The annual presentation of the Michelin stars is usually a somewhat dutiful, yet festive matter. This year, however, the absence of Jonnie Boer hung like a black veil about that festival. Boer was a patron-cuisinier of the Librije, he was once the youngest Dutch cook who received a Michelin star and so far the only one who managed to keep three stars for 21 years. That is also an absolute rarity internationally. Above all, he was by far the most important and most influential cook in the Netherlands. Last April he suddenly died in Curaçao on a pulmonary embolism.
Boer was frequently honored. Deputy mayor Johan Pas van Maastricht, where the ceremony took place, was the first to drop his name after fifteen minutes when he stabbed the nervous chefs in the room with a famous quote of farmer: “[Het gaat om] Just nice cooking, with beautiful products and making people happy. ” His partner and sommelier guest woman Thérèse later received the Mentorship Award with their children Jimmie and Isabel and Chef de Cuisine Nelson Tanate-all four with tears-allocated Mentorship Award.
Then of course the big question was: does the Netherlands still have a restaurant with three stars in 2025? Officially, the Michelin stars will fall at a chef’s change or the loss of a chef, which must then be again granted. In practice it often means that a restaurant will at least fall back at least one star. But De Librije also has three Michelin stars in the 2025 guide, for the 22nd continuous year, and still as the only restaurant in the Netherlands.
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Kitchen chef
That is an unlikely achievement from the team and in particular kitchen chef Tanate, who arrived at De Librije in 2010 as a trainee and in the last seven years leading the kitchen under Jonnies auspices. “In recent years I have set the course. But I was able to ask Jonnie’s advice with every decision. That is now the biggest loss,” says Tanate. “We have tried to keep as much the same as possible to ensure stability and to give everyone as much room as possible to process the loss. But we are a kitchen that follows the seasons, so we have had to change at least half of the card.”
Immediately after Jonnie’s death, Tanate and Thérèse Boer Michelin brought up. And indicated that they would continue, with Thérèse and the children as shareholders and Tanate, who is also co-owner of the Librije, at the helm. “They said: we leave you alone for a month, then we will come by again,” says Tanate. “Of course we took star loss into account. That would have been more logical. But we also know that we have had many checks and we came here with great confidence today.”
De Librije is an institute where Jonnie and Nelson have been walking hand in hand for years
Exactly how Michelin de Librije visited after the tragic loss of Jonnie Boer, the anonymous Benelux head inspector (we only know that it is a man with a Flemish accent) does not have lost, but it has been ‘several times’. “The Librije is an institute where Jonnie and Nelson had been walking hand in hand for years and understood each other without words,” said the chief inspector. “Nelson not only guarantees the level, but together with Thérèse and the children, the soul and spirit of the Librije.”
Two other chefs who delivered a special performance were Guido Braeken and Soenil Bahadoer. Both lost their two stars rather: Braeken because he said goodbye as a chef at Julemont in 2024, Bahadoer because he closed the doors of the Lindehof in Nuenen earlier this year. Both chefs opened a new business this year (Create by Guido Braeken in Eijsden and Gem in Gemert) and were immediately included with two stars in the guide.
Fermentation techniques
The most striking star was that for chef Merijn van Berlo from Restaurant Choux in Amsterdam. After the award of the second star to vegetable Avant-Garder restaurant De Nieuwe Winkel in Nijmegen, Michelin showed a bit conservative in recent years by rewarding mainly classic tweezers. With Van Berlo’s Choux, Michelin has again awarded a real visionary pioneer. Ten years ago, Choux was already a pioneer in the use of fermentation techniques and the central setting of vegetables.
The kitchen of Choux continues to develop in the light of social themes such as sustainability. This year, Van Berlo has renounced pieces of meat and fish. Animal proteins only come on the board in a serving role. It is encouraging that Michelin also (with its very own, complex but light-hearted Nordic-inspired kitchen-is (finally) included in the selection.
“It is not obvious what Van Berlo does, but he does what he does with verve,” says the chief inspector. “Choux is a restaurant with its own identity, with a clear line that he does not deviate from. Sometimes a chef needs some time to evolve, or to find a constant. It really does great pleasure if you can say at a good time: yes, now have a nice file together, now we can finally assign that star.”
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