Just 2 more days until I’m off to Australia for 7 weeks! Who can tell me what to see, where to eat, what to do and where to sleep? What not to miss?
Picture credits can be found through my Pinterest account.
Tag Archives: food
In de Wulf, Dranouter
It’s been more than a week already since my visit to Michelin starred restaurant In de Wulf and I still have no idea where to start. The 18 course menu? The beautiful location in the southern part of Belgium? Late night snacking with all of the staff? The breakfast the next day? Or the warm personality of Kobe Desramaults that shines through in everything? Which I already noticed visiting The Superette a few weeks ago.
Though you might not expect to read this much on a photography blog, I would recommend the foodies to stay tuned.
Kobe wants to take the whole process of cooking from beginning to end into his own hands by collaborating with local breeders and farmers and by foraging intensively. There are a lot of fields, dunes, and forests around Dranouter (where In de Wulf is located) where he and his entire team collect herbs, sea buckthorn, seaweed, mushrooms, poppies, meadow sweat, flowers… you name it. Because of this, and because of working seasonally, the menu changes daily.
So much happened in the 24 hours I spend there and I will share all of it with you but it’s too much for one post so I’ll start where I started: lunch. Entering the restaurant with a warm welcoming we were offered a tour through the kitchen right away before we got to our table.
We started our lunch with beet with a crumble of rye and lemon verbena followed by a crispy pork skin cracker with aioli, dusted with mustard powder. A very good start but it got even better with the arrival of the whelk clams with bay leaves vinaigrette, accompanied by a tartar of mussels from the North Sea. The smoked mackerel that arrived after that was in my opinion the best looking dish with smoke still coming out of the curry plant.
But all the following dishes were very beautiful presented, well balanced and very tasteful as well. A poached egg yolk with radish flowers, Judas’s ear mushrooms with celeriac butter juice (!), asian style squid, smoked oyster on pine branches, raw scallop from Duinkerk with raw chestnut and fermented leak juice, smoked potato with a buttermilk potato espuma and a roasted root vegetable salad with topinambur and carrot. The 6 months riped and short roasted milk cow with red onion looked (and tasted) so delicious I even forgot to make a picture. Or maybe that was because I was quite impressed by mr. Desramaults serving this dish himself. They saved the best for last: the boudin noir (blood sausage) with a beetroot sauce and caramelized baby onions. Next to that a crispy pork head snack served on a pig’s skull. Normally I’m not a big fan of blood sausage and eating pig brains didn’t sound too appealing to me at first but in the end this was the best dish I had that day.
After this we had an extra course, specially made for us by Kobe himself in his wood oven outside but I’ll share pictures of this later.
We ended our meal with 3 desserts. The first one with beetroot, rose hip and yoghurt was my favorite, though I’m normally a bigger fan of heavy chocolate desserts. The second one was a new interpretation of the carrot cake with caramelized white chocolate and fermented carrot. The last one a mousse and a granita of apple.
The drip coffee was served with beignets, a meadow sweat cheese tart, a chocolate bar filled with caramel and a jelly of sea buckthorn with a verbena powder.
This lunch accompanied by good wines and home-made juices was almost perfect but I told you it was a 24 hour lasting experience so keep posted for more on In de Wulf!
Wulvestraat 1
Heuvelland (Dranouter), Belgium
Nanashi, Paris
I love rich, heavy, filling food. The French kitchen is one of my favorites but after spending a while in France I sometimes have enough of the cheese, butter and cream. That’s when I go to Nanashi, the perfect place to find a hint of Japan in Paris. The bento box in Japan can be compared to the bread bin we know in Holland but way healthier and always good looking with Japanese perfection. The ones they serve at Nanashi are carefully prepared and well balanced with lots of vegetables and cereals instead of white rice. Next to the bento boxes they serve other light and healthy dishes. The spring rolls with chicken are my personal favorite but don’t miss the black sesame panna cotta with maple sirup for dessert!
There are more Nanashi locations in Paris but these photos were shot at the one in the Marais.
57 rue Charlot, 75003 Paris
Open for lunch and dinner
Paris
Click here to see all my posts about places in Paris.
Including:
Paris.. I was 14 when I visited this beautiful city for the first time on a school trip. My classmates were bored while our French teacher guided us through the streets of Paris, telling us something about every building, every statue, every sidewalk tile. When we entered Le Jardin du Luxembourg and passed the Fontaine Médicis I fell in love. The calmness and peacefulness I felt when I saw a girl sitting there on a bench reading her book made me want to live there instantly. I wanted to be her. I try to go to Paris at least 3 times a year now and every time I’m there I visit this same parc to read my book.
Picknick, Rotterdam
- Burrata with roasted pumpkin, lentils and a concentrated tomato dressing
Yoghurt with fresh fruit and spiced honey
Acai bowl with dried fruit, fresh fruit and home-made granola
Burrata with roasted pumpkin, lentils and a concentrated tomato dressing
Sandwich with fenugreek cheese, San Daniele, mustard mayo and beetroot cress
Beetroot cress and a home smoked salmon sandwich with avocado and lemon mayo
Sourdough bread
Barley porridge with apricot vanilla compote, coconut and cinnamon crumble
Some people who know me might think I cannot give an objective opinion about Picknick but I can assure you I already fell in love with this place before I fell in love with the owner. I’ve been a big fan since the beginning when I already used Picknick as a social hang-out every Tuesday afternoon, eating scones with my friends. The scones never left the menu but I’ve found some new favorites like the home smoked salmon sandwich, the soft-boiled eggs with truffle mayonaise and the healthy acai bowl with fresh fruit and homemade granola. The best feel good and healthy food of Rotterdam.
Höst, Copenhagen
Höst; definitely in my top 3 of good looking restaurants with its concrete floor, brick walls, wooden ceiling, black and white chairs, perfect ceramics and delicious looking food. I tried it twice. Although my first experience included some service-imperfections I definitely wanted to give Höst another chance and the second time was all good. A light, well-balanced menu with modern scandinavian style dishes and a meringue dessert that blew me away.
Katz’s, New York
New York is loaded with beautiful, good looking, hip and happening places but high on my to do list was the maybe not so hipster but still happening Katz’s Deli. The kosher style restaurant is famous for their pastrami sandwiches which, as a pastrami fetishist, I had to try. The super-kingsized sandwich with huge pickles on the side was everything, and more, I hoped for. But actually, it was Peter, Susi and Vera who made my Katz’s experience unforgettable. These dedicated Katz’s fans never miss the opportunity to go there whenever they’re in New York, taking the post-pastrami burps for granted. The wonderful company of these warm and friendly people made this one of the best evenings I had in New York, if not the best.
Extra note: In real life the sandwich was even bigger but I was too eager and started eating before taking this picture.
Sugar Hill, Arnhem
Antipasti plate
Chicken liver parfait with marinated figs
I have to admit, Arnhem is not a city I regularly visit. I think it was more than 13 years since the last time. I was there reuniting with a summer love which obviously didn’t turn out very well and for some reason I never got back. Last summer I had to go there for work and decided to spend the night there. All people I spoke to told me to go to Sugar Hill, a restaurant/bar in the fashion district. This district full of creative, original shops and ateliers with a lot of hand-made items made it a good walk to Sugar Hill. Even though it’s known for its burgers I was more in the mood for the antipasti plate. Normally, only available for 2 but the friendly staff made a plate just for me and together with the delicious chicken liver parfait it was perfectly enough. The rest of the menu sounded appealing, so next time I’ll take my real love to go for the real deal.
Drop Coffee, Stockholm
Hotspot for coffee lovers in the heart of Södermalm, Stockholm. The bar has a rustic, simplistic feel with Scandinavian guys (Vikings) serving your delicious coffee. It made me wanna sit there all day working on my laptop, drinking coffee and eating cinnamon buns. Also a good place to socialize though and enjoy their specialty, the drip coffee. www.dropcoffee.com
Mast Brother’s, New York
Before I went to New York everyone told me to visit the Mast Brothers. Being a girl (meaning chocoholic) they got my curiosity up and so I visited the chocolate factory in Williamsburg. The tasting plates made my Dutch heart beat a little faster and trying the Papua New Guinea chocolate made me feel like I found the golden ticket. After floating for a while and getting back on the ground again I instantly bought 3 three bars of this intense, smoky, bacon-y chocolate. The description on the wrapper: After harvest, these beans are uniquely smoked. This post-fermentation process imparts incredible flavor; think hickory smoked bacon and aged scotch. Hmmm… love… 
Living above the Mast Brothers factory sounds like a dream to me but is reality for the guy above. Once a week he’s treating himself with something from the store downstairs. Coming down barefooted like he’s in his own living room made me have the same jealous feelings his dog must have had waiting outside.
Good news! You can buy the chocolate online on mastbrothers.com but if you happen to be in New York, go. It doesn’t all only taste exquisite the whole place looks pretty good and it’s nice to take a peek into te making process. Mast Brothers 111 N 3rd St, New York Open every day
Unfolded 