The Budding Chefs Are In Town
Food & Drink Exchanges 2012
Pop-up Restaurant: 31 March 2012/ Poissons d’avril: 1 April 2012
The Institut français d’Ecosse and Frédéric Berkmiller (L’Escargot Bleu/L’Escargot Blanc restaurants) are delighted to welcome 11 budding chefs from the Lycée Hotelier in Dinard (Brittany) who are here to discover the Scottish larder. They have been meeting producers and chefs (Martin Wishart, Paul Wedgwood, Roy Brett to name a few) and have been visiting farms in the area from the moment they landed. They are cooking for the public at the Pop Up restaurant at The Hub on Saturday 31 March which is now fully booked but don’t worry they are also cooking at the Institute for the ‘Poissons d’Avril’ day on Sunday 1 April.
After the success of the food and drink exchanges involving French budding chefs initiated by the Institut français and Frederic Berkmiller in 2011, the project returned in order to partake in this exciting cultural and culinary exchange.
As well as being given a masterclass with Martin Wishart at his Edinburgh based cooking school, the French students have been undertaking a tour around Scotland to visit fish and cattle farmers and fruits and vegetables producers. They have also had the chance to work in the kitchens of the partner restaurants in Edinburgh: Restaurant Martin Wishart, The Honours, Roy Bretts’ Ondine Restaurant, Wedgwood the Restaurant, L’Escargot Bleu and L’Escargot Blanc Restaurants and Craig Wood’s The Wee Restaurant (Queensferry).
This Saturday 31 March, the French cooking students are rolling up their sleeves to run their one-night only Pop-up restaurant at The Hub on Castlehill. Diners will be served a 3 courses menu specially designed to associate French classic recipes with Scottish produce. Additionally, Eric Boschman, named World’s best sommelier in 2010, will be coming especially from Belgium for the occasion with the support of Wallonia Brussels International, and will be designing a wine list to match the students’ menu.
For ‘Poissons d’Avril’ (‘Fishes of April’), the French equivalent of the April’s Fool, the Institut français is to be turned into a fish fair for the day on Sunday 1 April. Participants will be discovering easy-to-do recipes involving cheap fishes (mackerel, herring, sardines, pilchards, kippers etc) through workshops and tastings. Edinburgh based starred chefs will give their special tips and share their concern about food and health, cost of living and produce sourcing while the budding chefs will offer bites of fine fish products from Scotland, Brittany and Belgium (rillettes de sardines, smoked trouts, roll mops, etc), to enjoy with a glass of white wine.
The Budding Chefs project was launched in Scotland in May 2011. For the first part of the project 1,000 ‘Breton’ menus were cooked with Scottish sourced produce. The second leg of the venture was organised in October in France in which 400 Scottish menus were served during the Dinard British Film Festival’s gala dinner. The success of this first run relied upon the huge involvement of the budding chefs team and also the quality of the Scottish larder and the generosity of its ‘keepers’ (caterers, farmers, fishmongers, suppliers, chefs, etc).
This gastronomy project is part of the ‘La Tete et les Jambes’ (Head and Legs) programme, dedicated to cultural events involving both mind and legs and celebrating the British Olympic year, initiated by the Institut français d’Ecosse in 2012. Later on in the year, a group of Scottish students will be given the opportunity to travel to France in order to carry out a similar project.
• Pop-Up Restaurant
Date: Saturday 31 March at 7.00 pm
Venue: The Hub, Castlehill, Edinburgh
Tickets: Fully Booked
• Poissons d’avril
Date: Sunday 1 April 2012, 11.00 am – 4.00 pm
Venue : Institut français d’Ecosse, 13 Randolph Crescent, Edinburgh
Tickets: £5 (£3)
Booking and information: 0131 225 5366
FUNDERS
– Campbells Prime Meat Limited
– Sunnyside Farm
– Fresh Direct
– Welch Fishmongers
– L’Art du Vin
– Wallonia Brussels International
– Belgian Tourist Office
– The Franco-Scottish Business Club
