Finally, on the 30th of August the Alliance Summer Tasting takes place in Amsterdam. During this day 35 top chefs from the Netherlands and Belgium will be preparing delicious summer dishes accompanied by the best wines. Since we are only member of the Alliance Gastronomique since last January this will be the first time for us. The purpose of this Summer Tasting event is particularly to introduce a young, casual audience to the restaurants which are member of Alliance Gastronomique.

Recently I visited Gord Opleeuw, a little town in the Belgian Haspengouw, located between Tongeren and St. Truiden at North of Borgloon. Winery Colemont bought this vineyard which is completely surrounded by walls and renamed it as Clos-d- leem Opleeuw. The walls on the South side from the vineyard are climatically the same as the Bourgogne. After a soil analyse the winery decided to use 5 different species from the Chardonnay.

Last Saturday was our last evening in Ciel Bleu, as the restaurant will now be closed for three weeks due to the annual summer closure. The last few weeks we have been busy with the culinary event ‘Ciel Bleu meets Down Under’. Hopefully you enjoyed the New Zealand specialties we brought closer to home.

Yesterday the festive opening of the ‘Ciel Bleu meets Down Under’ event was held in the Ciel Bleu Restaurant. The Ambassador of New Zealand, Ms. Rachel Fry, officially opened the event. From now on it is possible to taste the New Zealand specialties in The Netherlands through the 14th of July.