Kesbeke winner of culinary awards show FavorFlav Food Top 100 2025 edition
Who are the true tastemakers in the world of food and drink? Who matters in the Dutch culinary scene today? Who determines what we eat and drink this year? That is the question we ask ourselves every year when compiling the FavorFlav Food Top 100, our annual celebration where we honor the one hundred most influential people in the food scene. First place? This year it goes to Kesbeke!
The FavorFlav Food Top 100 was announced on March 17, 2025. This is the eighth time that we—And hooray! We are celebrating our 10th anniversary this year!—have paid tribute to the movers and shakers of Dutch gastronomy. And to indicate the importance of this list: previous winners include Jonnie and Thérèse Boer, Janny van der Heijden, Joris Bijdendijk, Miljuschka Witzenhausen and Karsu. This year’s big winner is Kesbeke.
Number 1: Kesbeke
His new golf set is still unused, and Oos has not sailed his boat for two years. That is what happens when your work is also your hobby. At the sourest family in the Netherlands, making money does not come first either. Making a great product does. And it has since 1948, when Charles Kesbeke started a pickling business in a small basement in the heart of Amsterdam. His grandson Oos has now been at the helm since 1979, and his sons Camiel and Silvian are being prepared to take over the business. It can all be followed in the popular series De Augurkenkoning. Kesbeke has since become an exceptionally strong and innovative brand with products that are hip and trendy. Over the past year, Kesbeke’s pickles appeared everywhere: in cheese and liver sausage, in a chocolate letter (the ‘chocogurk’) and in ice cream with vodka. The fact that the Kesbeke family business is also a family for its employees, and that Oos is happy to give people with disabilities an opportunity in the company—it is gold on gold on gold. Bravo!
Number 2: Robin Bravenboer
‘Just start, don’t think too much, just do it.’ That is the motto of Rotterdam’s hospitality king Robin Bravenboer. At the end of 2024, he was crowned Hospitality Entrepreneur of the Year by hospitality trade magazine Entree Magazine. The founder of the iconic Baja Beach Club, once named the best club in Europe, knows how to create an incredible atmosphere in every venue. And there are quite a few of them: eight venues in Rotterdam, including the new River Bar and Bar Bù and the soon-to-open Bar Glasz at Hillegersberg marina, as well as six in Barcelona. And to think that, by his own account, he entered the hospitality industry because he could not do anything else. At 17, having never poured a beer, Sportcafé Bravenboer was his first business, and he is still doing what he did then: selling conviviality and atmosphere. And how! Guests who do not play golf come to his golf club Seve for the conviviality, while people who do not ride horses come to his riding school Pirouette for the atmosphere. Sitting still is not for him; we are expecting yet another new venue soon, where everything will be on trend and focused on competitive socializing. We can’t wait!
Number 3: Mara Grimm
A fixture in the Top 100 list, because Mara Grimm keeps reinventing herself, and we follow her tips without hesitation. Whether it is restaurant reviews in Het Parool or tips in her newsletter De Tafel van Grimm. Because of Mara, we all want to eat at the brand-new Esra, Fuku Ramen and restaurant Massalia. We want to follow in her footsteps to Paris, Kyoto and Tangier and drink nothing but wine from the red wine glass Sergio Herman designed for Serax’s Inku line. Because when Mara recommends it as her favorite glass, you know it is good.
Six-course dinner by top chefs
On Monday evening, the 100 nominees sat down at the Sint-Olofskapel on Zeedijk, also known as Olof’s, one of Amsterdam’s oldest buildings and part of NH Collection Amsterdam Barbizon Palace. During the FavorFlav Top 100 dinner, a six-course dinner was prepared by top chefs René van der Weijden (Wijnbar Hemel & Aarde), Niven Kunz (Triptyque*), Mariusz Olesiński (Viviamo), Sebastian Baquero Garces (Vermeer), Noah Wynants (De Librije***) and Matt Pace (Elysianne). The presentation was hosted by Arno Kantelberg (lifestyle expert at RTL Boulevard and editor-in-chief of ModMod) and Sharon van Lokhorst (editor-in-chief of FavorFlav).
It was a PARTY once again! You can read the full Top 100 list here:
The entire awards show in a nutshell? You can watch it here:
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