2DM Blogazine

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Protein by DunneFrankowski

We’re Milanese. And that means it’s not easy to impress us with coffee. When even our Chinese restaurants serve excellent espresso and any old shabby corner bar serves its caffeine perfectly oily, just-right . But lately London has really decided to get into the good-food game, and coffee is no exception. Like weeds in a freshly watered garden, fantastic little cafés – many of them dredging up long forgotten techniques – have been springing up all over the city.

Last week we queued (and that’s a lot to ask of us cynics when it comes to coffee) to get into the opening of Protein’s brand new, tiny little café in its 18 Hewett Street headquarters in Shoreditch. The duo DunneFrankowski is using the space as a sort of beta testbed for its modular coffee bar design that is pretty novel in a couple ways: it can easily be reconfigured (and replicated almost anywhere), and it’s designed to be staffed by a maximum of two people. It also has a Chromo-enabled feed so you can see in real-time what’s going on at the coffee counter: check it out.

But more importantly, the coffee itself is really, really damn good. (And it was free with a Foursquare check-in – follow us!) Simple, strong, well-prepared coffee that is absolutely lightyears ahead of the chains. With a fantastic environment, to boot – and making a special guest appearance were high-class versions of the quintessential lowbrow, feel-good food: hot dogs from Big Apple Hot Dogs.

Later in the evening, DunneFrankowski also released The Independent Coffee Book, which besides being a really lovely little volume, is an up-to-date guidebook for the best local cafés around London – and there are many. So, hats off to you Protein and DF, you’ve impressed some tough critics. And now that we’ve got the ammo to hunt for other nice cafés, bring on the good coffee!

Protein by DunneFrankowski Timelapse from Protein® on Vimeo.

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Yvette van Boven / Winter

2DM’s Yvette van Boven has really been taking the food world by storm as of late. The restauranteur/chef/artist/author (yes, there is truly nothing she can’t do) has been a busy busy bee: over the past year, she’s done Martha Stewart and Edible Radio and been featured an impressive number of publications, most recently in Dutch foodie digest, Delicious. And speaking of delicious, her Amsterdam restaurant Aan de Amstel is among the highlights of Amsterdam’s food scene. And if all that weren’t entirely enough (this is Yvette we’re talking about!), we’re thrilled to announce the release of her latest book, Winter, a delightful winter comfort food followup to her critically acclaimed Home Made.

We gave you a sneak peek of Winter this past July, but the book has at last hit bookshelves in Holland. Her trademark hand-drawn recipes here illustrate “comforting winter food, with inspiration from Ireland, France and Holland,” all places Yvette calls home. The unconventional mix of Yvette’s native and adopted food cultures lends her recipes all the balance of warmth and cozy unpretentiousness good winter food needs. It works exceptionally well as a compliment to the eclectic Home Made.

Photos throughout the volume come courtesy of her equally talented partner in crime, Oof Verschuren, and it’s published by Dutch house Fontaine. It goes without saying that the book is absolutely stunning. So bundle up – it’s cold out! Sturdy winter coats and a copy of Winter!

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Karin Kellner / Cucina Italiana

Practically since its founding in 1929, La Cucina Italiana has been a symbol of fantastic Italian cuisine the world over. And its black and white headliner and positively mouth watering photos have come to mean every bit as much on a Milan newsstand as in its international version in a California gourmand’s kitchen. It has meant slow food and quality before the former was a movement or the latter was much of a concern, and has long been a solid reference for excellent recipes. And for the past two jam-packed issues, the illustrations of 2DM’s Karin Kellner been adding a touch of her cozy flair to the venerable icon.

For this issue, Karin made portraits of distinguished chef Walter Pedrazzi, “pop cuisine” inventor and Michelin Star restaurant D’O Davide Oldani, renowned sommelier Giuseppe Vaccarini and Giorgio Donegani, president of Food Education Italy, along with other fun scenes.

Expect to see even more of Karin’s work in various cozy places in the coming months. (We’d like to spend our holidays wrapped up inside one her sketches, honestly.) And together with the recent publication of Yvette Van Boven’s new cookbook Winter (more on that soon), we’re over the culinary moon. And really, really hungry.