This morning Michelin released their 2011 Guide for the Netherlands.  Nine restaurants won their first star. One restaurant, Apicius in Bakkum, lost its second star.   

The Vermeer restaurant in Amsterdam is one of the restaurants to be awarded a first star. The city of Amsterdam now has 5 one-star restaurants and 1 two-star restaurant, Ciel Bleu (Okura Hotel). 

The Netherlands  have a total of 2 three-star restaurants (Oud Sluis in Sluis and De Librije in Zwolle) and 13 two-star restaurants and 83 one-star restaurants.

A Michelin star was first awarded to 8 restaurants in the Netherlands in 1957. Until the nineties there were only very few two-star restaurants; in 1986 there were five, in 1970 and 1988 there were four; at other times the number was three or less. The first restaurant to be awarded 3 stars by Michelin was Parkheuvel in Rotterdam in 2002. Chef Cees Helder of Parkheuvel has retired since and the restaurant now once again holds 2 stars.  The first restaurant to be awarded 3 stars after Parkheuvel was De Librije in Zwolle in 2004. Oud Sluis was awarded its third star in 2006.

Since 2002 the number of two-star restaurants has almost doubled in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands share a Bib Gourmand guide with Belgium and Luxembourg, called Bib Gourmand Benelux. The 2011 guide was released two weeks ago and the Netherlands has a total of 97 Bib Gourmand restaurants (20 newly awarded).

The two last Michelin guides 2011 for Europe to be released this year are Italy and Spain/Portugal. Both guides will be released later this month. The United Kingdom guide will be released in January 2011 and the France guide in March 2011.

 For a full list of all the starred restaurants included in the 2011 Netherlands guide see Michelin The Netherlands 2011