Buiten in de Kuil in Lage Vuursche: delicious and fun lunch in the forest
Adeline loves food, lots of it and often, both at home and out. This week she had lunch in the forest at Buiten in de Kuil in Lage Vuursche. Highly recommended!
It was Friday. The Netherlands was practically being washed off the map by the amount of rain. And what did I do? I went for lunch at Buiten in de Kuil, a restaurant hidden in the woods near Lage Vuursche. Are there better days to try this out? Yes. But my logic is roughly this: if you’re fun even in the pouring rain, you’re worth remembering.
Free parking right outside
And so I drove to Buiten in de Kuil in Lage Vuursche in one smooth movement. An immediate plus: parking here is free, and right outside the door too. Perhaps I got that spot right by the entrance thanks to the weather, which meant the forest was less busy, but I’m simply counting it as a big plus.
Stormy order
The men serving us were all equally lovely, which I think is quite impressive. It must be a challenge to get lovely people into that forest every day, but apparently: not here. It was teeming with friendly, smiling guys who very charmingly asked whether everything was still all right whenever a glass was empty. I always find that a very sympathetic question in itself, and it all seemed particularly sincere too. (And if you’re thinking, I’d quite like to work in the forest every day surrounded by lovely men too: they still need extra staff.)
Then the food, because that was why I came, after all. Because of the weather, it became a rather schizophrenic order. Stormy outside? Stormy inside, and therefore stormy on the plate. We ordered a quiche, a toasted sandwich and sweet potato fries with truffle mayo. Fries are a must when it rains. Normally you get one of those miserly little bowls of fries that’s empty after three handfuls. Not at Buiten in de Kuil. Here you get a cheerful little pan with a generous (deep!) bowl of mayo, which we couldn’t finish. The toasted sandwich came with double cheese and red onion compote in between. And I’m going to make that at home now, because this is absolutely the recipe for when you need the comforting embrace of a toasted sandwich. The quiche was delicious too.
Excellent menu
The rest of the menu isn’t skimpy either. Pretty much everything is available to order. From a burger with fries to a Chicken Jan Dori salad (credit for this find) and a delicious farmer’s omelette on brown bread, or cake from the specials. Exactly what you want to eat after a refreshing walk through the forest or with your beer on the terrace, because I can easily imagine this being a popular spot when the sun is shining.
Reservations: not always
A plus and a minus at the same time: during the day, it isn’t possible to make a reservation (dinner is a different matter). On the one hand, I applaud this, because it means you can also spontaneously drop in after a walk through the forest. But if, like me, you have to drive for 45 minutes from Amsterdam, you simply want to know whether there’ll be a table. In good weather, this isn’t a problem, by the way, because the terrace is enormous and incredibly cosy. I could even see that through the torrential rain.
Dogs & horses
Buiten in de Kuil is open every day of the week from 09:30, and from 08:30 on Sundays. Dogs are welcome and may even come inside. You can park your horse outside in the ‘horse parking’. If you’d like to come with a group of more than 15 people, send them an email.
Buiten in de Kuil, Zevenlindenweg 9, Lage Vuursche
Read also:
- When your waiter turns out to be a diver
- The grossest dining scene in a restaurant ever
- Confession: I’m buying my house based on thuisbezorgd.nl
