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BonAppetour Hosts: Jean’s Private Kitchen

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BonAppetour Hosts: Jean’s Private Kitchen

We are very excited to have Jean join us as a host on BonAppetour!

Currently residing in Hamburg, Germany, Jean works as a private chef, and is also a business consultant in the food industry. She caters to diners around the world, and flies to various locations to host private meals for her clients. Her high profile clientele ranges from ambassadors and diplomats (UN, WHO, WTO), to high flying professionals from all industries.

We are very intrigued by Jean’s passion for cooking, as well as her personal experiences with food. Read on to find out more about Jean with regards to her food and culinary experiences!

On her inspiration for delving into cooking…

Coming from a Peranakan family, food has always played a big role in my family gatherings, as well as get-togethers with close friends. As a child, I have always loved being around the kitchen to help my mother out be it chopping up the vegetables or pounding various spices. To learn about the ingredients, experience new smells and see how each dish is being lovingly prepared and cooked. 

My mother is a fantastic cook. I grew up watching her prepare meals for family, friends, people from our church and hosting numerous dinner gatherings in our home. I got my love for cooking from her, and I love hosting dinners for friends and family.

On her motivations for starting up Jean’s Private Kitchen…

I found that there was a lack of authentic Asian food available in Europe. One could find plenty of restaurants that claimed to offer Chinese, or even Singaporean cuisine, but these dishes were very different from the ones that I had back home. I had been living abroad for eight years then, and the long time spent abroad made me determined to correct the misconceptions that the Europeans may have about our local cuisine.

When I was in Italy, I started out by hosting dinners for friends, and cooked Asian dishes to introduce them to our local flavours. I started Jean’s Private Kitchen in Geneva as I felt that Peranakan dishes formed a niche market. It was a unique way of promoting our local cuisine and culture to my customers.

On her aspirations…

Hamburg has offered me amazing business opportunities. There are a few exciting works in progress in terms of business development, so I am excited about what the days ahead have in store for me. I would love to be a food ambassador for Singapore one day! 

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BonAppetour Potluck: Feasting in Stockholm!

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BonAppetour Potluck: Feasting in Stockholm!

Midsummer was on its way and it called for a celebration of food, people and culture! This was when the BonAppetour team put together the idea of gathering Stockholm’s foodies for a night of food sharing and fun. 

The potluck was on the 19th of June over at the OpenRatio (our venue sponsors) Headquarters in Slussen. The event was very well received, and we had sixty guests attending it that night coming from different walks of life and different cultures.

The food itself was so diverse. We had a spread of Swedish meatballs with mash potatoes, Mexican chili and taco, BBQ pork ribs, Coca-cola chicken, Mac n Cheese, Bacon asparagus rolls, Chilean entrés, salads, an array of breads, a selection of desserts and a whole bunch of booze!

Over the course of the night we got to know many couchsurfers, Stockholm foodies, as well as people who were really enthusiastic about exploring culture through food – the idea behind BonAppetour.

Here are some pictures to show how the night went!

If you’d like to see more pictures, check out our album on Facebook!

Signing off.
Hitakshi 

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Schnitzel Making 101

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Schnitzel Making 101

Schnitzel – a tantalizing cutlet made from chicken, pork or even turkey that is traditional to most European countries was the menu for Sunday’s dinner with our Polish guests! A fun trip shopping together at the grocery store for the ingredients followed by our guests demonstrating the method of cooking, called for a fun-filled evening ahead. Now it’s time to share the incredibly crispy, succulent, mouthwatering Schnitzel recipe.

Ingredients (from left): Eggs, Breadcrumbs, Flour, Pork slices (hammered)

After dipping the pork slices into the eggs, coated with flour, back into the eggs and finally coated with breadcrumbs, they were shallow fried over a medium-high heat. 

While our guests were frying the Schnitzel’s away, we decided to cook up a Swedish classic – Rosti! Here’s Rinita preparing the Rosti.

A “sinful” dinner of fried rosti and fried schnitzel cooking away!

The happy chef plating away!

Finally, the outcome =)

The BonAppetour experience on a lovely Sunday evening of the Swedish winter =)

Signing off,
Hitakshi aka The Photographer =)

P.S. Our guests are chefs back in Poland, and they run an Italian and Greek cuisine restaurant! Dinner was extremely YUMMY!

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A Spicy Thai Affair

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A Spicy Thai Affair

Thai food; a cuisine that has gained international recognition for the bursts of flavour it provides from simple and fresh ingredients. The combination and preparation of these ingredients are key for the perfect Thai dish!

Our South-East Asian Hosts had guests from Turkey and Italy over for a Thai-style inspired meal. Never had they before tasted this eminent cuisine and never had these hosts cooked for the mild palate before –  it was a spicy experience to remember!

The Menu:BBQ Thai-style inspired Chicken wings, lemongrass omelet and the spice filled Thai Red Curry with guests from Italy and Turkey!

Giovanni, giving a shot at stir frying vegetables!

Here’s Effe; the Turkish guest getting at it too!

This was what they came up with it – Thai Red Curry. Looks extremely spicy doesn’t it? Giovanni thought the same but put all his fears away and dug into this colourful dish and to his surprise, it tasted amazing and was extremely mild! Pheww! 😉

This was a fusion of all the cultures. Thai-inspired BBQ chicken wings – the regular chicken wings with a hint of lemongrass and a sweet Thai Chilli glaze. It caramelised perfectly and the flavours were a perfect balance.

Here’s a dish that is common to both East and West; the Omelette! The twist however was using spring onions, Thai soy sauce, and Kaffir Lime leaves that made this a taker and was gone within minutes!

Here is them enjoying a meal prepared by extremely fun people who were amazing at trying new things and meeting new people. It was a BonAppetour experience alright!

Signing off,
Hitakshi aka The Photographer 🙂

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