Brian B

Have finally gotten round to booking dinner at oud sluis,will be going from Amsterdam to Brugge(if that is possible)so would love some lighter lunch ideas for the city, will be staying the night in sluis and to say that Im excited is an understatement.

Just to give the topic an international angle I am currently working as a chef in a restaurant in Amsterdam,the Netherlands and everyone including the kitchen porters gets an equal share of the tips, which are giiven weekly and with a breakdown of the total amount of tips per day. Having worked in Ireland,England and Austrailia this is the first time I have experienced such an equitable system and it makes for a pleaseant working enviroment with respect all round. Some restaurants I have worked make me angry to think how badly the back of house can be treated and eseentialy exploited. If front of house and back of house get equal shares it must be better for the whole dining public.

the dishes on offer at the Bar seem closer to whats on offer at Maze in London,which would make sense. How is the atmosphere and what is the layout like.

Sorry Gariotin, Bra is usually in the last week in sept, there are some great discussions and some bad ones,eah one has been better organised than the last but the cheese is fantastic, and with Barolo and Alba only a short drive away a great food and wine holiday. Am already making plans.

We brought 7 cheeses, which is strange for a presidia as the majority of the stalls had one item,be it Chaam chickens from the Netherlands,Einkorn from Provence or Stockfish from Norway aswell as over 200 presidias from Italy alone. The seven were Cooleney,a soft camembert style bloom rind cheese. Durrus, a wash rind cheese,shaped like a Toma but with a fuller flavour. Diliskis, similar in style to the Durrus not as robust flavoured with seaweed. St. Gall, a matured(5+ months) alpine style cheese,dense forest flavours. Drumlin,a hard aged cheese,small tomme de savoye size yet firm textured. Mt Callan, traditional Irish cheddar(15+ months),more buttery than the english cheddars but with a good cheddar bite. Bellingham Blue, a like a piquant gorgonzla nicely rounded. The cheese's were very well received we sold out of everything by monday(the event ran from thur-mon)save the Drumlin and Mt. Callan which were suffering from being very close to the english cheddars and the Dutch Gouda

Sorry to get off the russian/vietnamiese cheese topic which is fascinating, but thought id share some highlights of the salone del gusto in Turin. I was working on the Irish Raw Milk Cheese stand which is the the only active Presidia in Ireland at the moment(the wild salmon presidia being suspended due to sustainability issues and very keenly missed) and it was a busy fascinating 4 days. If one could imagine an Italian food heaven the salone could well fit the bill and combined with terra madre the sense of community was real and genuine. As busy as we were (we got through over 240kgs of cheese in 4.5 days) people were interested in the cheese's and really quite well informed, was suprised at the large north american turnout and felt positive at the end of the weekend that there is hope for real food in this at times unreal world. Am digressing from the main issue which for me was the cheese,highlights were a tasting of Puglian cheese and wine,Portugese soft Sheeps milk cheese(with a naturalthistle coagulatant in place of rennet),Cravero's 2 year old Parmesan,The 3 English cheddars Montgomeries,Keens and Westcombe, Tuscan Peccorino, a selection of affineured cheese's from the Valle D"Aosta which I can only say were memorable as I lost my notes. but I could go on there was so much happening. If anyone can try to get to Slow Cheese in Bra next yeat it is a good experience and bring a spare bag as you will want to take everything home.

Sorry to get off the aged gouda issue(which I find difficult to believe in a 10 year old gouda),but I was wondering if anyone is going to the slowfood salone del guste next week, I will be working on a stall representing Irish raw milk cheeses and would be happy to see some egulleteers there. The whole weekend seems fascinating and having not been before I am very excited about the trip,if people cannot make it bear in mind that next year there is the slowfood celebration of Cheese at Bras in Piedmont having been last year I think its worth begging borrowing or stealing for as its a true celebration of cheese in all its forms. Will get as much info and pics as possible and post when i get back.