. On the other hand, some people say that the mystery of Michelin has set its prestige. Why has the Michelin policy of silence changed? Another question that comes up regularly: do there exist quota for countries to have a certain number of one, and especially two or three star restaurants? I notice myself that in quite a few countries, the numbers of two and three star restaurants stay the same over the years. (Take Belgium: had three three stars uptil last year; from this year on it has again three restaurants with three stars.) Last question for the moment: how do you think does the negative publicity on Michelin affects the prestige of Michelin and its ratings? Since last year, the book of Pascal Rémy caused quite a few negative publicity, as did the book of Olivier Marteau. This year there is the scandal of the Benelux guide of which all copies have to be taken back because of the mentioning of a bib gourmand restaurant which could never have been visited by an inspector. Paul
  23. Another scandal about the credibility of Michelin broke out after the presentation of the Michelin Guide Benelux 2005 in Maastricht last Monday. It became known that the restaurant Ostend Queen got a bib gourmand, although it opened only on 7 January 2005, whilst the guide came from the printer already in December 2004. This implied that Michelin gave a bib gourmand to a restaurant which could not have been visited by the staff / inspectors of Michelin. First the director made a bagatelle of the problem. But the press suggested that since the chef had worked at a two star restaurant, but over more, since the supervising chef is the best known chef of Belgium (Pierre Wynants of Brussels three starred restaurant Comme chez soi), Michelin gave already for their reputation the bib gourmand, after Wynants had contacted the guide. However, Michelin states in all the guides that no restaurant will appear in the guides when it has not been visited. Now, even an important award as a bib gourmand is, was given to a non-existing restaurant... Today, Michelin made public that all 60.000 Benelux guides will be returned and taken out of sale; the corrected version of the Benelux guide should be published before the first of March. Damage already has affected Michelin again, I am afraid.
  24. Belgium Kruishoutem, Hof van Cleve: *** De Panne, Le Fox ** (7 new one star restaurants) Netherlands Giethoorn, De Lindenhof ** Schipluiden, De Zwetheul ** (9 new one star restaurants) Luxemburg Luxemburg-Grund, Mosconi **
  25. As mentioned also elsewhere, I think Cata 1.81 is probably the cheapest more modern Catalan cuisine in BCN where you can have a Menú Degustació for 20 €.
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