The weekend forecast doesn't look too promising, but I'm hoping the sun will come out for the third annual Prague Food Festival, organized by Maurer's Grand Restaura
nt Guide. This years' indulging will take place between Mánesův and Charles bridges on the Old Town side of the Vltava, with some booths located on land and others set up on waterside pontoons. Participating restaurants include Aromi, Café Imperial, and V Zátiší, among many others.
The Hilton Prague Old Town has officially opened the new version of its restaurant, following the departure of Gordon Ramsay's Michelin-starred venture Maze Prague earlier this year. The new concept, called Zinc, is headed up by Ari Mun
andar, former executive chef of Essensia at the Mandarin Oriental Prague. His menu is described as "modern European cooking with an Asian twist," and includes dishes like crab cake and sweet corn sorbet, miso-glazed Chilean sea bass, and baked pineapple with star anise and cinnamon.
Jean-François and Nadine Musso, formerly of Passion Chocolat in Vinohrady, are back to making their i
rresistible pastries and bonbons. This time, they're located in the U Nováků pasáž off Vodičkova, and their shop is called Pâtisserie St. Tropez. Meanwhile, Mama Coffee has opened up a new, roomier location on Korunní, and Aromi offshoot La Finestra is now in full, delicious swing.
Kogo Group's lackluster sister, L'Angolo, is being remade yet again -- this time with the help of Kolkovna Group, which is collaborating with Ko
go to form a third local dining superpower, Koko Group. Under Koko's management, L'Angolo will be transformed into Fragola, a high-end combination sushi/Mediterranean restaurant/bar/club/"art cafe" that will have live DJs, serve food into the wee hours, and offer a Sunday brunch.
A little complicated, maybe, but it just might work.
images: praguefoodfestival.com, zinc.cz, musso-praha.com, kogofragola.cz
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Food news: the Food Fest sets up, Zinc debuts, and Kogo and Kolkovna make a baby
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Food news: Maze gets a Michelin star, Veyrat eyes Beroun, and Angel and Aromi branch out
A month after the formal announcement that Gordon Ramsay was leaving town, his Prague restaurant, Maze, has been awarded a Michelin star. The Hilton hotel will contin
ue running Maze until the end of this month, when they will announce "a new concept and a new chef," according to Hilton Prague Old Town PR manager Marketa Šebková. Maze Prague's former head chef, Philip Carmichael, has already settled in to his new post at Maze Cape Town (pictured), set to open in early April.
In other Michelin news, Allegro at the Four Seasons held on to its star from last year, but this year's hot favorite, La Dégustation Bohême Bourgeoise, didn't gain a spot among Prague's top restaurants. Bib Michelins were again handed out to Aromi and Le Terroir, as well as to newcomer Le Cornichon. Brasserie M was (rightfully) denied a repeat Bib.
Three Michelin-starred chef Marc Veyrat reportedly wants to open a gastronomic complex near Beroun that will "bring meals in harmony with nature." Famous for his organic molecular cuisine, Veyrat plans to serve l
ocally-produced food in wooden houses set two meters above the ground. "Hobbit holes" in a nearby hillside will be available for overnight guests, and a cooking school will also be part of the complex. Whether the estimated 150 million-CZK project will be able to secure funding is still unclear.
Céleste, the new restaurant by the owners of Angel, is on the verge of its official opening on the seventh floor of Frank Gehry's Tančicí dům (a
lso known as the Fred and Ginger building), in the space formerly occupied by La Perle de Prague. April should also see the opening of a sister restaurant to Aromi, La Finestra on Platneřská in Old Town. According to owner Riccardo Lucque, his new spot will feature freshly-imported Italian meats to complement Aromi, which is more seafood-oriented.
images: gordonramsay.com, fourseasons.com, hospodarskenoviny.cz, celesterestaurant.cz
Friday, February 13, 2009
Food news: Goodbye Gordon, hello Hooters
After less than a year and a half of operation, Maze Prague by Gordon Ramsay will be changing hands. The news was confirmed by Ramsay's Czech PR rep, Michaela Dvořáková, who says that although the restaurant will keep its name (for now), Maze will be run by the Hilton Prague Old Town management and Gordon Ramsay Holdings will just "participate in the creation of the menu." Head chef Philip Carmichael is rumored to have already left Prague for his native U.K.
Maze Prague is only one of several restaurants in the Gordon Ramsay empire said t
o be struggling. Still, Ramsay's departure from the Czech market may discourage foreign restaurateurs, few of whom will realize that local patrons weren't Maze's problem -- its location was. Put your restaurant in a windowless box in the lobby of a hotel on the fringes of Old Town (in one of the world's most view-worthy cities, no less) and you are bound to fail, no matter how good your food is.
I sure will miss their chocolate fondant.
Meanwhile, Angus Burger and Angus Grill in Palladium and Cremeria Milano on Pařížská have closed, and Sapori Italiani, the Italian-goods specialty shop formerly located on Perlova, is moving to Bělohorská in Prague 6.
And in food-unrelated restaurant news, the sports bar/breast-ogling American chain Hooters will debut in Prague late in 2009. Franchise holder Na Zdravi Ventures is planning to open several Hooters restaurants in the Czech and Slovak Republics over the next few years. Na Zdravi CEO J. Steven Parker says, "The time is right for the introduction of the Hooters brand."
I hate to admit it, but he might be onto something.
images: gordonramsay.com, saporiitaliani.cz, hooters.com
Monday, December 1, 2008
Restaurant Review: Maze by Gordon Ramsay (CLOSED)
This review originally appeared in Czech translation in the 08/11/08 edition of Lidové Noviny.
A previously published Prague Spoon review of Maze by Gordon Ramsay can be found here.
Today, I'm starting with dessert.
I want to discuss a certain gooey little mountain of goodness: the chocolate fondant. A cross between a chocolate flourless cake and a soufflé, it is deliberately undercooked so that its center stays runny. Although the fondant's persistent popularity has turned it into something of an after-dinner menu cliché, it is rarely done exceptionally well. The insides don't ooze from the center because it has been baked for too long, or the cake is underdone and chewy, or it is made with low quality chocolate.
But the fondant at Maze is different.
As my spoon sinks into the cake's spongy crust, a warm gush of melted Belgian chocolate seeps onto my plate. Te
chnically, this fondant is perfect, and it is a creative accomplishment, too. Instead of choosing an obvious accompaniment such as raspberry coulis or crème anglaise, they've paired it with a tangy orange toffee sauce that lends the dark chocolate a citrusy edge and a subtle smokiness. Roasted hazelnuts and a scoop of homemade beurre blanc ice cream add crunch and coolness to an otherwise smooth, hot dish.
For a man as notoriously foul-mouthed as Gordon Ramsay, he is certainly making poetry here.
Mr. Ramsay, of course, is the holder of twelve Michelin stars and the head of a restaurant empire. His reach extends to Tokyo, Dubai, Los Angeles and, most recently, Terminal 5 at London's Heathrow Airport. Maze, his more casual chain of restaurants, now has locations in London, New York, and Prague. He has starred in three television shows, published eighteen cookbooks and memoirs, and contributed a regular column to The Times's Saturday magazine. With so much Ramsay going around, many have questioned whether the ambitious Scotsman might be spreading his talent just a little too thin for his own good.
On each episode of his well-received TV show Kitchen Nightmares, Mr. Ramsay sweeps into a struggling restaurant and figures out how to make it profitable. He trims overcomplicated menus, hollers at incompetent floor managers, and schools chefs in the art of cooking simply and with fresh ingredients. He even throws away hideous furnishings, starts public relations campaigns, and patches up venomous relationships between co-owning family members. Whatever you think of his approach, it's clear that this man knows a thing or two about running a successful restaurant.
So, at Prague's branch of Maze, as my table waited half an hour, then forty-five minutes, then a full hour to receive our main course, I imagined what Mr. Ramsay might be saying to the kitchen staff if this were an episode of Nightmares: "Table nine has been waiting ONE FUCKING HOUR for their entrées! The restaurant's half empty! What are you going to do when this place is full? Fucking hell." And so on.
I would also expect him to have somebody apologize for the delay and assure us that our dishes were on their way. There was no such courtesy. And when the food did come, the beef fillet was cold. At least the waiters managed to top up our water and wine glasses – a lot. So often, in fact, that I started taking sips only after I'd checked that no one was looking to ensure that another server wouldn't swoop in to give me a refill.
The over-attentive service has rankled me on previous visits to Maze, too, when the waiters would not only spend all night performing the endless water-pouring dance (could it be a strategy to get us to buy more of those 180 CZK bottles?), but would systematically dump still water into glasses of sparkling water and vice versa. Part of the problem seems to be that many waiters serve each table, so they are unable to keep track of how often each party is being visited and who is drinking which type of water (I noticed a similar problem when I ate at the Maze restaurant in New York recently, where they also use the multiple-server system).
The inconsistencies in service are all the more frustrating because every staff member was otherwise perfectly willing and courteous. And although Maze's organization occasionally falters, the food rarely does.
Under the masterful direction of chef de cuisine Philip Carmichael, French classics are updated with playful touches. A cilantro-tinged king crab salad (440 CZK, pictured above) slathered in a smooth avocado paste comes with a nest of green apple slivers and a scoop of Bloody Mary-flavored sorbet. A fairly unsophisticated vegetable, red cabbage, is spun into a densely flavored violet puree to accompany the roasted Barbary duck breast (750 CZK, pictured below). And in a nod to the current trend for unusual salty-sweet combinations, the same dish is served with a savory duck confit wrapped in flaky pastry and dusted with powdered sugar (a similar line was toed by a wonderful dessert no longer on the menu, the peanut butter sandwich). The risks here are calculated, not random. The difference is obvious.
As far as Prague's more upscale eating establishments go, this is some of the best value for money in the city. There is no cheating, no scrimping, no artful cover-ups of mediocre ingredients by unskilled hands. In the year since Maze's opening, its culinary standards have been consistently high.
It's too bad, then, that Maze is situated close to one of the seedier parts of town, the Masarykovo train station, and in a hotel whose unattractive lobby can be seen from much of the restaurant. The art deco-style décor is tasteful, and the seating, especially the tables for two, are intimate and comfortable. But the room is a little gloomy, the ceilings a little low, the lights around the bar a little garish – and there are no windows to the outside. I've always found it hard to forget that I'm eating in a Hilton.
The fact that you're visiting a Gordon Ramsay establishment is hard to escape, too. The chinaware is from the Ramsay line, and next to the restaurant entrance is a well-lit bookcase displaying Ramsay's various tomes.
But so what if the guy has an ego? At least he can cook. Prague is much better off now that a chef of Mr. Ramsay's caliber has lifted a leg and marked his Old Town territory. I just hope he comes by to do some maintenance soon.
Last time I checked, those memoirs were looking a little dusty.
Maze by Gordon Ramsay
Hilton Prague Old Town
V Celnici 7
Prague 1
map
Tel: +420 221 822 300
Open Mon-Sun
Breakfast 06:30-10:30
Lunch 12:00-15:00
Dinner 18:00-23:00
Photographs by Jakub Hněvkovský, Lidové noviny
