Abcoude is home to the fine-dining sensation of the moment (and it’s affordable!)
Sometimes you visit a place where you head home in a conga line after dinner. Because of the location, the food and the feeling that you just know: this is going to be a real hit. The restaurant at Boutique Hotel De Witte Dame, located in Abcoude’s old railway station, is one of those places. The food is exceptionally good, and it’s also very reasonably priced. So go soon!
Boutique Hotel De Witte Dame is housed in a beautiful classic white building, just a five-minute walk from Abcoude Station, so it’s easy to reach. And if you’re coming by car, even better: there’s plenty of free parking right outside. Arriving by car in the evening is quite a sight, too—the beautiful white building emerging in the distance is impressive.
Chef Jasper van den Berg
Now is also the perfect time to visit the restaurant. Because, honestly, it wasn’t always such a good choice. When tiramisu with mayonnaise comes out of the kitchen, you know something isn’t quite right. With the arrival of chef Jasper van den Berg, those troubles are a thing of the past. In fact, the restaurant has a trump card in its hands with him. The former (sous-)chef of Lucas Rive and restaurant Daalder, as well as former Gossler & Florin chef, has brought a wealth of culinary expertise and a vision that has suddenly put Boutique Hotel De Witte Dame back on foodies’ lists. In short: high-level gastronomy that is still accessible and affordable.
Different menus
His creativity and seasonal menus showcase the best of the region. You can choose from a four-course menu (€54.50 per person), five courses (€65 per person) or six courses (€75 per person). We go all out with the six-course menu, and we’re not exaggerating when we say that every dish hits exactly the right notes in terms of flavour, balance, portion size and presentation. Jasper certainly cooks with bold flavours, but thanks to the fresh elements, you don’t leave feeling stuffed after six courses.
Dinner starts with various amuse-bouches, including mini almond and olive cakes with curry mousse and lime gel. For crunch, Jasper serves a tartelette with onion and balsamic compote, goat’s cheese cream, aji amarillo and hazelnut. This is promising!
Sour, sweet, spicy and smoky
The bread and homemade butter also deserve nothing but praise. The bread comes from Kaandorp bakery in Amsterdam-Noord and is served with beurre noisette made with sweet-and-sour mustard seeds—so delicious! Jasper’s love of fresh dishes is evident in the first course: a salad of tuna and North Sea crab with blood-orange and chipotle aguachile, a creative take on traditional Mexican aguachile. In this Mexican dish, raw fish is marinated in a spicy, acidic sauce made with lime juice, chillies, coriander and onion. The dish is similar to ceviche, in which raw fish or prawns are cooked by the acidity of citrus. The blood orange in Jasper’s dish adds a sweeter, fruitier flavour, while the chipotle (smoked jalapeño pepper) adds a smoky, spicy dimension. This combination gives the aguachile a distinctive, fresh yet complex balance of sour, sweet, spicy and smoky flavours.
Skate fillet with a rich sauce
What I love about this restaurant is the contrast between the incredible dishes on the one hand and the sense that, in terms of ambience, there is still so much room for improvement on the other. We look towards the bar with its black ring binders (you know, those sexless accounting folders), while the beautiful open kitchen is not yet being used (because the extraction system isn’t functioning properly yet). The coat rack in the restaurant also resembles a buffet at an Austrian ski resort more than a fine-dining restaurant. Once these details are addressed, the atmosphere will be excellent too. And the kitchen deserves that, because the cooking here is so good!
The skate fillet with duck-liver and lemon sauce, pointed cabbage, Granny Smith apple and crispy chicken skin is incredibly delicious too. Skate fillet, with its characteristic long, fibrous layers, is known for its delicate flavour and soft texture. Skate is low in fat and ideal for pairing with rich, buttery sauces, as it is here with duck liver. So much flavour in a single dish!
Oh, those sweetbreads!
But the star of the evening is still to come: the sweetbreads. Think you don’t like offal? This dish will make you reconsider. The sweetbreads are first fried until crisp, then glazed with their own jus and served with roasted cauliflower cream, sweet-and-sour mustard seeds and mushrooms pickled in a French passion-fruit dressing… The techniques here are incredibly good! The same goes for the farmed duck breast, brought in directly from France. Beautifully pink with crisp skin, it’s served with airy potato mousseline, apricot cream, sweet-and-sour red onion and a plum jus.
Bread and butter pudding
We finish with bread and butter pudding made from Frisian sugar bread. Bread and butter pudding is a traditional British dessert, originally created as a clever way to turn stale bread into a delicious dessert. Ultimate comfort food, and exactly as it is here: accompanied by passion-fruit meringue, passion-fruit and mango dressing, and mango sorbet with airy yoghurt. Wow!
Location and opening hours
So go soon! A lovely place, friendly service and a price-to-quality ratio worth celebrating. The restaurant is open for lunch from Thursday through Sunday and for dinner from Tuesday through Saturday. And even better: you can stay overnight in one of the 14 luxurious hotel rooms. Boutique Hotel De Witte Dame is located at Stationsplein 3 in Abcoude.
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