Enrico Bartolini is one of the rising stars in the Italian restaurant scene. For his restaurant, located in the Devero hotel by the autostrada just outside of Milano, he recently received his second Michelin star and his third fork (forchetta) … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Devero**
This is the third review of Librije on my blog, which is not a surprise as it has become a tradition for us to celebrate our wedding anniversary there every year (starting with our 3rd anniversary). We started this tradition … Continue reading Dining in the Netherlands: Librije*** (2014)
A great way to get to know the wines of an area is to visit the area, visit wineries, taste the wines, talk to the winemakers, eat at local restaurants, and order local wines with your meal. It is even … Continue reading German Wine
There are only two restaurants in the Netherlands with three Michelin stars. De Librije has had its third star since 2004, De Leest acquired it recently. De Leest is situated in the village of Vaassen, near the town of Apeldoorn … Continue reading Dining in the Netherlands: De Leest***
Vendôme is the restaurant of chef Joachim Wissler, with 3 Michelin stars, awarded best restaurant in Germany and #10 on the list of the 50 best restaurants in the world. The restaurant is located in Schloss Bensberg, a very stylish … Continue reading Dining in Germany: Vendôme***
The Schanz family runs a hotel, winery and restaurant in the town of Piesport in the Mosel region of Germany. The young chef Thomas Schanz recently received his first Michelin star. Besides à la carte there is a 6-course chef … Continue reading Dining in Germany: Schanz*
Grand Restaurant Karel V is part of Grand Hotel Karel V and is housed in a former monastery from the 14th century in Utrecht. The restaurant used to have a Michelin star, but Michelin has recently taken that star away … Continue reading Dining in the Netherlands: Karel V
Nieuwe Niedorp is a small village ‘in the middle of nowhere’, less than an hour north of Amsterdam in the province of North Holland. Who would have known that there is such a nice restaurant out there, Red Chilli. They … Continue reading Dining in the Netherlands: Red Chilli
There are not many female chefs with Michelin stars. Probably the best known in the Netherlands is Margo Reuten. Together with maître and sommelier Petro Kools she runs Da Vinci in Maasbracht in the south of the Netherlands in the province of Limburg. I’ve been curious about this restaurant for a while, and last night we finally went there. We arrived in style in a 1958 Rolls Royce, a hobby of the hotel we stayed at. We were welcomed by Petro and notice that Margo wasn’t around. Later we found out that for personal reasons she’s away from the restaurant for quite some time. Chefs have an important role in their kitchens, and we usually notice it when the chef isn’t there. That also seemed to be the case this time. Continue reading “Dining in the Netherlands: Da Vinci**”
After eating at Bord’eau in July I wrote “I wonder when chef Richard van Oostenbrugge will get his well-deserved second star. We’ll be back!” in my blog post about that wonderful dinner. I didn’t have to wonder for long, as Bord’eau has indeed just received its second Michelin star. Van Oostenbrugge was also announced by Gault Millau as “Chef of the Year 2014”. All of this calls for a celebration, or a good excuse to go eat there again 🙂 Continue reading “Dining in Amsterdam: Bord’eau**”
Chef Ron Blaauw gave up his restaurant with two Michelin stars (at which I never dined) and replaced it with a “gastrobar”, which after its first year received a single Michelin star. Ron Blaauw wanted to create a more accessible restaurant, and I think he has succeeded. At Ron Gastrobar you can order as many dishes as you like for 15 euros (about US$ 20) each. They are of an intermediate portion size: not as big as a main course, but not a small bite either. Three or four dishes are enough for a meal. The term “gastrobar” also means that there are a lot of tables and quite close together. The restaurant is a bit like a “grand café”. I was curious about this new restaurant, and so I went to check it out. (Photos taken with my iPhone in bad lighting conditions.) Continue reading “Dining in Amsterdam: Ron Gastrobar*”
We thought we’d ‘celebrate’ not being able to use my kitchen (see my previous post to read why) by going out to eat at Vermeer, a one Michelin star restaurant in the Barbizon hotel across the street from Central … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: Vermeer*
After our camping adventure with simple but tasty food our trip to Australia ended on a gourmet note with a visit to Hentley Farm in the Barossa Valley. Hentley Farm is a winery that showcases its wines in a gourmet restaurant. The restaurant is open for lunch Thursday – Sunday and for dinner Saturday. We had the Discovery menu with paired wines for AUD 210. The menu took us about 4 hours, so it is quite substantial for lunch. There is also a smaller Du Jour menu. All the wines are from Hentley Farm. Continue reading “Dining in Australia: Hentley Farm, Barossa Valley”
Thanks to the wonders of scheduled posts, new recipes are posted on a regular basis while I am actually travelling through the Australian Outback in a camper van with very limited internet access and an even more limited kitchen. Even though it’s even more sparsely populated around here than in the South-Western USA that we were touring last year, the supermarkets here are well-stocked and so we’ve not been lacking in terms of nice food. Continue reading “Cooking in the Outback”
Hotel de l’Europe is one of the best known luxury hotels in Amsterdam, located by the Amstel river. Since a few years a new restaurant has opened in the hotel, called Bord’Eau with a nice wordplay on the location as well as the famous wine region. We’ve had dinner there when it had recently opened and really enjoyed it. Meanwhile they have gotten their first Michelin star, so it was time to pay another visit. Continue reading “Dining in Amsterdam: Bord’Eau*”
Every year since De Librije has been awarded its third star (in late 2004) we have celebrated our wedding anniversary on June 15th with a dinner at De Librije. The first time in 2005 was very special, as it was our first dinner at a three-star restaurant and we were completely blown away by both the food and the wine. As I’ve written before, follow-up visits to a restaurant are like sequels to a movie: it is hard to beat that first great experience. But De Librije has held up quite strongly, and that’s why we keep coming back. Soon De Librije will be the only three-star restaurant in the Netherlands, as Oud Sluis is going to close. Continue reading “A Culinary Experience in the Netherlands: Librije***”
The final stop in our Sicilian food tour was La Gazza Ladra, a restaurant with one Michelin star located in the hotel Palazzo Failla in the Baroque town of Modica. The hotel and the restaurant are situated in a historic building.
On the Tuesday night when we visited there were only two other tables occupied in the classy dining room. The competition is stiff in this region of Silicy with La Madia and Il Duomo (in Ragusa) close by. The wonderful dinner we had at La Madia was a tough act to follow, and we only visited them in this order because that fitted with our itinerary. Besides à la carte there are two degustation menus, one for 80 euros and one for 95. As such, La Gazza Ladra is cheaper than La Madia and only half the price of Il Duomo. Continue reading “Dining in Sicily: La Gazza Ladra*”
Licata is a port town in southern Sicily near Agrigento that doesn’t have much going for it except for the fact that Pino Cuttaia was born here and opened up a restaurant, La Madia. On a Monday night in April the restaurant was full, and I am pretty sure that most of those people came to Licata just to eat here (like we did).
I wrote before about Gambero Rosso and how to rate trattorie with 1, 2 or 3 prawns. Similarly, they rate restaurants with 1, 2 or 3 forks. There is only one restaurant with 3 forks (tre forchette) in Sicily, and this is it. The restaurant also has two Michelin stars. I tend to agree more with Gambero Rosso’s judgements in Italy than I do with Michelin’s, and that holds up in this case as well. Continue reading “Dining in Sicily: La Madia**”
We ended up in the nice sea town of San Vito lo Capo, on the northern coast of Sicily near Trapani, by accident. We were supposed to go to the island of Pantelleria, but our flight got cancelled and we decided to go here instead. It was raining when we arrived, so we decided to have a full pranzo (lunch) like the Italians eat, rather than our usual snack for lunch such as a slice of pizza or Sicilian rice balls (arancini). Continue reading “Dining in Sicily: u Sfizziusu”
Bye Bye Blues is a well-known restaurant in Palermo with a Michelin star. We didn’t go there but to their trattoria called “Officina del Gusto” (Taste Workshop). We didn’t go to the restaurant so it’s hard to compare, but the prices are lower and I expect the restaurant to be more formal than the trattoria. Continue reading “Dining in Sicily: Officina del Gusto Bye Bye Blues”
Our next dining stop in Sicily was in Castelbuono, a charming little town in the Madonie mountains in the North of Sicily. Even though it’s only half an hour from the sea, it is very much a mountain town and the restaurants here have meat on the menu rather than fish. The speciality of Nangalarruni are even mushrooms, which unfortunately our out of season at the moment. Continue reading “Dining in Sicily: Nangalarruni”
Gambero Rosso is an Italian gourmet magazine that amongst other things publishes a guide with their reviews of restaurants in Italy. It is similar to the Michelin Guide, but I find that for Italy I tend to agree more with Gambero Rosso’s judgements than those of Michelin. Restaurants get awarded one, two or three forks (forchette), whereas trattorie may receive one, two or three prawns (gamberi). Only 16 trattorie in all of Italy have received 3 gamberi in the 2013 guide, and Tischi Toschi in Taormina is one of them (when I visited Tischi Toschi, it was still located in Messina). We make a point of eating at trattorie with tre gamberi and even before going to Tischi Toschi last night we had already eaten at 6 out of the 16.
Tischi Toschi is a small restaurant, run by Luca Casablanca and his son. For Luca, who was trained to be a jeweller, food is a passion and it clearly shows. The restaurant serves authentic Sicilian dishes. Continue reading “Dining in Sicily: Tischi Toschi”
Chef Moshik used to be the chef of restaurant ‘t Brouwerskolkje in Overveen, half an hour west of Amsterdam. He has recently moved to Amsterdam under a new name: &Samhoud Places and immediately received two stars from Michelin (the same as at Brouwerskolkje). We were curious and so went to pay a visit. We had the 7-course “Inspiration” degustation menu (EUR 159.50) with wine menu (EUR 65) and black truffle supplement (EUR 20). Photos made with my iPhone. The amuse bouche are travel themed: Hong Kong, Venice, Chicago, and Moscow. The first is dim sum of scampi: both the filling and … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: &Samhoud Places**
Each year for the anniversary of our first date we go out to dinner on December 23 or 24 (the official date is December 24, but it’s not always possible to dine on that date due to restaurants preparing for Christmas). Last year we went to La Torre del Saracino near Naples, but this year we stayed closer to home and went to De Kromme Watergang in Zeeland. This is in the far South-West of the Netherlands, almost in Belgium and close to Oud Sluis. De Kromme Watergang is the restaurant of chef Edwin and maitre Blanche Vinke, but unfortunately … Continue reading Dining in the Netherlands: De Kromme Watergang**
Since we were in Spain to eat at El Celler de Can Roca anyway, we decided to use the opportunity to do some sightseeing in Barcelona and have a nice dinner in that city as well. Our neighbors had recently visited Barcelona and recommended two-Michelin starred Lasarte, so that’s where we went. There is a smaller “Lasarte” menu for lunch on weekdays, but apart from à la carte we could only choose the 10-course tasting menu for 125 euros. We weren’t so sure whether the 78 euro “harmonia de vins” would be such a good idea, as that is quite … Continue reading Dining in Spain: Lasarte**
El Celler de Can Roca is the restaurant in Girona (Spain, 1.5 hours from Barcelona and close to where El Bulli used to be) of three brothers: chef Joan Roca, sommelier Josep Roca, and patissier Jordi Roca. Since for me the wine and especially the wine pairing is very important for a great dinner experience, the combination of a famous chef with a famous sommelier was already a good sign for this restaurant. (My favorite restaurant in the Netherlands, and one of my favorites in the world, is the Librije in Zwolle, run by chef Jonnie Boer and his wife sommelier … Continue reading Dining in Spain: El Celler de Can Roca***
Bistrot Neuf is a brasserie-style French restaurant with classic French food like oysters, lobster, snails, bouillabaisse, cote de boeuf (prime rib), crème brûlée, and a nice wine list with many wines by the glass. The latter is not surprising as it is next to, and affiliated with, wine store Chabrol. The wines are mostly from France with some from other ‘old world’ wine countries. Wine is always expensive in Dutch restaurants, often marked up to 3 times the retail price or more, and unfortunately Bistrot Neuf is no exception to that rule. Expect to pay at least 50 euros for … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: Bistrot Neuf
Paris is a 5-hour drive and it is one of our favorite cities in the world, so we like to visit once every one to two years. There is only one surprising thing that is less great about Paris: so far we’ve not been very lucky finding a restaurant there that we really liked. We tried a two-star restaurant that was good but too expensive and a bit boring, and the other restaurants we tried were all mediocre. I had had my eyes on l’Astrance for some years, but so far never managed to secure a reservation. l’Astrance has the reputation … Continue reading Dining in Paris: l’Astrance***
I’m back home after three weeks of travelling together with Kees from national park to national park with an RV in Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Colorado. It was a wonderful trip and very different from most of our vacations in the sense that they usually involve a lot of eating out at gourmet restaurants. This trip included only one such meal (at Alinea) plus two dinners at steakhouses (of which I can recommend Fleming’s). I had saved up some posts before leaving that I had scheduled to be published while I was travelling, so there have been at least … Continue reading RV cooking in the USA
After our less than memorable experience at Gem’s Steakhouse in Deadwood, South Dakota, we decided to celebrate the last night of our vacation in the USA by going to a steakhouse in Salt Lake City. Locals recommended Fleming’s, a chain of steakhouses with over 60 restaurants all over the United States. We were not disappointed this time: it was one of the best steaks we’ve ever had. Fleming’s uses USDA ‘Prime’ beef, aged for 21 days. For those of you who are not from the US, let me quickly explain about USDA beef grades. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) … Continue reading Dining in the USA: Fleming’s Steakhouse, Salt Lake City
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