Fine dining in the Red Light District: you can do it at this new pop-up!
Michelin-starred chef Arturo Dalhuisen is cooking at the new pop-up restaurant Bellezza. In a unique location, in the heart of the Red Light District.
Has this chef recently had another pop-up in Amsterdam?
That’s right! Arturo Dalhuisen, known for The White Room in Amsterdam, left last year after earning his first Michelin star shortly before. Last month, he briefly returned to the capital to take over restaurant Daalder from his fellow chef Dennis Huwaë for two weeks. The takeover at Daalder sold out in no time, and it left him wanting more. That’s why the Michelin-starred chef is now moving to the pop-up restaurant Bellezza in the Red Light District for four months, which will officially open at the end of December. Until then, Dalhuisen will be temporarily taking charge of the kitchen.
Where exactly in the Red Light District is the restaurant located?
In a freestanding canal house, well hidden in a narrow alley on the Oudezijds Achterburgwal, accessible through a small gateway (look carefully!). This location, directly opposite the main entrance of Casa Rosso theatre, has made history before. It was once the spice merchant Jacob Hooy’s warehouse and a meeting place for artists at Cul de Sac. Until recently, restaurant Blauw aan de Wal had been located there for more than ten years.
What kind of food can you expect?
There is a five-course menu (€69) or a seven-course menu (€89). The same dishes from the menu can also be ordered à la carte. We sampled, among other things, langoustine with young potatoes and lovage jus, as well as perfectly cooked cod with various preparations of carrot and jasmine. It is fine dining at the level of a Michelin-starred restaurant. Light, colourful dishes with plenty of fresh acidity, entirely in the style Dalhuisen is known for. (Variations of) signature dishes from Daalder chef and co-initiator Dennis Huwaë will also feature on the menu, such as his gently cooked egg with morels, asparagus and Parmesan, and his stroopwafel dessert. Huwaë himself will not be behind the stove during this pop-up.
What makes this pop-up special?
The restaurant is an initiative of several Amsterdam entrepreneurs who want to give the Red Light District a quality boost and make it attractive to Amsterdammers again by bringing in a fine dining restaurant. Alongside Daalder chef Dennis Huwaë and co-founder Melcher de Wind, who previously made his mark in the museum and entertainment worlds, live-show operator Casa Rosso is participating in the project. The interior can only be described as spectacular. The intimate restaurant seats just sixteen to a maximum of twenty guests. While the courses are being served, lifelike video projections related to the food being served at that moment are shown on all the walls of the restaurant’s ground floor. A kind of chameleonic interior that changes along with the courses being served. The videos are a work in progress.
Several renowned and emerging digital artists and video artists will be brought in over the coming period to produce special videos. In this way, Bellezza wants to take guests into a world that continually surprises and stimulates all the senses. As you make your way through the entire menu, you move through different spaces. For dessert, guests move from the ground floor to the dessert room on the first floor. This space has its own distinct atmosphere, decorated in shades of pink with paintings of angels, and is called ‘The Seventh Heaven’. In the adjoining room is a stylish cocktail bar illuminated in subdued light, where you can enjoy an after-dinner cocktail.
What’s next?
Bellezza is expected to open at the end of this year, with an Italy-inspired concept. The founders are keeping the exact details under wraps for now. Until then, Bellezza will be a pop-up. Reservations can be made via restaurant Bellezza.
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