When planning our trip to Sicily, the first thing I decided was that I wanted to return to La Madia after the wonderful dinner we enjoyed there in 2013. Chef Pino Cuttaia still holds two Michelin stars. The restaurant looked … Continue reading Dining in Italy: La Madia** (2024)
Signum is the restaurant of chef Martina Caruso in the Signum Hotel on Salina, one of the Aeolian islands between Sicily and Naples, which has held a Michelin star from 2016. The restaurant and hotel are only open in the … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Signum*
My posts are not completely in chronological order at the moment, because the wine tour of Campania has already finished, but I have two more installments to post about that trip. After the trip I took the ferry to the … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Dani Maison**
After the great meal at 212 last year, I couldn’t wait to go back again and decided to take my friend Melvin there for his birthday dinner. I hadn’t checked the menu when I made the reservation, so I only … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: 212** (2024)
MOS restaurant in Amsterdam has one Michelin star and offers a beautiful view of the river and Central Station from the large windows. The restaurant by chef Egon van Hoof and maître Henry Pattiwael opened in 2015 and has held … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: MOS*
Restaurant Aan de Poel is located in Amstelveen, the wealthy suburb of Amsterdam. It is situated and named after a small lake called “De Poel”. The terrace offers a beautiful view of the lake, but the weather wasn’t The restaurant … Continue reading Dining in the Netherlands: Aan de Poel**
Restaurant Heimat in Utrecht has just opened. In fact, I was there for the first regular night, after a trial week. My main purpose to be there was to catch up with a dear friend, who lives around the corner … Continue reading Dining in the Netherlands: Heimat
Zoldering is one of my favorite restaurants in Amsterdam. This was my 5th dinner there, but strangely enough this is the first blog I’m writing about it. Zoldering was established in 2019 by Tomas Bron (chef), Job Seuren (sommelier), Wout … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: Zoldering*
In the Netherlands we have a saying: a good neighbor is worth more than a friend far away. We have the best of both worlds, as our neighbors are also very good friends. One of the things we share with … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: Flore**
Spectrum is the restaurant of chef Sidney Schutte and maître-sommelier Cas Kratz, located inside the Waldorf Astoria hotel in the historic center of Amsterdam. The restaurant, formerly known as Librije’s Zusje, has held two Michelin stars since 2015. Since it … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: Spectrum** (2024)
The Librije by Jonnie & Thérèse Boer has been around since 1993 and received its first Michelin star right after it started. The third star was awarded in 2004 and they have kept the three stars since. Now that maître … Continue reading Dining in the Netherlands: Librije*** (2023)
Noma has the reputation to be one of the best restaurants in the world. Chef René Redzepi has developed the concept of nordic cuisine, which focuses on local Nordic ingredients, some of which are gathered by foraging. After it had … Continue reading Dining in Denmark: Noma***
On the final day of the wine tour, we visited two wineries in Southern Tassie. The first one was Pooley Wines. This family business was started in 1985. They have their own winery and two vineyards, apart from producing wine … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 13: Southern Tasmania
Restaurant Vinkeles in the Dylan Hotel in a historic building in the historic canal district of Amsterdam has been awarded its second Michelin star this year, so that was a good reason to go there to celebrate my friend Robert’s … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: Vinkeles**
To celebrate my friend Anja’s birthday, I took her to dinner at Restaurant 212. This is the main restaurant of chef Richard van Oostenbrugge, who first held two Michelin stars at Bord’eau (I had the pleasure of dining there in … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: 212** (2023)
Coulisse has been awarded its first Michelin star in 2023, and so I was curious to check it out. It is located in a historic building, a former theater. The Dutch word “coulisse”, usually used as plural “coulissen”, refers to … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: Coulisse*
Bistro de la Mer on Utrechtestraat 57 in Amsterdam is the sister restaurant of De Juwelier, just a few doors down on Utrechtsestraat at number 51. It is also owned by Richard van Oostenbrugge, chef of Restaurant 212 (just around … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: Bistro de la Mer*
After our dinner at Aqua we were spending the weekend in Berlin before going home. It was my going to be my first time in the city, so I did some research online to decide where to eat. The highest … Continue reading Dining in Germany: Nobelhart & Schmutzig*
For our 21st wedding anniversary we returned to Aqua, the three Michelin star restaurant by chef Sven Elverfeld in the Ritz Carlton in Wolfsburg, Germany. We’ve been here before in 2015 and 2019. We opted for the all-inclusive “Grand Culinary … Continue reading Dining in Germany: Aqua*** (2023)
Regular readers have guessed it: yet another friend’s birthday to be celebrated with a dinner at a Michelin starred restaurant. In this case it is Melvin’s birthday, and because he likes Asian cuisine I took him to Yamazato in the … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: Yamazato*
To treat my friend Martijn for his birthday, I took him to dinner at De Juwelier. Chef Richard van Oostenbrugge of two-Michelin star restaurant 212 has opened up two new restaurants around the corner: De Juwelier and Bistro De La … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: De Juwelier*
This was a very special wine dinner at Restaurant Karel 5 in Utrecht, organized by Fred Nijhuis. Fred is a wine writer who specializes in Italy and was the guide for the wine trips to Lombardia and Piemonte. For this … Continue reading A Dinner at Karel 5* With Very Old Wines
I wanted to treat my friend Sebas for his birthday and allow him to experience a two-start Michelin restaurant for the first time in his life. Since I had not been to Ciel Bleu in a long time (the last … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: Ciel Bleu** (2023)
Ku’uk restaurant in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico is housed in a restored mansion. It offers fine dining with dishes inspired on Mexican dishes and ingredients, with some Lebanese influences due to the Lebanese community in Mérida. We opted for the 21 … Continue reading Dining in Mexico: Ku’uk
We were not planning to do any ‘fine dining’ during our vacation in Mexico, as we were expecting that the ‘regular’ restaurant food would be special enough. But when we realized we were staying close to number 29 on Latin America’s 50 best restaurants and that we could still book a table for the next day (albeit at 5:30pm), we decided to go for it. And so we ended up at Arca in Tulum. The Mexican-American chef Jose Luis Hinostroza has an impressive resume, which includes not only Noma but also El Celler de Can Roca (my personal best restaurant … Continue reading Dining in Mexico: Arca
Terroir is a restaurant in the picturesque old town of Utrecht with an extensive wine list and a weekly changing à la carte menu. For starter (15-17 euros), in between (18-21 euros) and main course (25-30 euros) there is one … Continue reading Dining in the Netherlands: Terroir
We have been celebrating the anniversary of our first date with a dinner at Librije for years now, although in 2020 and 2021 the restaurant was closed due to Covid and we had to go to Librije on another date. … Continue reading Dining in the Netherlands: Librije*** (December 2022)
This was our third meal at Ristorante Ispinigoli, after earlier visits in 2017 and 2019 that I did not blog about. The hotel and restaurant is located in the mountains on the east side of Sardinia, near the town of … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Ispinigoli
Fradis Minoris is a fish restaurant on the southern coast of Sardinia in the town of Pula that has just received its first Michelin star. It is located on the dam that separates the lagoon of Nora from the open … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Fradis Minoris*
Our last dinner in Campania for this trip was at Taverna Estia, where we wanted to return after our great experience there 4 years ago. In the meantime they added outdoor seating. It is a family business with Mario Sposito … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Taverna Estia** (2022)
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