Q&A with Freek van Noortwijk
Restaurant BREDA in Amsterdam is doing great and is packed every evening. Haven’t eaten there yet? Get on it, is the sentiment among food-loving people in the Netherlands. And chef Freek van Noortwijk naturally plays a major role in that. Together with Guillaume de Beer, he cooks dishes that will have you licking your plate clean.
Which food trend should we put an immediate stop to?
The philosophy at Restaurant Breda is that everything should be as simple and pure as possible. You can see the after-effects of molecular cuisine, where everything is poured into molds, vegetable rolls are made and you encounter jellies shaped like miserable creatures. I’d rather have a real crab sauce than a jelly in the shape of a crab. It often comes at the expense of the flavor and certainly the texture, unless you execute it incredibly well.
Most memorable dining experience?
I almost cried with happiness at a beach bar in southern Spain. There I ate salt-crusted sea bass and super-fresh red mullet from the barbecue. And then also a T-bone steak from the charcoal grill. The weather was fantastic, there was good wine to go with it. You eat so fresh, so purely there. Everything is prepared over an open fire. That’s when I really thought: this is how food, in its perfect simplicity, came about and was intended to be. If I get married, I’d preferably do it at this place.
What do you never want to eat again? Truffle oil and that kind of synthetic misery.
Favorite drink?
In Barcelona, cocktails are often drunk as an aperitif. I’m not a huge sweet tooth, but I find fresh acidity in cocktails with vodka, gin or tequila incredibly delicious. It also stimulates your appetite. After work I like to drink beer, but what I like best of all is good red wine, those Italian powerhouses. At the moment I’m taking a break from alcohol and drinking ginger tea.
Indispensable kitchen gadget?
We make very special ice cream that sets us apart, for example with herbs. That can only be made with a Pacojet (ice cream machine).
What do you never want to eat again?
Truffle oil and that kind of synthetic misery. I used to really like it. Sometimes people come to the restaurant and we serve them real truffle. Then we get comments that it doesn’t taste enough like the truffle oil they’re familiar with. That’s the unfortunate thing about that stuff.
Which country is your favorite when it comes to food?
That has to be a shared first place. I love the apparent simplicity of Italian cuisine. It can even be deceptive. You can really mess up pasta or risotto. But if you execute it well, it’s truly fantastic. I’m also completely crazy about Japanese cuisine, from noodles to raw preparations.
What should everyone try at least once?
We have a dish on the menu at Breda with tuna cheek. I’ve never seen it on a menu anywhere else, and it’s truly something new in the Netherlands. It has an almost wagyu-like texture.
What is the best product from the supermarket?
Albert Heijn recently started selling Sriracha, and it goes generously over all my food. It’s just a little more exciting than sambal manis or badjak. That umami flavor is fantastic. Secretly, I’m also a fan of MSG; it makes everything so addictively delicious.
What’s still on your food wish list?
I have two things at the top of my wish list. I definitely want to eat at The Fat Duck by Heston Blumenthal. And I’d love to go to COSME in New York, where three-Michelin-star chef Enrique Olvera cooks. Recently, my sweetheart gave me his cookbook, ‘Mexico from the Inside Out’. He cooks classic Mexican food in a NOMA-like style, and I’ve been really into that lately.
Which cookbook should everyone have on their shelf?
I’m a fan of Jamie Oliver’s books, but everyone already has those on their shelves. I also think Toscanini’s cookbook is really great, because it contains accessible dishes that are all incredibly delicious. But ‘Puur’ by Jonnie Boer is truly the most beautiful book ever. You just can’t easily recreate everything in it at home.
What do you like to make at home when you want to eat quickly and well?
Since I work so much, I don’t really cook at home anymore. But I do sometimes use the barbecue as my kitchen. Katja gave me a charcoal barbecue with gas ignition, and it’s hot within ten minutes. It’s cozy, flavorful and simple cooking. That’s how people used to cook, and still do now.
Which dish do you have no self-control around?
If I could eat one more thing before I die, it would be this €8.50 dish. Around the corner is Tandoori Express (Amsterdam, Kinkerstraat). They have super-tender roti with chicken leg, and the Madame Jeanette piccalilli is excellent. I could honestly eat it every day, and I always eat so much of it that I can barely walk afterward.
Image: Dim Balsem
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