Cherry blossoms are not only viewed and admired, but also used for cooking during their blooming season in Japan. The very short and almost ephemeral life of cherry blossoms can be an embodiment of many things – changes in nature, fragility of our lives and also seasonality in cooking, for…

When Hedone’s chef Mikael Jonsson decided to bake his own bread, he didn’t just improvise, instead, the ingredients quality-obsessed chef did his bread baking training at Alex Croquet boulangerie in Wattignies, France. Michelin has described Alex Croquet as a bread-making genius, whose approach to baking is almost scientific. (Read the full…

In a country known for its breath-taking array of cheeses, it can be hard to know where to find the best or how to narrow down the selection. Luckily, Paris is home to some of the world’s best cheesemongers and affineurs, those talented men and women who find the most…

What I love about Italian cuisine is its simplicity and its respect for ingredients. In that sense, one could draw many similarities to cooking philosophy in Japan. Here, at Armando al Pantheon trattoria in Rome (Salita dè Crescenzi, 31, 00186, Rome, Italy; tel. +39 06 6880 3034) anchovies and prunes on…

My quest for exceptional cheese continues as this time I visited Marie – Anne Cantin (12 Rue du Champ de Mars, 75007 Paris, France) cheese shop on the left bank in Paris, who is one of the rare fromagers to carry very old Comté all year around. The 4+-year-old Comté…

They call it black gold: a 100 ml bottle of a 25­-year vintage can sell for over 100 €, yet most of the world’s supply is an imitation. We’re talking about modena balsamico, the carefully aged, syrupy vinegar that adds a deep mellowness and tart sparkle to everything from roasted…

Very old and very rare – 7.5 years old Parmigiano Reggiano, spotted on the cheese trolley of Le Calandre (3*) in Italy last week. (Does anyone know it’s producer?)

A bottle of extra old (25 years or older) l’Aceto Balsamico di Modena. This is the one and the only type of 100 ml bottle that is used to for the real balsamic vinegar of Modena D.O.P, so 99% of balsamic vinegar found in shops around the world is not…

L’Atelier Etoile de Joël Robuchon 133 Avenue des Champs-Élysées, 75008 Paris, France; tel. + 33 1 47 23 75 75