Daalder by Dennis Huwaë is one of John Heitinga's favorite restaurants. “I want to give that boy a platform.” On the threshold of the corona era, we visit this ambitious chef. “I always want to be the best, I'm not number two.”
Text: Bart-Jan Brouwer | Online editor: Natasha Hendriks
Image: John van Helvert
Daalder is a household name in the Jordan and far beyond. Good food, conviviality, intimacy and a jovial host. Last November, Dennis Huwaë opened a second restaurant in Amsterdam-West. And not just any one. Noble by Dennis is five times as big, has a bar, a gigantic terrace on the water, an atrium where events can be organized... Dennis shows us both locations.
It was not obvious that he would develop a passion for good food: “In my first years of life I was always very ill and could only eat very little. I always helped in the kitchen and enjoyed the nice smells there. Fortunately, when I was twelve, my allergies started to improve. It was the beginning of my high school years. My brother was obsessed with homework and I didn't like learning.
My father once took me to the restaurant in Vlissingen where he worked as a waiter, so I could see if I liked that. Then I decided to go into the catering industry. My training started on September 1, 1999, when I was just fifteen. Three days after I started my studies, my father died, at the age of forty. Heart attack. I wanted to quit a thousand times during my studies, but I kept my word: I promised my parents that I would be the best in the school, so despite the fact that I really didn't like it, I continued. A man a man, a word a word – that's how I grew up. The fact that I did not like going to school at that time may have had to do with my age and of course the sadness I felt at the time due to the loss of my father.
His first job, the bottom rung of the ladder, was at McDonald's. “I started working with a group of friends at a branch behind customs at Schiphol. Very nice time!
When I graduated from MAVO, I registered for the Sterklas, the highest culinary training for young chefs in the Netherlands - only the best students are admitted there, eight per year. Out of six hundred applications, I was one of them. You had to have two letters from master chefs or star chefs, otherwise you weren't even eligible. I got the first from Guy Van Cauteren, the chef of the two-star restaurant 't Laurierblad in Belgium, where I had done an internship. I received the second letter of recommendation from Onno Kokmeijer, the chef of Ciel Bleu, where I worked at the time.
Quite a funny story how I ended up there. Since I was eight, I have been friends with Thomas Groot (after Envy and Bord'Eau, he now runs restaurant 212 together with Richard Oostenbrugge; ed.) and his brother Koen. Koen lived next to De Brakke Grond, where I worked at the time. One Saturday the two of us were out. In a club Koen said: 'You should actually go to the Okura sometime, I think that is something for you.' That night we got paralyzed and I crashed at his place. The next morning we went to the Okura. I had long hair, Nikes on, earrings, a gold chain and a cap on backwards on my head. It was immediately clear to everyone: they did not belong in the Okura. Coincidentally, the general manager was standing there, Marcel van Aelst. Koen was able to explain why we were there and Van Aelst turned out to be a very sweet man, who gave us a small tour. I gave him my phone number, and he arranged for me to be called by Okura human resources the following week. Then I could start. I still know the sweet man, he is very dear to me.”
Dennis entered Ciel Bleu as an apprentice and had to prove himself. “It was hard work, but I was used to that – I've always worked hard. Since I was fifteen, eighty hours a week. I was ordered around, it sometimes seemed like war in the kitchen. But I don't mind that, as long as it stays neat. Onno was a bit of a big brother: 'You can't do this, you can do this, you have to look at this this way, this is really not allowed...' I learned a lot from him, also as a person. And in the meantime I have gone through and completed the Star Class. When I felt like I had finished learning at Ciel Bleu, it was time to move. I have to stay challenged, I want to keep learning – I am a man with a mission. At that time there were two restaurants where I wanted to work: Oud Sluis and 't Brouwerskolkje. In one month I applied seven times at 't Brouwerskolkje and they always didn't want me. I asked all the chefs around me to call Moshik Roth. Ultimately, Robert Kranenborg managed to get me in there. When I came in there the next day, Moshik said, 'I've been thinking about it. You can do an internship for two weeks.' After day two he wanted to take a walk through the woods with me. While walking he offered me a permanent contract as kitchen manager. That's how I became his right hand.
With Moshik it was very different than with his previous teacher. “Everything was possible in Ciel Bleu, there was actually an infinite budget. 't Brouwerskolkje was just a camping kitchen in an old pancake tent, where you had to stand in the kitchen in the winter in a thick coat. The facilities were dramatic, but the food was the best in the world. That combination made it so magical: in a kind of mobile home you were served the best food and the most beautiful wines in the Netherlands. In the middle of nowhere. Really that you think: how?! I wanted to learn that. Moshik was very busy with his television work in Israel and completely trusted me with the matter. I was running the show and wanted to get three stars. Ultimately, I worked with Moshik for a total of almost seven years. Then I thought it was time for something different.”
Dennis received an offer from Tokyo, among others, but he opted for the small-scale Daalder. “The fact that I made that choice was due to a combination of factors. I had a good connection with owner Frans van Dam. Daalder was exactly the accessible environment I was looking for. I immediately felt at home. I wanted to offer top quality food in a super relaxed environment and that was possible at Daalder. It needed an upgrade, that was clear. Frans promised me that I could do that at my own discretion. And I could become co-owner. When I started Daalder in 2016, I wanted to make it the best restaurant in the Netherlands. I think we are well on our way, that we are doing well. Of course, Michelin inspectors come by and we are mentioned in the guide, but it is difficult to get stars with the concept we implement. The tables are too close together, we only do one menu... Michelin thinks it is important that you have an à la carte menu. But I am not guided by Michelin's rules. It's okay like that. I don't need those stars right away. It'll come. Maybe in a different location.
There is no Moluccan in his dishes twist. “I never learned to cook Moluccans, but those flavors of the past are in my head. I will definitely take that into my kitchen. Since my father's death, contact with the Moluccan side of my family has diminished. Dennis has in common with John Heitinga that his roots are in the East and that he loves Ajax. “My father was a diehard Ajax player, he even has the club logo on his gravestone. Where Ajax went, he went. He took me with him every match. I was instilled with a love for Ajax from an early age.
I have one weak spot, that is my father. I find everything that has to do with him difficult. And he is Ajax. I met John at the Ajax Gala. We have kept in touch since then. There is a connection and I cherish that. There is nothing more fun than cooking for people I like and appreciate.”
Despite his overcrowded working weeks, he happily started a second restaurant, Edel by Dennis, last November. “I had too much in my head that needed to get out and that I couldn't get rid of in Daalder. Dishes, energy… Daalder is small, isn't it? Edel is five times as big. Space, man! It is located in the national monument Het Sieraad in De Baarsjes. Frans and I have about 2.500 square meters: the restaurant, a bar, a terrace with 250 seats on the Kostverlorenvaart, an atrium where Tesla unveiled two cars during a dinner for five hundred people... What a place! The nice thing about a second restaurant: I had too many good staff around me in Daalder, who can continue to grow in this way.” We attach great importance to inclusivity here. Everyone feels welcome here; also my own friends. I had the walls painted with street art by Elle, a street artist from Brooklyn. While she was busy, I watched for five hours, speechless. That she makes something like that with just a spray can and a piece of cardboard!”
Two restaurants, a family life, caring for his grandparents and mother... “That is only possible if you make clear agreements and properly divide the responsibilities. I spend most of the time with Daalder, and with Edel as much as necessary. In five years I want to focus on one restaurant and have the boys run the other restaurant. I don't want any stress in the dishes, you should always be relaxed. If you are relaxed, you radiate that to your guests. And let's not make life more difficult than it is. You have to work hard, but having fun is just as important. Otherwise you can't keep it up for eighty hours a week.”
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