Lauding the Lady Chefs

A COUPLE of years ago, I wrote about the Lady Chef of theYear Luncheon in Belgium. Sponsored by the Benelux food and wine publication Culinaire Ambiance and Food From Britain, this competition is for women chefs in Belgium and the Netherlands, with the theme of British ingredients used in an imaginative and appetising way, according to the chef's individual cooking style.

Danish-born Jannie Munk was this year's Netherlands winner and, to celebrate, she hosted a lunch at her restaurant, situated on one of Delft's picturesque canals.

She is someone who had tried her hand at several jobs before deciding to participate in a cookery course and then enter the restaurant business. She completed a three-year section of the course in one year. The restaurant has been open for eight years, and Munk always has two cookery students working with her.

Using Shetland salmon, Scotch beef, English cheeses and single malt whisky, she put together a simple, yet effective lunch. The first course, served in oversized bowls, was scallops with a herb dressing. Then came thick, rectangular fillets of salmon with a lemon grass beurre blanc. Fillet of beef was roasted quite rare and served with truffle sauce and a potato gratin. There was no pudding, but there was a sweet note in the port served with the cheese.

The wines were well chosen. The delightful part of the lunch was the passionate commentary on the food and wines given by Wina Born, doyenne of cookery writers in the Netherlands.

Jeannie Beddington, English born and bred, was last year's winner. Her eponymous Amsterdam restaurant celebrated its tenth anniversary last year. I attended her fifth anniversary celebration, and it was very good to make a return visit. Beddington's is unlike anywhere else in the city, with starkly modern and plain decor.

It would be nice if she described her food as British, but having seen the "British" restaurants listed in tourist publications, advertising "lousy food and warm beer", I am sure she is right to put a distance between them and Beddington's.

Her food is stylish, modern, generous and full of flavour. Besides using local ingredients in season, she serves Scotch beef, Stilton and British lamb, and uses fruit flavours with meat. She has lived in Japan and that, too, is reflected in her cooking. Her terrine of eel is justly famous, and I relished the two eel dishes on her current menu. o