My habibi Daren is opening up a new place

 My good habibi and great chef from another mother Daren Liew the Malaysian/Singaporean super star chef have opened up his new restaurant in the heart of London in posh Knightsbridge with the name of Nanyang blossom, so if you are in London you should not miss this place, and if you tell Daren that you know me he will give you Durian ice cream for free. follow below link and read more about this exiting opening.

https://thechefsforum.co.uk/chefs-forum-favourite-daren-liew-opens-nanyang-blossom-in-trendy-knightsbridge/

Pan - American cuisine

 What the H...is Pan - American cuisine, well let me explain to you, this is a mix of Mexican, Caribbean and South American food culture that have inspired at least me for many years, bold full of freshness, slightly spice with the best and freshest ingredients available all cooked in a simple way, using open fire that ads this extra dimension to taste and texture, greatly balanced thru time and history adding local layers on top of each other to express the peoples native food culture but also a second dimension to all of us not raised there. I have such great memories visiting Mexico during my time working and living in LA ancient times ago  but the flavors is still with me and I can kill for a Mescal or 2.

Enjoy some of the latest creations of mine all inspired by Pan-American cuisine, Saludos amigos

Open Balkan & Wine vision

 What a great and exiting competition it was held i Belgrade Serbia end of last year with tons of wineries showcasing the best wines from the region and also some foreign producers, I hade a glass or two !!

The other super exiting this was the culinary competition that I was invited as head judge with a team of great friends and fellow judges from Italy, Brazil, Switzerland, Germany, UK and Czech republic, what a brilliant bunch of people and great chefs who help out with Judging and most important to give proper feedback to the competitors, we even managed to present a chef jacket to the Serbian President Vukcic that he can use when his making his famous breakfast pancakes.

We tasted some amazing dishes along the 3 day competition showcasing how far the chefs in Serbia and Balkan have gone for the past 10 years, yes there is much more to achieve but the path is crystal clear and we will witness greatness in the future for this part of Europe.

Hanging with chefs is always fun and you never know where or how things will end, this is the true power of the white jacket, see you all again this coming November.

Culinary competition in Egypt

 The last HACE EXPO her in Cairo showcased a wide range of suppliers and alo head the annual culinary competition held be the Egyptian chef association that invited myself to be a part of the judging team, It was great to se especially the young and female chefs showing skills and good attitude that was somewhat questionable by the fellow young gentlemen, to not win and accept is not in Egyptian culture.

It was truly great to meet up so  many great guys and to know more people in the trade, some are very nice and some less but any how the output is positive for myself, and great enjoyment.

What is nice is to be able to give the competitors proper feedback that will make them stronger and better next time they come back to compete, I want them to show that they learned something every time they spent time in the box. Thank you ECA for the invite and I hope to get a second chance later this year.

 

Egyptian new (still not fully open) grand museum in Giza

 The Grand Museum Cairo Giza will be the biggest museum in Africa and also the biggest museum in the world with just focusing on one civilization, the Egyptian, a very bald move to build but I have to admit that the two architects (one Irish and one Japanese) did it absolutely breathtaking and a marvel in a building. I have been fortunate enough to visit a few times and was always blown away by its sheer size from the statue of Ramses II the great to the pillows and columns holding it up, this is a must visit museum when in Cairo and in the future there will also be a special part all dedicated to Tutankhamun with all items on display there for the first time in history, planed to be finished in 2030.

 

Serbian food ?

Serbian food, what is this and what the story and traditions behind it? well its easy to explain actually considering that the ottoman empire was conquerors for 500 years it leaves big traces in culinary heritage, so actually the food is very much Balkan style with heave influences towards the middle east kitchens, but of course with normal Serbian adaptions like Pork in all kind of forms.

Cevapcici is the most recognizable dish outside Serbia by all means, its the most sophisticated piece of ground meat you can taste, seasoned to perfection and bbq over charcoal to be eaten with kajmak (clothed cream) ajvar (roasted pepper salsa) and fine chopped onion, beautiful in its own simplicity.

below is photos from my last visit in Belgrade with my girls, cheese selection with kajmak of curse, whole roasted piglet and lamb in spit, slow roasted and delicious (condiments are hidden, roasted peppers and cabbage salad)

Tolombe, this syrup drenched fried pastries and my all time favorite and I always search for the best!!

and krofne with jam or Nutella, lovely fried doughnuts light as clouds is the perfect pairing with your late night coffee and rakija. ZIVELI

 

Last team of SFRJ

SFRJ or what we now days would refer as ex Yugoslavia was the country where I was born and spent all of my summer holidays with family and friends while rest of the year we lived in Sweden.

I took this photo from a wall picture at Tanjug tv station when I was there some time ago because it reminds me so much about my dad who lived and died for football and I remember so well when he was bringing me to all games to watch him play and later on we went to games as spectators, this guy known  everyone, from trainers, coaches players and all the former super pro guys playing in all the best European teams, I recall especially the last game ever played by the Yugoslav team as national against Faro Island, this game was played in Landskrona and of curse we where there, my dad walked in to the locker room and everybody started to hug him and great him, unbelievable to watch and I was super proud of curse, the team won this game but few weeks later Yugoslavia was banned from UEFA to participate because of the war at that time. he sent me to a sports shop to buy the most expensive ball I could find and this he throw to the players to sign, this ball have all the names of the last Yugoslavian team ever and will never be copied, I miss my dad everyday and I so sorry for my girls never had a chance to meet him, rest in piece dad .

 

The great Pharaoh Tutankhamun

 Tutankhamun, what an exiting name, the legendary mummy with the golden mask and the massive treasures found in his tomb by Carter.

The exhibition of king Tut can be seen at Cairo national museum as now before it will be moved and at display in the new grand museum in Giza.(another post for this grand place) 

National Egyptian museum located in a beautiful pink building at Tahir square in central Cairo hosts some of the biggest collection of Egyptian treasures as it should be, and I also believe that all worlds museum should give back Egypt items that was stolen from here,  it belongs to Egypt and Egyptian people, but at the same time when you visit this pink marvel you realize how dirty, not maintained and unorganized this place is, its Egypt in a nut shell, they don't care about anything, way of thinking and way of doing, its very sad to see and not nice at all, but some of Tuts items are on display and should not be missed.

On the other hand the 3D Tut extravaganza at the partly opened grand museum is worth a visit, it explains very well king Tuts voyage in life and afterlife, please book a guide there, its so mush better and worth it.

Built for eternity with Ramses, Thut and the boys part 1

 Egypt, the land of mystery, history, mummy's, Ramses the great and pyramids how cool isn't this?! I have now been slightly over a year in Cairo and slowly starting to understand this culture, religion and Egyptians, but will for sure never EVER not even close understand it fully, this is not possible as a non Egyptian with different values in life to do.

I have here around 150 staff working for me and Its extremely challenging especially that non have any culinary degree or proper training, some started 20 years ago in dish wash and now runs a kitchen as sous-chef ! only in Africa BTW any title is not given for hard work or knowledge here, its purely for next raised paycheck, that's all, even if you have no clue of what you are doing you will have a title as CDP, S-C or whatever, I thought that I was the luckiest guy ever when I came and saw that I have 12 S-C and 18 CDP, wow this should be a pace of cake, but NNOOO WAY habibi, so not true at all, and what a mistake to believe.

Egyptian men are strange, they try to act masculine but they cant, they try to be clever, but they are not, only spoiled bratts where they women takes care of them and also their mother, they are not able do do anything regarding the household as we non Egyptians can do and are finding as normal.

talking about sex, smoking shisha and drinking tea is how the perfect man spend his time here with his habibis in coffee shops and taverns and i am sure that there is a reason why alcohol and drugs is consider haram, or this all would go south very fast, I think that there was a clever guy long time ago who realized that his people was not the most clever.

pathetic,  childish and afraid of woman empowerment and then they try to tell me that ~we actually build the pyramids~  wich is not true at all BTW but this is for some other time

RIP Mama Mia the brilliant westie

 This little beauty left a big hole in our family when she left us this year, she was the most funny, creative, passionate, intelligent and stubborn little lady and we miss her dearly and I get tears in my eyes every time I think of her(I do every day) 

Its strange how this small creatures can effect us all so much, everybody who have animals will say the same and understand the devastations we face when this things happens, how to come over?!

RIP Mama Mia Von Diepenbrock 

New chapter part 1

 Its amazing how life takes turns and brings you in directions that you couldn't imagine just a few months ago, not to mention years ago, I find myself in the cradle of civilization Egypt, what a ride it have been!

Its so funny to find my old blog searching on the net I realized how time have passed and how many years ago I started to write this as a part of my future book, novel or whatever, will see how that goes but I do have some stories to tell, If I still can remember them :-) 

Production director for LSG Skychefs in Cairo Egypt, what a blast!! way to go old man (people are asking me when I should retired) Dragan you are 60 now, you must slow down, I simply tell them to F.....ff

Enjoy this fine aircraft belonging to one of our Chinese customer.