Latest news with #Noma
New York Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Could a Michelin Star Actually Save the Restaurant in ‘The Bear?'
This article discusses scenes from FX's 'The Bear' Season 4, now available in full on Hulu. A single seared scallop crowned with foam. A dessert of dehydrated pear, violet caramel and shiso in an edible cup. All served in an unmarked building that once housed the Original Beef of Chicagoland sandwich shop, by a chef who worked at Noma, Daniel and the French Laundry. No restaurant seems more poised to earn a Michelin star than the one at the center of the hit show 'The Bear.' In Season 4, accolades are on the mind at the Bear, the ever-evolving, ever-struggling restaurant. The staff is reeling from a mixed review from The Chicago Tribune, and money is running out, illustrated by a countdown clock in the kitchen that ticks out the remaining two months of their financial parachute. Amid a discussion of this bleak picture, the chef and owner, Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), asks, 'What about when we get the star?' The star is a Michelin star, a mark of distinction for fine-dining restaurants awarded by anonymous inspectors. Once confined to France, Michelin Guides, owned by the French tire manufacturer, have become a global phenomenon, and the organization has awarded stars to restaurants in Chicago since 2010. How realistic is it that a star could save a struggling fine-dining restaurant? For one in its first year of operation, chasing Michelin requires investing even more money, effort and stress. 'You're trying to create a balance between what's good for business and for your vision,' said Miguel Guerra, a chef at Mita, a plant-based Latin American restaurant in Washington, D.C., with one Michelin star. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Irish Post
a day ago
- Irish Post
Copenhagen - cool, cultured and deliciously Danish
WE checked into Coco Hotel, a boutique bolthole in Vesterbro that feels more Parisian guesthouse than Nordic. With a leafy courtyard, curated interiors and laid-back charm, it's a stylish base. Rooms come with ensuite showers and are comfortable, if compact. The hotel's buzzing bar and café is ideal for a morning espresso or late-night spritz. Central Station, Tivoli Gardens and the Meatpacking District are all within a 10-minute stroll. Day 1: Street Food, Cycling and a Sustainable Supper First stop was Torvehallerne, a covered food market just north of the city centre. It offers everything from fresh produce to olive oils, natural wine and chocolate, to food bars serving dishes from around the world. Locals head to Hija de Sanchez, it's known for serving some of the best tacos in the city, created by former Noma chef Rosio Sanchez. Suitably replenished, we did as the Danes do and hopped on two wheels for a bike tour with Get Your Guide. We took in the Little Mermaid, Christiansborg Palace and colourful Nyhavn (worth a quick photo stop, but be warned: eateries here are overpriced). Cycling around Copenhagen is incredibly safe — we saw everyone from schoolchildren to politicians gliding along dedicated bike lanes and car-free roads. Even the Queen cycles here. Pedal power reigns supreme. For dinner, we headed to the redeveloped Carlsberg City district and Beyla, a cosy spot known for its plant-based cuisine. The menu is organic, vegan and gluten-free, but flavour takes centre stage. We opted for the tasting menu with wine pairings, featuring confit leeks with hazelnut praline, Gochujang-glazed mushrooms, and pine nut risotto. The standout? Gochujang-glazed mushrooms, grown on the restaurant's farm just 15 minutes away — delivered daily, by bike, of course. The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen (Syced Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication) Day 2: Bakeries, Neighbourhoods and Natural Wine We started the day at Tír Bakery, just a 10-minute walk from the hotel. Founded by former Noma baker Louise Bannon, this corner spot is loved by locals and visitors. Everything is organic and made with fresh grains. Its cardamom buns, paired with a filter coffee, made for the perfect Danish breakfast — top tip: arrive before 11am as pastries sell out. Next stop: the Nørrebro district, Copenhagen's most culturally diverse area. The vibe is youthful and unpolished — where tattoo studios sit alongside vegan cafés, and art collectives share walls with vintage record shops. Tucked within Nørrebro is Jægersborggade, one of the city's most interesting shopping streets. Once gritty, it's now home to ceramics studios, artisan bakeries, vintage boutiques and natural wine bars. In the middle of this street is Paesano, a relaxed restaurant blending Italian roots with Copenhagen flair. With exposed brick interiors and a menu built around simplicity and regional specialities, it's the perfect spot for a long lunch. I enjoyed homemade pasta with ragù, while my daughter's deconstructed parmigiana di melanzane looked incredible and was delicious. The afternoon was spent browsing vintage shops, admiring local ceramics, and soaking up Copenhagen's laid-back café culture. We nearly skipped dinner at Bæst — 'We can get Italian at home,' my daughter protested — but we were glad we didn't. This organic gem in Nørrebro boasts impressive credentials: it crafts its own mozzarella and burrata on site and cures its own meats. Our waiter recommended the tasting menu, which included what might be the best wood-fired pizza we've had outside Italy. The waterfront Copenhagen (Syced Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication) Relaxed yet polished, Bæst is the sort of place locals take visiting friends. Day 3: Pastries, Boats and Design Icons Our final day began with a two-hour Danish pastry tour via Get Your Guide, visiting five bakeries, including Reinh van Hauen — Copenhagen's oldest family-run bakery — and Hart Bageri, where yet another Noma alumnus has elevated baking to cult status. We arrived hungry and left content, walking between stops and learning the stories behind the city's flaky, buttery creations. Next, we swapped pavements for water with a GoBoat Cruise, a one-hour guided tour of Copenhagen's waterways. Our captain navigated past houseboats, the Opera House, Paper Island, and buzzing waterside cafés. GoBoat's fleet is fully electric, offering a sustainable way to see the city from another angle. Highly recommend. Back on land, we returned to Vesterbro for lunch at BaneGaarden, a former railway yard turned eco-village. Quirky, creative and refreshingly local, this off-the-radar gem houses repurposed buildings offering restaurants, food stalls and a greenhouse dining space. Craft beers, natural wines and relaxed vibes made it feel like a hidden slice of Copenhagen life. As many shops close on Sundays, we visited the newly renovated Designmuseum Danmark. Housed in an elegant historic building, its beautifully curated collections span everything from mid-century Danish chairs to contemporary ceramics. Thoughtfully presented, it's a must for design lovers. Our final stop was Tivoli Gardens. Opened in 1843, this historic amusement park remains one of Copenhagen's prettiest attractions. With ornate pavilions, landscaped gardens and vintage rides, it evokes a19th-century nostalgia. Fun whatever your age. For our last meal, we dined at Höst, a modern Nordic restaurant ranked among the city's most atmospheric. Its design-led interiors — all reclaimed wood, flickering candlelight and artisanal ceramics — captured the coolness of Copenhagen. Its seasonal set menu, showcasing clever, foraged cooking, is the one to choose with dishes including creamy mussel soup infused with thyme and pinecones pickled in honey. It was a truly memorable meal to end our unforgettable trip. Beyond the big sights, it's in Copenhagen's laid-back neighbourhoods and hidden corners that the city's authentic character quietly unfolds. Travel by boat, bike or on foot to discover its real charm — best savoured slowly, coffee and Danish in hand. Accommodation Coco Hotel: Double rooms from 1045 DKK / £119 per night. British Airways: Flights from London Heathrow to Copenhagen from £47 each way, including taxes and carrier fees. See More: Copenhagen, Denmark
Business Times
20-06-2025
- Business
- Business Times
So you've taken over your family restaurant
RESTAURANTS are delicate things — especially mom-and-pop operations. Among the smallest of small businesses, the most successful attract customers with a combination of low costs, intense deliciousness, do-it-yourself charm and pure gumption. The hawker stands of Southeast Asia are famous examples of this. Diners forgive rough service, put up with long queues and forego white tablecloths — if not tables — for a chance to enjoy a secret sauce, that special spark, the elemental spirit passed down generation to generation. Scaling up these tiny treasures might maximise profits, but the risk is losing the magic. A line of cooks organised along Auguste Escoffier's kitchen brigade system may help churn out dishes and feed a lot more people efficiently, but certain recipes require exacting experience and a discriminating je ne sais quoi. They may not survive the transition. Customers who are used to lower prices will also grouse at the increased costs that come with more staff and expanded real estate. A purist or two will complain that you've sold out. I've been worrying about this because friends of mine are in the process of scaling up a mom-and-pop operation that had a legendary cult following here in London. People used to take 45-minute train rides from the middle of the city east to less-than-posh Leytonstone on a chance that a table — even if you had to share it — might open up at the Thai restaurant Singburi. That's because 'mom' — who took bookings only over the phone — said there was no availability unless diners didn't show up. 'Pop' started the restaurant in 1999, but Singburi's reputation got going after Sirichai Kularbwong joined him in the kitchen toward the end of the last decade. Over that period, his parents toyed with the idea of retirement and finally decided to do it at the end of 2024. By then, the hole-in-the-wall underdog had become the 73rd best restaurant in the UK. Will Singburi 2.0 — in a brightly modern, much bigger space in trendy Shoreditch — be able to replicate its former charms? Some favorites from its old chalkboard menu aren't on offer, and that will disappoint some followers. I'm a friend and fan of Kularbwong and his partners, and so, while I've tasted (and thoroughly enjoyed) a preview, I have to await popular acclaim — or the opposite — along with them after the restaurant officially opens this week. I'm rooting for them and sharing in the anxiety, almost like family. I take some comfort from the recent remaking of another family-run Thai restaurant. In Copenhagen last month, at Noma chef Rene Redzepi's MAD symposium on the future of food, Justin Pichetrungsi — who'd been working for Walt Disney Co as an animator — gave a speech describing how he had to change careers in 2019 when his chef father suffered a stroke. He took over Anajak, a four-decade-old traditional Thai restaurant. He proceeded to innovate (think Thai Taco Tuesdays), turning it into one of the most sought-after reservations in Los Angeles. He instituted his changes, including a huge list of natural wines, while in close consultation with his father and the kinfolk who'd always helped run the place. Pichetrungsi won the 2023 James Beard Award for best chef in California. His mother, who remains in charge of making Anajak's mango sticky rice, wore the medal when he returned to LA with the prize, and proudly got fruit stains on it. Sometimes family may just be what a restaurant in jeopardy needs. In February 2003 — despondent over an unexpected demotion in the unforgiving world of French haute cuisine — Bernard Loiseau, the celebrated chef of Cote d'Or, a three-Michelin star restaurant in Burgundy, walked up to the upstairs bedroom where he usually took a nap after lunch service. He then shot himself in the head. There was heated debate in the media over what part of the system was to blame for the tragedy. Then the world moved on. But not Loiseau's family. The chef was the relentless genius at the centre of not just Cote d'Or, but also the eponymous company he built around it. Indeed, Bernard Loiseau SA was traded on the Paris stock exchange. How could such a personality-driven enterprise exist without him? His culinary reputation was also the only real thing his grieving family could claim ownership of. So his widow Dominique decided to press on. With most of her late husband's staff, she persevered, keeping Cote d'Or going. Eventually, two of their three children — daughters Bérangère and Blanche — would become part of the operations. Bérangère took over the front of the house and the management of the finances; and Blanche would join the kitchen. It hasn't been easy. In a poignant speech at MAD, Bérangère talked about channeling her father through his writings and documents to figure out how to move forward with the restaurant and the company. Nevertheless, in the 22 years since his death, Cote d'Or hasn't only expanded to include the small hotel Relais Bernard Loiseau and several other properties, it's also kept its Michelin stars. In 2003, Dominique told French television soon after his suicide, 'All these exceptional beings who give you the impression of so much assurance, they are all very fragile. They all have such strong moments of doubt.' But she and her daughters came to the rescue. And because of them, Bernard Loiseau has a living legacy in the world. BLOOMBERG
Mint
19-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
So You've Taken Over Your Family's Restaurant
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Restaurants are delicate things — especially mom-and-pop operations. Among the smallest of small businesses, the most successful attract customers with a combination of low costs, intense deliciousness, do-it-yourself charm and pure gumption. The hawker stands of Southeast Asia are famous examples of this. Diners forgive rough service, put up with long queues and forego white tablecloths — if not tables — for a chance to enjoy a secret sauce, that special spark, the elemental spirit passed down generation to generation. Scaling up these tiny treasures might maximize profits, but the risk is losing the magic. A line of cooks organized along Auguste Escoffier's kitchen brigade system may help churn out dishes and feed a lot more people efficiently, but certain recipes require exacting experience and a discriminating je ne sais quoi. They may not survive the transition. Customers who are used to lower prices will also grouse at the increased costs that come with more staff and expanded real estate. A purist or two will complain that you've sold out. I've been worrying about this because friends of mine are in the process of scaling up a mom-and-pop operation that had a legendary cult following here in London. People used to take 45-minute train rides from the middle of the city east to less-than-posh Leytonstone on a chance that a table — even if you had to share it — might open up at the Thai restaurant Singburi. That's because 'mom' — who took bookings only over the phone — said there was no availability unless diners didn't show up. 'Pop' started the restaurant in 1999, but Singburi's reputation got going after Sirichai Kularbwong joined him in the kitchen toward the end of the last decade. Over that period, his parents toyed with the idea of retirement and finally decided to do it at the end of 2024. By then, the hole-in-the-wall underdog had become the 73rd best restaurant in the UK. Will Singburi 2.0 — in a brightly modern, much bigger space in trendy Shoreditch — be able to replicate its former charms? Some favorites from its old chalkboard menu aren't on offer, and that will disappoint some followers. I'm a friend and fan of Kularbwong and his partners, and so, while I've tasted (and thoroughly enjoyed) a preview, I have to await popular acclaim — or the opposite — along with them after the restaurant officially opens this week. I'm rooting for them and sharing in the anxiety, almost like family. I take some comfort from the recent remaking of another family-run Thai restaurant. In Copenhagen last month, at Noma chef Rene Redzepi's MAD symposium on the future of food, Justin Pichetrungsi — who'd been working for Walt Disney Co. as an animator — gave a speech describing how he had to change careers in 2019 when his chef father suffered a stroke. He took over Anajak, a four-decade-old traditional Thai restaurant. He proceeded to innovate (think Thai Taco Tuesdays), turning it into one of the most sought-after reservations in Los Angeles. He instituted his changes, including a huge list of natural wines, while in close consultation with his father and the kinfolk who'd always helped run the place. Pichetrungsi won the 2023 James Beard Award for best chef in California. His mother, who remains in charge of making Anajak's mango sticky rice, wore the medal when he returned to LA with the prize, and proudly got fruit stains on it. Sometimes family may just be what a restaurant in jeopardy needs. In February 2003 — despondent over an unexpected demotion in the unforgiving world of French haute cuisine — Bernard Loiseau, the celebrated chef of Cote d'Or, a three-Michelin star restaurant in Burgundy, walked up to the upstairs bedroom where he usually took a nap after lunch service. He then shot himself in the head. There was heated debate in the media over what part of the system was to blame for the tragedy.(1) Then the world moved on. But not Loiseau's family. The chef was the relentless genius at the center of not just Cote d'Or, but also the eponymous company he built around it. Indeed, Bernard Loiseau SA was traded on the Paris stock exchange. How could such a personality-driven enterprise exist without him? His culinary reputation was also the only real thing his grieving family could claim ownership of. So his widow Dominique decided to press on. With most of her late husband's staff, she persevered, keeping Cote d'Or going. Eventually, two of their three children — daughters Bérangère and Blanche — would become part of the operations. Bérangère took over the front of the house and the management of the finances; and Blanche would join the kitchen. It hasn't been easy. In a poignant speech at MAD, Bérangère talked about channeling her father through his writings and documents to figure out how to move forward with the restaurant and the company. Nevertheless, in the 22 years since his death, Cote d'Or hasn't only expanded to include the small hotel Relais Bernard Loiseau and several other properties, it's also kept its Michelin stars. In 2003, Dominique told French television soon after his suicide, 'All these exceptional beings who give you the impression of so much assurance, they are all very fragile. They all have such strong moments of doubt.' But she and her daughters came to the rescue. And because of them, Bernard Loiseau has a living legacy in the world. More From Bloomberg Opinion: (1) In 2003, Loiseau was demoralized by his demotion by the Gault Millau restaurant guide and feared Michelin would follow suit. It did not. Cote d'Or would retain its three Michelin stars. This column reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Howard Chua-Eoan is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion covering culture and business. He previously served as Bloomberg Opinion's international editor and is a former news director at Time magazine. More stories like this are available on
Time Out Dubai
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out Dubai
Reif Othman'sTERO is hosting a dessert takeover for Mohamed Al Matin
If you love dessert, then this tasting menu experience will be one for you. TERO, that intimate tasting menu experience by chef Reif Othman, is about to host a two-night-only event, on Saturday June 21 and Sunday June 22, that promises to flip your understanding of fine-dining on its head. Get ready to embrace the unexpected as acclaimed Singaporean chef Mohamed Al Matin steps into the spotlight for an exclusive, dessert-forward 11-course takeover. Now, if the name Matin sounds familiar, it's because he's no stranger to the world's most prestigious kitchens either, with stints as pastry sous chef at the Noma in Copenhagen. This chef knows his way around a kitchen, and he's bringing his genre-bending artistry to Dubai for the very first time. Kombu Tart. Soursoup guava mint bingsu Jerusalem artichoke hazelnut kombu Chef Matin is famous for his audacious approach to bridging the gap between sweet and savoury. Forget your traditional dessert course; he's here to mess with your mind in the best possible way. Imagine a delicate kombu tart mingling with fresh and grilled sugar snap peas, then paired with a pea husk sorbet. Or how about grilled Jerusalem artichokes glazed in salted koji caramel, served alongside an umami kombu ice cream? 'I want to break the conventional thinking of what desserts are meant to be,' says Matin. This dining experience, priced at Dhs468 per person, offers two seating times (7pm and 8pm) for each night. You can elevate the experience with optional grape pairings for an added Dhs388 or a tea pairing for an extra Dhs188. Seats are, predictably, limited. So, if you'd best be quick at booking those seats. From Dhs468. Sat Jun 21-Sun Jun 22. Dubai Hills (04 255 5142). Want to make a reservation in the meantime? New Dubai restaurants 2025: The just-opened spots you need to try next The new dining spots you need on your radar It's official: The 86 best restaurants in Dubai Tried and tested by us 12 seriously underrated Dubai restaurants and cafés (that are not tourist traps) Places Dubai locals swear by
