Monday the 15th of June was a special day. Alliance restaurant Merlet at Schoorl was celebrating their Michelinstar for already 10 years. The founder Alan Pearson and the chefs who followed him, came together to take care of a six course dinner. For only one time we were all together in this particular family restaurant. The menu that was served this day included;

Last year we organized Ciel Bleu meets… South Africa, with Margot Jansen as a guest in our kitchen. This year Ciel Bleu will meet the other side of the globe - New Zealand. From the 1st of July until the 14th of July the Ciel Bleu Restaurant will go Down Under. The culinary event Ciel Bleu meets... is again on the calendar.

This year Executive Chef David Griffiths of the famed Huka Lodge in New Zealand will visit the Ciel Bleu Restaurant.

The words Tamam arkadaş are mentioned a lot in the kitchen during the day. Fortunately, because it means nothing less than; Oké my friend! To me these weeks were the beginning of some friendships where I gained a lot of respect for the culture. To experience the Turkish culture, eating habits and the manner of working was a unique experience for me. It is great to see that the younger generation is interested in the unknown and in the renewed European kitchen. Hopefully the following chefs and I can share some information with them. Thereby we will give them some tips about how we gain information and ideas. Of course internet is a good source to gain new information. For example You Tube and more websites are publishing films and photos with the latest developments. It is a big problem in Turkey that many internet sites are blocked for internet users.

Live from Turkey – Part 2

Today is the day: tonight the Ciel Bleu event starts in the Turkish Gloria Hotel & Resort in Belek. Yesterday I informed you about the company pride I noticed among my Turkish colleagues; today I discovered that they are also very respectful. When I arrived today it was clear that I’m calling the shots today, and everyone showed a lot of respect for our work and ideas. It was clear that they gathered information about me on the internet, they were well informed.