Joris Bijdendijk has persuaded an Italian Michelin-starred chef to cook together
Dining at an Italian Michelin-starred restaurant on your bucket list? I’m going to make it easy for you—or rather, Joris Bijdendijk is. At the end of January, he is inviting chef Riccardo Gaspari from SanBrite to join him for some fiery cooking behind the stove. And he’s doing it in one of my favorite Amsterdam restaurants: his own Wils.
Let’s meet
Italian Michelin-starred food close to home, then. Chef Gaspari is coming from Cortina d’Ampezzo (Veneto) to our capital to cook a menu of six snacks and six courses together over Wils’s open fire. Bijdendijk ate at SanBrite two years ago and says he was completely blown away. He had to introduce the restaurant to the Netherlands: “Their hospitality, natural way of cooking and refinement are unmatched. It feels like a family restaurant of the highest level, where cooking is done in harmony with animals and nature.”
There is plenty to say about Wils, too. The view of the Olympic Stadium pales in comparison to the view of the kitchen, which you can see from throughout the restaurant. All kinds of dishes are cooked over an open fire there. A joy to watch and an even greater joy to taste. An ode to primal force that Neanderthals could learn a thing or two from. So it was no surprise that a Michelin star appeared next door in no time.
Mountain restaurant SanBrite
The same goes for SanBrite. Italian chef Gaspari was introduced to self-sufficient cooking at a young age. At Brite de Larieto, his parents’ family business, everything was made in-house. On the farm, he learned about farming, and in the restaurant, the basics of cooking. Later, he apprenticed under his inspiration Massimo Bottura in the kitchen of Osteria Francescana. In 2017, it was time to open his own restaurant.
Together with his wife Ludovica, he opened SanBrite, where zero waste and producing everything themselves are central. At the mountain restaurant, he works with nature in an honest way. ‘San’ stands for healthy, while ‘Brite’ refers to a mountain hut where milk is processed. On the surrounding estate, Gaspari grows vegetables and fruit and keeps livestock for dairy products and meat used in the kitchen. In addition to a Michelin star, SanBrite was awarded a green Michelin star and is featured on the World’s 50 Best Discovery list.
Wils x SanBrite
Bijdendijk’s hoped-for introduction is finally happening, and I’m joining in. How about you? You can make a reservation at Wils here for dinner on January 27, here for lunch on January 28, and here for dinner on the 28th. The damage: €130 for a special guest menu of those six snacks and six courses. But it won’t do you any harm—in fact, quite the opposite.
Also read:
- How to make Michelin-star chef Joris Bijdendijk’s famous chocolate mousse
- Recipe for an amazing cheesecake by Joris Bijdendijk
- How to make a shrimp frikadel by top chef Joris Bijdendijk
Source: Italiamo
