|
Day1 - 21st February 2010
Cafe Culinaire re-opens with enhanced concept at Gulfood 2010
In a short time span of three years, ESF’s Café Culinaire has become an ever more popular feature and ‘anchor’ of Gulfood, the region’s largest food trade show and culinary arts exhibition. So together with Gulfood 2010, Café Culinaire also opened its doors, located again in its traditional position as the fixed neighbor of the Emirates Culinary Guild’s Salon Culinaire.
Providing a welcome area for the Salon Culinare’s competing chefs as well as its marshals and judges to meet and discover new culinary gems, Café Culinaire was greeted with the now customary enthusiasm by its loyal patrons, specially once they discovered that this year Café Culinaire offers important new features.
For those new to the concept, Café Culinaire is much more than a food show exhibitor, it is a full-fledged restaurant, serving dishes that are prepared on site using the products and brands that are exclusively represented by ESF, the company behind the concept.
What the enthusiasm for Café Culinaire has shown in its earlier editions is a thirst in the industry for creativeness and practicality. In line with ESF’s philosophy, Café Culinaire offers a one stop solution for the professionals of the hotel and restaurant industry with a range that covers the entire menu from hot to cold kitchen as well as F&B operations. It puts the products to the test in a real life environment whilst exhibiting and promoting the creativity of the Chef’s work.
The most important enhancement to Café Culinaire 2010 is that this year there is a separate “Chef’s Area” which is cordoned off from the main seating area and with access only in the company of a member of ESF’s sales team. In this Chef’s Area there is a very elegant display of all the items on the now vastly expanded menu (click here for the menu) in mini-portions. This allows the Chefs to have a quick overview of everything that is on offer through this attractive ‘visual menu’, and quickly taste all items of interest without being burdened with full plates of a single dish only.
Initial feedback on the enhanced concept from the Chefs has been very encouraging, indicating their appreciation of the much enhanced flexibility to taste the items of their choice and the enthusiastic comments on the food’s quality, which received favorable comparisons to top restaurants in five star properties!
Top
ESF showcases Dilmah’s Food Service range at Café Culinaire
For the past three years, ESF has built a base of loyal Dilmah customers in the retail segment, and has now also taken on the Food Service channel, using Café Culinaire 2010 to showcase a variety of hot teas, ice teas and tea based mocktails - all exclusively aimed at the Horeca channel.
What started as one man’s dream to offer the consumer the finest cup of tea became a journey of over five decades for Merrill J. Fernando, Founder and Chairman of Dilmah Tea. Through sheer determination, hard work, and an unrelenting quest for perfection, Dilmah Tea was launched by Merrill in 1988. In a world where blending and outsourcing was the name of the game, Dilmah went back to basics – hand picking fresh tea leaves, perfected and packed at source, to guarantee tea connoisseurs all over the world the finest Sri Lankan tea – Dilmah Fresh.
Since its launch Dilmah has created a storm in the tea cup and has already attained market leadership in several discerning tea markets world over. Distributed today in over 96 countries, Dilmah offers the finest teas and through the MJF foundation runs a plethora of charitable activities, making it a truly ethical tea as well.
The enthusiastic feedback from the visitors to Café Culinaire who tasted Dilmah was therefore entirely predictable given Merrill’s promise: “Once you taste Dilmah, you will never return to ordinary tea”
Top
The World’s First Rooibos Tea Espresso Showcases at Café Culinaire
The world’s first tea espresso – currently making waves in coffee shops and countries across the globe – was served and showcased at Café Culinaire, proudly brought to Gulfood by Emirates Snack Foods.
red espresso is an award-winning, South African innovation that has taken Rooibos tea – indigenous to South Africa – and turned it into the hottest new, genuine innovation to hit the specialty beverage industry. Pioneering a brand new category of “tea espresso”, red espresso is made from 100% best quality Rooibos tea and has been refined to a patented espresso grind. Produced specifically for use in espresso machines, red espresso delivers a strong, rich-tasting shot of Rooibos tea – coated with the crema typically characteristic of espresso – that is caffeine-free and rich in antioxidants (5 x more than green tea). Like coffee espresso, red espresso forms the basis for a range of delicious and healthy Rooibos drinks – including the popular red cappuccino, red latte and fresh red – that fuse the style and sophistication of coffee with the health benefits of tea.
red espresso was met with great delight and intrigue by visitors to Gulfood who were not only fascinated by the concept of a “tea playing by coffee’s rules” but by the unique taste of red espresso and the brand new drinks range it has created. Red drinks including the red cappuccino, red latte, fresh red, red symphony, red Americano and iced red were served by the Emirates Snack Foods team at Café Culinaire, and Natasha Larche from the red espresso team in South Africa was also there to introduce red espresso to patrons from the UAE and around the world.
Top
Day 2 - 22nd February 2010
Emirates Snack Foods extends its disposables range
Comatec, the leading French producer of fashionable and innovative disposable packaging, took part in Gulfood for the third time, and was widely displayed at Café Culinaire.
In the past few years Comatec developed a strong position in UAE’s market through its partner ESF and continues to impress with its unique style, design, innovation and quality. Comatec’s fancy stands, disposable cups, plates are in high demand among caterers, hotels and restaurants.
Inspired by the successes with Comatec in the UAE market, ESF has extended its disposables range and welcomes newcomers Denlop and First Pack at Gulfood 2010 in Café Culinaire.
First Pack is a leading European supplier of catering disposables and food service packaging. First Pack offers a huge variety of materials such as plastic, carton, paper, wood and biodegradable. From the most economic and traditional items to the most innovative and pioneering, First Pack covers the entire packaging range to satisfy even the most demanding client.
Denlop Natural Arts is another brand that is launched by ESF at Café Culinaire this year. Based in Holland, Denlop specializes in high quality natural products such as wooden baking baskets, fancy wooden displays and baskets, eco trays, etc
Top
Monbana debuts at Café Culinaire
Since its inception in 1934 by founder Louis Guattari, Monbana has been putting its chocolate-making talents to work for chocolate lovers, surprising them with innovations, mesmerizing them with new flavors and giving them all the pleasure of a superior quality chocolate. Originally a cocoa powder and cocoa butter manufacturer, Monbana extended its expertise from roasting and pressing of cacao beans to include the creation of finished products.
Today, Monbana chocolate is enjoyed in numerous establishments and on the most widely renowned tables. The company is based in Mayenne France and offers powdered cocoa, a range of chocolate treats to be served with hot drinks and a gourmet retail range to enjoy at home or ideal as a gift.
Mr. Goffroy, the Monbana barista, demonstrated his talents during Café Culinaire 2010 and delighted visitors with his white hot chocolate and tresor and a mocktail with fresh mint, banana syrup and vanilla. With an impressive array of innovative recipes, Monbana allows ESF’s team to dramatically shake up the somewhat staid “hot chocolate” segment in the UAE and give its clients the tools to provide their customers with a much improved choice and quality for hot and cold beverages.
Top
Day 3 - 23rd February 2010
Emirates Snack Foods and red espresso® at Inaugural Gulfood Awards 2010
Emirates Snack Foods participated in the first Gulfood Awards by entering red espresso – the world’s first Rooibos tea espresso, from South Africa – in two categories: Best Foodservice Innovation and Best New Non-Alcoholic Beverage, on the back of red espresso’s freshly-prepared and antioxidant-rich iced tea, the fresh red.
The inaugural awards programme attracted 150 entries from 26 countries in 15 categories, and are designed to reward and champion innovation and excellence in the region’s exceptional food and drink industry. An international panel of experts met in Dubai on 19 February to select the finalists and choose the winners and, at a spectacular gala dinner at the Dubai World Trade Centre, on 22 February, attended by over 750 industry representatives, the finalists and winners in the 2010 Gulfood Awards were announced.
red espresso was nominated in both categories, although it did not win this time. Two key features of red espresso, namely the unique taste and revolutionary method of preparation could not be demonstrated in the current format of the awards programme, points which will hopefully be remedied in its future editions.
The 2010 Gulfood Awards were organized by the Dubai World Trade Centre in association with UK based FoodBev Media. The event was hosted by FoodBev Media Group Editorial Director Bill Bruce. FoodBev Media Chairman Richard Hall presented the awards to the winners.
Bill Bruce commented: “The region’s food and drink industry has delivered an impressive range of innovations and initiatives. From new flavors and ingredients to packaging and food service developments, the judging panel was impressed by the passion and creativity demonstrated by many of the entries. Trends to natural and organic featured alongside exquisite craft in chocolate and bread making while convenience and functionality provided welcome new twists on otherwise tried and tested ideas. We certainly expect that the awards will now become a permanent and important part of the annual Gulfood show”.
Top
Kimbo coffee art at Café Culinaire
Kimbo is a popular and fixed attraction of Café Culinaire with the company’s master barista Carmine Castellano present for the third consecutive year. Once again he displayed his truly Italian savoir-faire of coffee making combined with artful decorations like a heart, a rabbit, a flower, a face or the Jumeirah Palm Island, carefully designed in the froth of the cappuccino, much to the delight of the many visitors and coffee lovers at Emirates Snack Foods’ Gulfood venue.
When asked about his love for coffee, the barista explains that he has been with Caffe Kimbo for 20 years and that practice is the key to successful and artistic coffee making. “Through the years, you learn how to get exactly the kind of froth and foam to successfully create the decorations and you can immediately differentiate between a good and a mediocre or badly prepared espresso or cappuccino. A great espresso should be rich and smooth whereas a bad one can be sour, bitter and acidic.” he explains.
And visitors of Café Culinaire know a good coffee when they taste one. On the second day of Gulfood alone, more than 1,200 cups of espresso and cappuccino were served, using KIMBO ESPRESSO ELITE, the best quality blend of the brand’s coffee bean range.
Caffe Kimbo used the Gulfood to showcase the new packaging it recently introduced, reflecting the company’s traditional Neapolitan origins while adding a modern touch to its range of Espresso Bar (Superior Blend, Premium, Extra Cream, Extreme, Prestige and Top Flavour) as well as its Espresso Elite and Decaffeinated beans - all available with Emirates Snack Foods.
Top
Day 4 - 24th February 2010
Café Culinaire parties at night!
Continuing the successful formula of last year, Café Culinaire once again took over the pool area of Novotel WTC and transformed it into a classy and spectacular party setting. ESF proved the point that its innovative concept can be transported and applied outside the Gulfood’s exhibition halls by virtually recreating Café Culinaire in the neighboring hotel in partnership with Novotel’s management and staff.
ESF’s Chef Soufiane outdid himself and organized and created a function that was even more beautiful – and tasty! – than last year, again using ofcourse exclusively the ESF brands with colorful and tasteful food displays, live cooking stations and complete with cocktail and coffee bars. The service was provided by Café Culinaire’s enthusiastic team, catering to over 300 guests who were all pleased that after a long day at the Gulfood they only needed a five minutes stroll to come to this beautiful venue and enjoy the abundant food and elegant atmosphere.
The satisfied guests included ESF’s loyal clients - UAE’s most prominent horeca professionals - as well as ESF’s principals from all over the world (including several future ones...!) and various partners and well wishers, together forming a compelling testimony to Café Culinaire success.
Even the music selection drew a lot of praise – Café Culinaire wouldn’t be the first trendy venue coming out with its own compilation CDs.......
Top
Dr. Klaus Karg Crispbread launches in the Middle East at Cafe Culinaire
Dr. Klaus Karg from Schwabach, Germany´s leading traditional crisp bread producer, made through its partnership with ESF the first successful steps towards Middle East expansion. Launched by ESF at Café Culinaire’s breakfast and lunch buffet targeting both retail and F&B, Dr. Karg’s crisp bread slices and snacks received an overwhelmingly positive feedback for taste, presentation and quality.
Six flavors of the Natural line and five flavors in Organic will be offered and introduced to retail and Food Service by ESF, and the owner of this 60 year old company, Dr. Klaus Karg himself joined Export- Manager Mr. Werner Krauss at Café Culinaire to assist ESF’s team in explaining the advantages of the various products.
Dr. Karg’s range is extensive and caters for a wide range of customers and occasions. For example, for a quick bite between meals there’s the “To Go” line which will soon be available at convenience stores, and Dr. Karg’s mouth watering Snack line was successfully tested at ESF’s party last night at the NOVOTEL.
Future line extensions will include Dr. Karg’s Delisenza products which are strictly without flour and Gluten-free, aimed at Celiac tortured patients
The vision of the Dr. Karg company is to achieve the same level of appreciation and recognition for its products in its export markets as they achieve at home, based on its guiding motto: “Where 100% taste meets 100% quality!”
Top |
