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Egon van Hoof, MOS Amsterdam: "One star is a natural habitat for me."

A restaurant that feels like home, with a Michelin star on the facade, spectacular views over the IJ River and surprising and changing menus. MOS Amsterdam is a MUST visit. In conversation with patron-cuisinier Egon van Hoof (1979, Amstelveen). "I don't feel any performance pressure because of that star. I do feel it from myself, because I am a perfectionist. It always has to be right. "Text: Bart- Jan Brouwer
Online editing: Noa Verseveldt
Image: Esther QuelleWhat a location! MOS Amsterdam is located at the far end of the IJDock, a peninsula in the IJ that was docked in 2011, behind Central Station. No matter where you sit inside, everywhere you see the tugboats, ferries, cruise ships and pleasure boats passing over the ever-moving IJ. Across the street, EYE gleams in the sun and the ADAM Tower peaks. The view from MOS Amsterdam is nothing short of spectacular. So are Egon van Hoof's surprising French-international dishes, which earned a Michelin star in 2016. It's Thursday morning. There is not only plenty of movement on the IJ, but also in the restaurant, where preparations are being made for a lunch for 50 people. Egon van Hoof leads me up the stairs to a place where we can sit quietly. The espresso steaming, the owner-chef pounces. "The passion for good food has been instilled in me from an early age. I may not be a Brabanter, but I am a bourgondian. I inherited my love of cooking from my parents. On weekends, my father would spend all day in the kitchen trying out all kinds of recipes from cookbooks. And I was always taken along for the shopping: to the poulterer, the greengrocer... I found it all very interesting. "Sole cooked in mustard oil with oyster, caviar and fenugreek beurre blanc.

Parties and celebrations

Egon went to mavo-havo, but that wasn't quite his thing, he noticed. "And the school mostly noticed that too, haha. After a year they said, 'Maybe you should do something else.' At that time the vocational choice test was booming. I took that test and it showed that I should do something with my hands. My talent was not so much in carpentry; I chose to take the classical cooking course at Hubertus & Berkhoff. There I was taught bread, pastry, service, cooking... I soon knew that I liked cooking best, being busy making delicious things. After this vmbo-school I moved on to the ROC, a four-year training with each year a different training company - four days of work, one day of school. I started at catering company Kragtwijk in Amstelveen. That was my first catering experience, consisting mainly of sandwiches and preparing lots of salads for parties at the weekend. A lot of fun, but they were sometimes days from 7 in the morning until 3 in the morning. Pretty intense, I can tell you. And I was just in my "discovery years," so I also wanted to go out with my friends. I look back on that first year as a period in which I learned to work especially hard. In the second year I came to work in the former Miranda Paviljoen (now Amstel Boathouse; ed.), also parties and celebrations, and the following year in Brasserie Van Baerle. That's where my love for French cuisine was born. In the kitchen was Patrick van der Kroft, the brother of Michel van der Kroft ('t Nonnetje**, Harderwijk). He came from Hoorn and linked me to Constant Fonk, who ran the Oude Rosmolen there. I was able to go there in my fourth year. Constant had educated himself and therefore had a different view of things than I had learned. I did find that very interesting."

Gears

When his training at the ROC ended, Egon had seen enough of Hoorn. He sought it closer to home. "I went to Halvemaan in Amsterdam, from John Halvemaan. He was the pioneer of Nouvelle Cuisine in the Netherlands and had cooked his way into the picture with unique flavor combinations such as 'steak tartare with oyster' and 'lobster with vanilla sauce.' But his cooking style was very classic. I personally found it more exciting what Ron Blaauw was doing, who was on the rise at the time. I joined his team at his two-star restaurant in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel and stayed there for six and a half years. Ron traveled a lot to Spain and always came back full of ideas. It was a great time to develop yourself and he let it happen - it was a breeding ground for talent. Ron is someone who knows how to tighten the right gears in everyone, making you perform optimally, with a lot of fun. That's what I'm trying to do here too, from my own feeling." Egon was in the kitchen at Ron Blaauw with Menno Post, André Gerrits, Joris Bijdendijk, Stefan van Sprang and Robbert Veuger. "At one point Stefan and Robbert were approached to start Aan de Poel, at the most beautiful spot in Amstelveen. Stefan asked if I wanted to join them. No matter how good I had it at Ron Blaauw, I couldn't pass up that challenge. I got the chance to help set up the restaurant and to become kitchen manager, a step up from Ron. But, a restaurant from sketch level and no experience as a kitchen chef: that wasn't easy. It was quite a tough period and it took me a while to find my way in it." A path that led to success, because in four years Aan de Poel achieved two stars. "Of course more pressure comes with that. You try not to feel that way - we have been judged for what we do, so what we do is good - but also want to keep challenging yourself and keep innovating. So we changed menus a lot. Before, the innovation went playfully, now it went more dutifully. And then it doesn't feel natural."

Would you like to read more about Egon Hoof and his restaurant Mos Amsterdam? Then order the new MASTERS MAGAZINE now!

MASTERS #48 with guest editor-in-chief Joseph Klibansky