‘New Dutch’ food at Floreyn

FavorFlav visits restaurant Floreyn in Amsterdam, which embraces Dutch cuisine. Its motto: there’s more than the French bistro.

What exactly is Dutch cuisine? Of course, we know the tourist clichés of Gouda cheese, poffertjes and herring. And regional heroes such as Amsterdam ossenworst, Groninger metworst and Oosterschelde lobster. The Indonesian and Surinamese cuisines, which can also be traced back to colonial times, could be considered part of the Netherlands’ culinary heritage. Under the umbrella of Dutch Cuisine, a commendable initiative by SVH master chef Albert Kooy, renowned chefs have been working together for some time to reinvent the ‘New Dutch Cuisine’.

Grandma’s cooking

Restaurant-goers looking for Dutch cuisine (whatever that may be) can visit more upscale restaurants such as RIJKS®, Bolenius, Niven and Kromme Watergang. These establishments hold Dutch products in high regard and create wonderful dishes with them. At the other end of the spectrum are restaurants serving ‘food like grandma used to make’. You can enjoy beef stews and pork chops at restaurant Greetje in Amsterdam, and whatever-is-in-the-pot at the hugely popular Rotterdam hotspot De Matroos en het Meisje.

The cauliflower comes in five different, carefully chosen and surprisingly delicious preparations

There’s more than the French bistro

The recently opened restaurant Floreyn in Amsterdam gives Dutch cuisine a distinctive and surprising twist. It was started by four friends from Amsterdam’s thriving De Pijp hospitality scene, who want to present Dutch cuisine and flavours from days gone by in a contemporary version. “We want to show and let people taste that there is more than the French bistro. With everything beautiful that the Netherlands has to offer,” says host and co-owner Marc Bonen.

Design

The ‘New Dutch’ concept has been incorporated into the interior in a clever and tasteful way. On the wall is a work of art made from a bicycle wreck recovered from Amsterdam’s canals. The walls are decorated with painted golden arrow stripes, indicating that you are 1.40 metres below N.A.P. At the bar, where Dutch spirits are displayed on the shelf, the colours reference elements of De Stijl.

Food

What did we eat? Among other things, an excellent salad with braised fennel (braised with gin from Rutte Distillery – since 1872), puffed spelt and Leiden cheese. This was followed by a dish that was, to our taste, slightly too contrived: mackerel tartare, a crispy piece of skin and hot broth poured over it. Literally a single garden pea and North Sea shrimp served as decoration. The chef does know exactly what to do with the generally rather uninspiring cauliflower. The cauliflower comes in five different, carefully chosen and surprisingly delicious preparations (including pickled, as a bitterball and as foam). The AGV (potatoes, vegetables and meat), in the finest Dutch tradition, also makes an appearance. A piece of beef rump, potato and endive with a powerful veal jus. Simply very tasty and well prepared, presented in a contemporary way on a modern Delft blue plate.

Wine

Alongside foreign wines, the wine list also features a selection of Dutch wines. One of the highlights is ‘7 Zonden’ from the South Limburg winery St Martinus, the first Dutch winemaker ever to start producing red wine. A full-bodied red blend aged for twelve months in oak barrels. Juicy, with plenty of dark fruit.

Verdict

What’s great about this concept is that the distinctly Dutch ‘touch’ is applied consistently and originally throughout the menu. Right through to the cheese board and desserts (including boterkoek with kletskop and Haagse Bluf). The dishes are polished and well executed.

Floreyn positions itself – also in terms of price – between the aforementioned top establishments and the accessible classic Dutch restaurants inspired by ‘New Dutch’ cuisine. Final verdict: a lovely place to visit. Not only if you have foreign friends visiting whom you want to introduce to a contemporary version of Dutch cuisine, but also simply to enjoy a good meal in an informal Dutch brasserie setting. Simply because sometimes you want something other than a French bistro.

Restaurant Floreyn
Albert Cuijpstraat 31,
Amsterdam