Last Monday the 3rd of November was a very special day for us. First of all the book presentation of the 6th part of ‘Fish & Season’ took place. The presentation was celebrated at the new modern fish restaurant Nevy located at the IJ river.

Fish & Season is an initiative of the fish supplier Jan van As, who is our main fish supplier. The principle of this serie of books is ‘Eat fish when it is justified and keep away when they are multiplying’.

By this the catering industry and the consumer is being stimulated to word with the right fish species at the right season. In this series of books every two months is being described. This is done on purpose because the ocean knows six seasons a year like we ‘on land' know four seasons a year.  Different great chefs worked together on this good initiative and together we were able to present this great series of books. As ambassador of Fish & Season I had the honor to hand over the first edition of the series to the Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. The chefs who worked on the books served appetizers under the supervision of Robert Kranenborg. The evening was completed by a tour on one of the fishing boats.

We were a bit in a rush, because it was a special day for us. We had to visit several events. Noël Vanwittenbergh (sommelier Ciel Bleu) and I had a lunch at GaultMillau for the presentation of the new Dutch edition of this international restaurant and hotel guide. GaultMillau awarded us with an extra point, so now we earned 16 points in total. After lunch we drove to the book presentation of Fish & Season and went back to the party of ‘GaultMillau by Night'. The edition of GaultMillau 2009 was presented at the St. Olofskapel of the NH Barbizon in Amsterdam at the presence of the best Dutch restaurateurs, chef colleagues, sommeliers, hosts and hoteliers. Of course, we are very proud to gone up with one point by GaultMillau!

The presentation of the SpecialBite also took place in the evening. Ciel Bleu ended up at a nice 23rd place out of 501 other restaurants in the Netherlands!

All together it was an exiting day for everyone! We enjoyed the hospitality and we are looking forward to let you enjoy the fish of the season. Now, heads forward to next Monday when the presentation of the ‘Lekker' restaurant guide will take place and the Iens!

On behalf of the Ciel Bleu team,

Onno Kokmeijer