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Amazing! At this Michelin-starred restaurant, you can now pull lobster croquettes from the wall

snackmuur olivijn

If corona has taught us one thing, it’s that chefs and other hospitality heroes are incredibly resilient creatures. Pub closed? Then let’s just turn it into a temporary supermarket, shall we? Restaurant closed, so why not just sell delicatessen? And why not, let’s also put a snack wall in the restaurant, à la FEBO, where you can pull out croquettes. But with a filling that will genuinely drive you wild with excitement. Enter: Michelin-starred chef Menno Post of restaurant Olivijn.

Foto van culinair journalist Sharon van Lokhorst

Continuing to innovate and staying visible: that’s how Olivijn, located in one of Haarlem’s oldest buildings, is getting through corona. Menno: ‘We want to make things that make people happy. That gives us the energy to carry on.’

Snack wall

The regular four- or five-course menu for home is doing well, but they also want to remain visible. During the first lockdown, they came up with a traiteur, set up like a little shop selling delicacies such as oysters and eel. They still do that, combined with, among other things, dressings Menno makes himself and tins of snert from chef Joris Bijdendijk. Menno: ‘Then I came across a FEBO display case. I thought it would be fantastic if you could pull real quality products out of it.’

Haut friture

So now at Olivijn you can pull lobster croquettes from the wall, made with real lobster and pieces of lobster. There’s also a vegetarian truffle-and-celeriac version. Menno: ‘That one is truly amazing, the earthy flavour of truffle…’ For both croquettes, he developed a mayonnaise with Parmesan cheese—a perfect combination!

It turned out to be a bull’s-eye, because all the croquettes—50 in total—sold out within an hour and a half. Not surprising when you consider that a regular croquette sandwich at the snack bar will quickly cost you €4.50, while a lobster croquette sandwich at Olivijn costs only six euros—a great deal!

Cash only

At Olivijn’s vending machine, you can pull croquettes with lobster or truffle every Friday, Saturday and Sunday between 12:00 and 18:00. Even better: the machine only accepts actual cash. Classic!

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