Photography: Ditte Isager on Noma & Chef René Redzepi

Photographer Ditte Isager has captured the essence of Chef René Redzepi, head chef of Copenhagen restaurant, Noma

Book Early, Reservations: Noma, Photography by Ditte Isager
View the interview on Charlie Rose

René Redzepi has been widely credited with re-inventing Nordic cuisine. His Copenhagen restaurant, Noma, was recognized as the third best in the world by the San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards in 2009 and received the unique ‘Chef’s Choice’ award at the same ceremony. Redzepi operates at the cutting edge of gourmet cuisine, combining an unrelenting creativity and a remarkable level of craftsmanship with an inimitable and innate knowledge of the produce of his Nordic terroir.

Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine, Published by Phaidon, Hardback, 290 x 250 mm, 11 3/8 x 9 7/8 in, 320 pp, 200 colour illustrations ISBN: 9780714859033

Buy the Book: Amazon

Mangier by Smarin

Smarin have created a collection of objects of celebration, in collaboration with celebrity chef Mauro Colagrec. Mangier is a tree that can be decorated with various types of food, and is made of untreated wood. The range consists of three different models from 20 to 100 ‘branches’.

Mangier, by Smarin Design, for Mauro Colagrec

Happy Hour Chandelier by Marcel Wanders & Nanine Linning

Happy New Year!
Award–winning choreographer Nanine Linning and designer Marcel Wanders present an innovative concept in which a Dancing Angel is hanging upside down for 20 minutes from a Chandelier. The dancer offers little spoons of chocolate mousse and flutes of champagne to the crowd beneath her.

Happy Hour Chandelier, by Marcel Wanders, and Nanine Linning.
Bookings: Happy Hour Chandelier

Casa Camper Dos Palillos by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec

Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have designed the interior of a new restaurant called Dos Palillos for Camper Shoes in Berlin.

“What immediately interested us was that Dos Palillos was a one of a kind culinary experience offered by Albert Raurich, elBulli’s former chef. In order to celebrate his cuisine, the concept of the restaurant gives full means of expression to his culinary art.”

“Naturally, the kitchen had to be the centre of the space and thus, it had to be wide open so that guests could see the preparation of the dishes from the beginning to the end. We have decided to articulate the environment around one long wooden table and the stainless steel kitchen, one module facing the other. Consequently, the guests find themselves at the centre of the kitchen, while the chef acts in front of them.”

Dos Palillos Restaurant, Casa Camper Hotel, Berlin, Germany,
by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec

Eternal Ice Drop by 5.5 Designers for Hennessy

Encapsulated in a glass drop, the imprisoned water freezes after a few hours in the freezer then spreads its coolness through the glass by finding its liquid state. Beyond its sustainable and reusable aspect, this object has a not unimportant consequence over the moment of the tasting of a good Cognac. Certain consumers, if they like the effect cooling some ice cube on their drink, do not like that by melting ice cubes alter the taste of this one, by dilution. Furthermore, the action of the cold tends to break certain aromas of the Cognac. This mode of cooling, lighter than a traditional ice cube, represents then an ideal solution to lead the cognac to the good temperature of tasting.

Eternal Ice Drop, by 5.5 Designers, for Hennessy

Evian Packaging by Paul Smith

Paul Smith has designed a bottle for Evian which will be on sale in limited amounts until Christmas. The London based designer describes the package as “…a nice glass bottle with colourful stripes around the top, printed with organic ink!”

Evian Bottle, by Paul Smith

Nomiya Space Restaurant at Palais de Tokyo

The Nomiya restaurant is replacing the Hotel Everland on the roof of the Palais de Tokyo for one year. Designed by the artist Laurent Grasso, the glass cube is part of the ‘Art Home’ culinary project by the Palais de Tokyo and Electrolux. The Nomiya concept developed for the Palais de Tokyo is a project that’s both inspired and named after the tiny Japanese bars. In the creation of Nomiya, Laurent Grasso was assisted by his brother, Pascal Grasso, an architect. Nomiya Space is a rectangular glass box about the size of a shipping container. “We tried to create an overall impression of airiness, transparency, floating,” said the French artist Laurent Grasso.

Nomiya Space, by Laurent Grasso, for Art Home
via: Travel with Frank Gehry

Issey Miyake Sushi Campaign

Issey Miyake print campaign for Pleats Please. The fabrics were molded and folded to create pieces of sushi–a delicious visual pun.

Pleats Please Ad Campaign, for Issey Miyake
via: Gradient

1000 Acres Vodka Packaging by Arnell

Elegant packaging for 1000 Acres premium Vodka. Glass vessels designed for display beyond the liquor cabinet.

1000 Acres Vodka, by Arnell

Books: The Big Fat Duck Cookbook by Heston Blumenthal

In this enormous, beautiful book, we hear the full story of the meteoric rise of Heston Blumenthal and The Fat Duck, birthplace of snail porridge and bacon-and-egg ice cream, and encounter the passion, perfection and weird science behind the man and the restaurant.

Heston Blumenthal is widely acknowledged to be a genius, and The Fat Duck has twice been voted the Best Restaurant in the World by a peer group of top chefs. But he is entirely self-taught, and the story of his restaurant has broken every rule in the book. His success has been borne out of his pure obsession, endless invention and a childish curiosity into how things work – whether it’s how smell affects taste, what different flavours mean to us on a biological level, or how temperature is distributed in the centre of a soufflé.

In the first section of The Big Fat Duck Cookbook, we learn the history of the restaurant, from its humble beginnings to its third Michelin star (the day Heston received the news of this he had been wondering how exactly he would be able to pay his staff that month). Next we meet 50 of his signature recipes – sardine on toast sorbet, salmon poached with liquorice, hot and iced tea, chocolate wine – which, while challenging for anyone not equipped with ice baths, dehydrators, vacuum pumps and nitrogen on tap, will inspire home cooks and chefs alike. Finally, we hear from the experts whose scientific know-how has contributed to Heston’s topsy-turvy world, on subjects as diverse as synaesthesia, creaminess and flavour expectation.

With an introduction by Harold McGee, incredible colour photographs throughout, illustrations by Dave McKean, multiple ribbons, real cloth binding and a gorgeous slip case, The Big Fat Duck Cookbook is not only the nearest thing to an autobiography from the world’s most fascinating chef, but also a stunning, colourful and joyous work of art.

The Big Fat Duck Cookbook by Heston Blumenthal Hardback, 532 pages, 340×290mm
Buy it here: Amazon