5 reasons why you’ll want to rush to Restaurant Hemel & Aarde
Restaurant Hemel & Aarde, a household name in Utrecht, is serving 3 new menus this season. Alongside the signature menu and the entirely vegetarian menu, there is now also a ‘heavenly’ menu, in which the most exclusive ingredients take center stage. A good reason to make the journey to the Dom Tower. But there are more!
Reason 1: the chef’s sublime creativity
What Rene van der Weijden and his brigade manage to achieve with relatively ordinary ingredients such as leek, kohlrabi, celeriac, beetroot and kale is pure magic. It starts with the wonderfully refreshing kohlrabi kombucha we receive as soon as we arrive. But we are also thinking of the dish with three preparations of cabbage, which we taste in a version with and without zolderspek. The crispy deep-fried kale that melts in your mouth seems to have absolutely nothing in common with the ribbon of sauerkraut.
Different preparations of leek
And the dish with different preparations of leek is one of our favorites. The barbecued leek sits in a wonderfully briny cream of leek greens with lovage and miso – fermented in-house. The leek is topped with pickle, wild garlic capers and beignet poppers, whose appearance reminds us of the crispy soup dumplings we associate with Austrian winter sports holidays. It creates a fun mouthfeel and also feels like a little joke from the chef. What all the dishes have in common is their countless layers of flavor and texture.
Of course, we love heavenly ingredients such as turbot, sweetbreads and saddle of venison. But honestly: the team’s creativity really comes into its own in the ‘Aarde’ menu!
Reason 2: the fantastic wines
From the excellent Geoffroy champagne as an aperitif to the pure Kaufmann Wisselbrunnen Riesling Spätlese with the dessert of dulce de leche with saffron and buttermilk meringues, and everything in between: the wines at Hemel & Aarde are certainly a very good reason to travel to Utrecht.
Sommeliers Sanne van den Brink and Marek Masse are responsible for the wine list, which now includes more than 500 wines from around the world, especially from cool-climate regions. Note that there is also a wine bar in the Hemel & Aarde building (wijnbar Hemel & Aarde is its name). We had already been somewhat ‘warned’ about the exceptional wines by the plaque from the American wine magazine WineSpectator, which they were allowed to put on the façade this year.
Reason 3: everything comes from nearby
Are you a big fan of bread too? Then you definitely need to eat at Hemel & Aarde. The brioche is exactly how you want it: rich with butter, with the onion-like saltiness of miso perfectly balanced by the sticky sweetness on top. Like the other bread we taste, it comes from De Bakkert in Utrecht. Very local indeed. But all the other products also come from as nearby as possible. Some of the vegetables and flavorings come from the kitchen garden at Landgoed Vollenhoven, within cycling distance of the restaurant. The wine list proudly features Dutch and Belgian wines. Even the saffron, ginger and yuzu are grown in the Netherlands!
Reason 4: the fantastic space
Hemel & Aarde is located in a grand corner building in the heart of Utrecht, right behind the Dom Tower. It once housed a gentlemen’s club, an evangelical church and Polman’s Huis restaurant. The space where we sit is large, with an extremely high ceiling and equally impressive windows. It may sound cold, but it is actually a very pleasant, atmospheric and chic place, divided into cozy corners. An extra plus: the wonderfully comfortable sofas!
Reason 5: the relaxed and knowledgeable service
Hats off to the black brigade, because we tasted some beautiful dishes! But we were also impressed by the front-of-house team, who clearly have a great deal of knowledge. Especially nice for critical foodies 😉
Price, location and opening hours Restaurant Hemel & Aarde
On the ‘Hemel & Aarde’ menu (from 95 euros), the team serves the essence: the best of the moment with plenty of vegetables and occasional meat or fish according to the 80–20 rule. With the vegetarian ‘Aarde’ menu (from 90 euros), the kitchen team shows how much is possible using only vegetables. The ‘Hemels’ menu (135 euros) is where the kitchen team’s culinary creativity is most deeply rooted. Here you taste special and exclusive ingredients alongside the team’s most beloved signatures, such as sweetbreads with pickled green pepper and celeriac.
Address:
Keistraat 8, Utrecht.
Opening hours:
Monday closed
Tuesday 18:00 – 00:00
Wednesday 18:00 – 00:00
Thursday 12:00 – 00:00
Friday 12:00 – 00:00
Saturday 12:00 – 00:00
Sunday closed
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Images: Ashkan Mortezapour Photography
