I was introduced to quince when I was living in London and it became one of my favourite fruits. Mmm…poached quince and vanilla as a dessert..this is stuff of dreams! After moving to Asia, I realised I hadn’t had one recently until I had a quince presented to me in the form of tea during…
Read More
Recently on a business trip to Bali I was introduced to a pod with an interesting shape, weird in texture but with a surprisingly fruity, sweet and sour flavour. This fascinating sticky, fleshy and juicy pod came from the tamarind tree. It has been said that people either love it or hate it. Have you…
Read More
Lately, I have been invited to create beverage programs to compliment Chinese cuisines and although I have lived in Asia and come across the Chinese style of dining I still have a lot to learn about the culture. Living in Singapore for almost six years has definitely exposed me to the culture in more depth…
Read More
I love apples! All kinds of apples! So when I moved to Asia I was amazed when I found a large brown-ish fruit with the look and texture of an apple. I originally mistook it as a type of pear however with more research I found that it originates from East Asia, mostly associated with…
Read More
I am sure that we all know the condiments commonly used in cooking and seasoning that are also present at pretty much every dining table called salt and pepper. Recently, I was looking at one of the two mills sitting at the table and asked my son “what do you know about them?” – well…
Read More
On my recent trip to Europe I had breakfast in Dubai and the local specialty was fresh dates with cereals and milk. It was a little bit unexpected to me, but as you know I love to look at different cultures, their history and traditions to explore. As I nibbled on fresh dates I realised…
Read More
My earliest childhood memories have always been associated with a lot of food, games at the local shows, fairy tales and of course gifts. Having said that I also have a lot of memories about tropical fruits. As you know, I am originally from the Czech Republic and because of that we did not get…
Read More
It was not that long ago that I worked on a private event where the client requested I use several ingredients that customer liked and wanted to showcase in different ways through the food and beverage on the night. I met with the chef for the night and we started to work on developing the…
Read More
During our last trip to Indonesia, we came across a fruit that looked like tomato in the shape of an egg. I spent a bit of time talking to the locals about it and managed to get the right name in order to do further research. The tomato which looks like a fruit that could…
Read More
As a little boy, I remember climbing plum trees by the roadside and harvesting the over ripe plums for my father and uncles to create their guilty pleasure “Slivovitz”. However at that time, I had no idea that plums could be dried and served as a snack or preserved that way, as it was simply…
Read More