The Malaysian Insider :: Food
The Malaysian Insider :: Food |
| The wrong coffee, the right café Posted: 05 Dec 2012 04:01 PM PST
And there are those who manage the fine balance of being both established yet fresh — the sort of café you look forward to spending time in, whether for a few quick minutes before heading to the office in the morning or a leisurely weekend afternoon reading an engrossing book.  The café entrance in the Negen Straatjes neighbourhood. – Pictures by CK Lim The interior of the café — Kaldi Koffie & Thee — is a soft contrast to the city outside with its canals and cobblestone walkways; here we are surrounded by an invigorating palette of orange and white, where the shiny stainless steel of moka pots and clean ceramic of coffee drippers give off a cool, modern feel. As though a nod to the season, there are maple leaves and pine cones scattered over the windowsill, and bottles of water holding gerberas in fall colours. It's time for coffee (or as they say in Dutch, koffietijd) and here in Amsterdam there's really no bad time for it. While Kaldi Koffie & Thee prides itself on an equally decent selection of organic and fine teas, the coffee is why most are here. Certainly other customers at the tables around us are nursing their espressos and macchiatos. Soraya Broekhuizen, our dark-tressed barista, tells us that café au lait is very popular in the Netherlands, only it is called koffie verkeerd (translated as "the wrong coffee"). Here it consists of equal parts coffee and milk. I tell Soraya my coffee is equal parts warmth and comfort, which makes her smile.  Koffie verkeerd (or "the wrong coffee") is actually café au lait. We know the feeling.  The barista Soraya Broekhuizen. Why does this matter? Given the large number of cafés we visit on a regular basis, not to mention the quantity of coffee we consume, wouldn't it be better if we kept café-hopping? It is fun, I have to admit; we can get caught up in our growing appreciation for the variety of ways a café can be designed (as many as there are owners, I suspect, all different and eccentric in their own fashion), the environment or atmosphere they evoke (from cosy and quiet to crowded and electric), and the care some take in brewing their coffee and tea for customers.  Coffee and sanctuary. But there is a sense of home too, for their faithful and frequent visitors. In fact, one is no longer a visitor, but part of the family. This is why we love cafés — they are spaces where we can stop by for a while, for coffee and sanctuary, and share our café stories. There is a café out there that is just right for every one of us. I look outside the window again. The rain has stopped and as we say goodbye to Soraya and step outside into a beautiful autumnal morning, we count our blessings. May we always have good coffee – and great cafés in which to have our coffee. The colours of autumn. Herengracht 300, 1016 CD Amsterdam, Netherlands Tel: (+31) 20 428 6854 Website: http://www.kaldi.nl * Kenny can't survive without coffee (or would like to believe so). Read more of his caffeinated musings at http://lifeforbeginners.com  Kaldi Koffie & Thee: Coffee & Tea by Kaldi. |
| Alain Ducasse hosts chef and culinary ally Yoshihiro Murata Posted: 05 Dec 2012 05:42 AM PST  Yoshihiro Murata and Alain Ducasse in the kitchens of the Hotel Plaza Athénée. — Pic by Vivian Song It's the kind of cookery championed by French chef titan Alain Ducasse, and the reason why he invited the author of the dish, Japanese chef Yoshihiro Murata to finish off his special invitation luncheon series, "Essential Encounters" at the iconic Hôtel Plaza Athénée in Paris Tuesday. Murata is one of four international chefs who were cherry-picked by Ducasse to cater a gourmet luncheon over the year, a meal that was to embody his own culinary philosophy, one that calls for simple, honest cooking and relinquishes the spotlight back to the ingredients - and away from the chef. When introducing Murata to his guests, Ducasse describes the chef — and one of his oldest friends — as the biggest champion and ambassador of traditional, Japanese cuisine both in Kyoto and for the outside world. Indeed, Murata's influence in the international culinary landscape is undeniable. He's mentored some of the hottest young chefs today including Heston Blumenthal and René Redzepi in his triple Michelin-starred Kyoto restaurant Kikunoi. Spanish chef Ferran Adrià, whose Catalan restaurant El Bulli (now shuttered) has been called the best in the world five times by Restaurant magazine, has likewise been vocal about his admiration for the chef and acknowledged Murata's influence in his own avant-garde cuisine. In an interview with Murata before the luncheon, the chef expresses his disbelief at the fact that he's been invited to cook in Ducasse's restaurant, more than 40 years after arriving in France as a young, chef apprentice when few were familiar with Japan at all. Back then, Japanese cuisine was virtually unknown among the French and Europeans at large. But it was precisely this realization that prompted the chef to derail his plans of becoming a master chef of French cuisine, and pursue the mastery of his own culinary heritage instead, he said. In the end, despite his decision to cook Japanese fare, Murata says that French and Japanese cuisines aren't that different, a commonality that could explain for instance, the wild popularity of sushi restaurants in Paris which now outnumber pizza joints. According to Ducasse, there is no other country in the world that places the same level of importance on their culinary history, as Japan. "They share the same sense of ceremony with food," he said. "Historically and culturally, they are the closest with us." Like the ritualistic French meal, where the choice of tableware, glasses and cutlery are of importance, Ducasse points out that harmony, balance, environment and esthetics play an equally important part in the overall dining experience in Japan as well. Perhaps the best dish to embody this culinary and diplomatic alliance from Tuesday's luncheon? A traditional Japanese soup or bouillon called an 'owan' with lily bulbs, quail, foie gras and black truffle. — AFP-Relaxnews |
AMSTERDAM, Dec 6 — Some cafés look like they've existed since forever, confident of its own place in their neighbourhood. Others look brand new, as though they had just sprung up overnight, bright and cheerful like a Willy Wonka-style, fun-filled fungus.
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