Restaurant guide Lekker released its Lekker Top-500 last week. Independent, specializing in haute cuisine and ambiance. These words encompass the restaurants featured in the Lekker500 restaurant guide. But which chefs made it into the top 10?Text: Noa Verseveldt
Image: Good Folk @ Restaurant M* and Rahi Rezvani
At number 1 is once again the restaurant De Librije. The atmosphere in the restaurant is cheerful and relaxed and you have a view of the half-open kitchen where SVH Master Chef Jonnie Boer is working with his chef Nelson Tanate and the team. The Zwolle superchef has been scoring with his De Librije for over thirty years. One of De Librije's dishes is a crispy potato casserole filled with Imperial Heritage caviar, crème fraîche, chopped chives and marigold, a velvety egg yolk, surrounded by pear with a wreath of pumpkin seeds.Jonnie & Thérèse Boer (De Librije)
In second place landed an innovative fast riser: Tribeca headed by Jan and Claudia Sobecki. Claudia is the hostess and Jan Sobecki is Tribeca's executive chef. The restaurant's sommeliers pour refined wines and share their knowledge and advice. One of Tribeca's dishes is a Brabant farmhouse duck whose gravy is made with fermented banana, vadouvan, mustard seed, peas and corn. And as a side dish, you get a stew with the same ingredients.
Inter Scaldes is in South Beveland, Zeeland, at the absolute top of Dutch gastronomy. Inter Scaldes has an atmospheric dining area with round tables set with white linen and leather chairs. The dining area is decorated with lots of minimalist art. Jannis and Claudia, the owners, own a large collection of Zero Art. SVH Master Chef Jannis Brevet prepares a Zeeland lobster served to guests with a gravy of string beans plus cream of and roasted slices of cauliflower.
Located in the Limburg village of Reijmerstok is the completely renovated farmhouse Brut 172. The number 172 refers to the meters the restaurant is located above sea level. The restaurant has a very relaxed and casual atmosphere. You do not feel like you are in a Michelin restaurant, on the contrary when you taste and see the food you immediately imagine yourself in a Michelin restaurant. The products of the dishes are mostly local. For example, there is a dish of a sweet, puffed and caramelized onion with juicy lobster as tarte tatin.
Pure C is located in the beach hotel Cadzand, on the second floor of the hotel. Because of the use of wooden materials and art objects of beach and sea, you really get the feeling of being outside. This is also due to the beautiful panoramic view where you look out over the dunes leading to the beach and sea. Chef Syrco Bakker clearly gets a lot of inspiration from the sea with his cuisine. So he serves an amuse bouche called 'North Sea Plateau' with oysters with marigold petals and mustard seed, shellfish tartare with fingerlime in a cup of nori, whelk cooked in chamomile tea with aioli and herring on spelt bread and beet.
The chef at De Lindehof is Soenil Bahadoer. His way of cooking is based on classic French cuisine as well as the recipes of his Surinamese-Hindustani mother. An example of the fusion cuisine is the roti roll with potato and fried mackerel with fermented enoki and tamarind. For dessert you can order a spice churros with piccalilli and okra crisp and a bonbon of bloody mary with espuma of celery.Soenil Bahadoer (De Lindehof)
212, then we arrive at the sixth restaurant. You are welcomed by the restaurant's hostess and the restaurant is a table-less concept. You can eat delicious dishes at the wooden bar surrounding the open kitchen. This gives you a view of how chefs Richard van Oostenbrugge and Thomas Groot are cooking. An example of what the chefs are preparing is a starter of confit langoustines in duck fat. The sauce to accompany the dish is of duck liver, dashi, arabica bean and katsuobushi (tuna shavings). There is also a sommelier at the restaurant who is very knowledgeable and knows the perfect wines to go with the food.
Spectrum is on the first floor of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Amsterdam. The restaurant's dining room is with modern art and fine linen-covered tables. While eating, you have a view of the Waldorf Astoria's beautiful courtyard garden. SVH master chef Sidney Schutte's cooking style is Dutch cuisine with Asian accents and lots of fish and seafood. One dish served at Spectrum is a pigeon with macadamia, juniper, purslane and apricot.
The Michelin restaurant Ciel Bleu is under the direction of Onno Kokmeijer and Arjan Speelman. Ciel Bleu is on the 23rd floor of the Hotel Okura Amsterdam and the restaurant serves dishes that are well thought out. Like, for example, the king crab with baeri caviar and ice cream of beurre blanc in a celeriac cannelloni colored with squid. However, the restaurant is unfortunately closed from January to mid-March, for a major renovation.Onno Kokmeijer, Arjan Speelman (Ciel Bleu) & Fred Mustert (Fred)
The restaurant Fred which is also named after him is run under the direction of Fred Mustert along with his kitchen chef Nicolas Belot. The signature dish of the restaurant Fred, are the langoustines, which are grilled briefly with a bite through curry, melon, cucumber and coconut foam. It is an atmospheric and beautiful restaurant.
The star chefs from the Lekker top 10 also cooked at MASTER EXPO's star restaurant M* last month. Restaurant M* has now become the most talked-about gastronomic concept in the Netherlands, hosted by culinary entrepreneur Carsten Klint. It is the only place where all the great star chefs of the Netherlands celebrate the joy for their profession together. The atmosphere, the quality, the creativity, it is exactly these facets that have made Restaurant M* so special. These 26 star chefs cooked the stars from heaven and account for no less than 42 Michelin stars. The chefs are: Nelson Tanate*** (De Librije), Erik van Loo** (Parkheuvel), Soenil Bahadoer** (De Lindehof), Fred Mustert** (Fred), Edwin Vinke** (De Kromme Watergang), Martin Kruithof** (De Lindenhof), Stefan van Sprang** (Aan de Poel), Dick Middelweerd** (De Treeswijkhoeve), Dennis Huwaë* (Daalder), Egon van Hoof* (MOS), Roy Eijkelkamp** (De Bokkedoorns), Richard van Oostenbrugge & Thomas Groot** (212).
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