On the 24th of November it has been announced that Okura’s restaurants Yamazato and Ciel Bleu retained their Michelin stars. Yamazato is since 2002 the only traditional Japanese restaurant with a Michelin star. At Ciel Bleu we were awarded with two stars again, which we would like to celebrate with you!

Okura’s very own Culinary Center ‘Taste of Okura’ will open its doors in the festive December month. After months of preparations, building, and developing the culinary concept the opening is coming up. On the 9th of December the festive opening of ‘Taste of Okura’ is scheduled!

On the 3rd of November the finals of the Alliance cooking competition for amateur chefs are organized in the Miele Culinary Institute in Vianen. Guests of the Alliance restaurants, including Ciel Bleu, could become one of the participants of the cooking competition by sending in their recipes. In October the pre-rounds were organized, and the Alliance chefs evaluated the recipes and skills of the amateur chefs. At this moment the finalists are selected, Thomas competes in the competition on behalf of Ciel Bleu.

Last week I visited the cooking atelier of Yves Mattagne in Brussels together with all Okura chefs. Of course the purpose of our visit was not to learn how to cook. We were very interested in seeing how they organize culinary workshops, because that is what we are going to do in our Culinary Center Taste of Okura as of December.