Q&A with top chef Richard van Oostenbrugge

Richard van Oostenbrugge started restaurant 212 in Amsterdam together with top chef Thomas Groot. The two managed to earn two Michelin stars at their previous employer Bord’eau, and now it is time for their own establishment. The restaurant has a unique philosophy: no tables and lots of interaction between the chefs and guests.

You eat at a bar built around the open kitchen, where you can literally watch the chefs’ every move. FavorFlav asks the chef about the how and why of this innovative concept for the Netherlands.

How did you come up with the idea of a no-table restaurant?

Internationally, you increasingly see restaurants in the higher segment where you can enjoy top-quality food informally, in a convivial atmosphere, at a bar. Like in Hamburg and New York. Joël Robuchon started doing this 25 years ago with his L’atelier de Joël Robuchon. You eat at the bar there, but you cannot see how the food is prepared. We are taking it a step further. Guests sit next to one another, with just 24 seats at the bar. Very small and intimate. You are sitting with your nose almost literally in the kitchen and can see exactly how the chefs are working on your dish.

How do the guests react?

It adds an entirely new dimension. It is more theatrical. As the evening progresses, you see guests start chatting with one another and drinking wine together. Very convivial, with lots of bustle. Very different from what you find in many Michelin-starred restaurants.

And what is it like for the chefs to have to work so directly in front of the guests?

They enjoy it and get used to it quickly. There is a lot of interaction with the guests. The chefs serve the dishes themselves at the bar and explain them. At Bord’eau, I always found it very awkward to come out of the kitchen at the end of the evening and make the rounds among the guests, asking whether everything had been to their satisfaction. I had not seen the guests all evening, and they had not seen me. This is much more natural. We also do not have a waiter putting down new cutlery every fifteen minutes. You take your cutlery from your own cutlery drawer under the bar.

https://youtu.be/XszjlQwQr1A

What is your aim with the menu?

Together with Thomas, whom I have worked with for ten years, we are continuing where we left off at Bord’eau. Beautiful food with top-quality ingredients. We work with products and techniques from all over the world and, for example, devote a great deal of time and energy to sauces, the soul of every kitchen. We want to keep reinventing ourselves, among other things by constantly changing the seasonal dishes.

And the wine

We do not offer wine pairings. I am not particularly fond of them. Why force the guest into a straitjacket? You can choose from 250 wines in different price ranges, all of which you can also order by the glass. Our sommelier is Daphne Oudshoorn, also my partner in life, who previously worked at Bord d’eau as well. If you wish, she will take you to the wine cellar one floor below, where you can choose your own bottle.

Read our review of the newly opened 212 here

You require a deposit when making a reservation. Also fairly new in the Netherlands. Why?

‘No-shows’ are a real scourge in the hospitality industry. If one or two tables fail to show up, it makes the difference between making a profit or a loss for the evening. Guests pay fifty euros per person when making a reservation. You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance and then your money will be refunded. It works wonderfully. We hardly have any no-shows anymore. Paying in advance is very common abroad, even for the full amount.

What’s next? On to the first star by the end of this year?

That is not what we are doing it for, but it would be incredibly cool. Some colleagues occasionally criticize Michelin. But I think a star is an enormous recognition.