Last Sunday RTL visited my kitchen for the recordings of the TV-show Topchef. Topchef was broadcasted in 2009 and fastly became a popular TV-show. In this show a few amateur chefs are competing for the title of ‘Best Dutch amateur chef’. This season the show is hosted by Robert Kranenborg and Julius Jaspers.

Once a week the amateur chefs have to cook in restaurants of Michelin star chefs like Jonnie & Thérèse Boer, Sonja & Nico Boreas, Erik van Loo, Lucas Rive, Jacob Jan Boerma, Mario Ridder. Last sunday I was asked to be the host chef. The recordings started 6 am and lasted until 8 pm. The shooting took place in our cooking studio Taste of Okura, the Ciel Bleu restaurant and the Chef’s table in my kitchen.

The participants had to make a dish based on a product of a local supplier, based on that the first contestant had be dismissed. After that I had to give the amateur chefs a masterclass on a dish which they had to prepare to go through the next round. It was a nice experience because of the excitement that was created for the contestants.

It was also interesting to hear the feedback of the contestants after we had told them if they were through the next round or if they weren’t.

It was a great, exciting culinary day! Topchef will be broadcasted on Friday 24 September at 7pm on RTL5. Don’t forget to watch!

With culinary greetings,

Onno Kokmeijer
Executive Chef & Manager Ciel Bleu