Speak-easy restaurant Graphite
A restaurant so mysterious and exclusive that the address is only revealed when you make a reservation. Graphite is inspired by the secret speakeasy bars during Prohibition in the United States and has only twenty seats per evening. Intrigued?
Who: Peter Gast and Jacqueline van Liere (formerly of ’t Schulten Hues*)
Where: a secret location in Amsterdam’s tourist centre
When: September 2018
What’s new?
Chef Peter Gast and Jacqueline van Liere previously ran ’t Schulten Hues* in Zutphen, but were ready for a new challenge. Graphite is the first speakeasy restaurant in the Netherlands. What does that mean? During Prohibition in the United States, illegal bars sprang up everywhere, where alcohol was still served. They were always hidden behind a door you would normally walk straight past, and you needed a password to get inside.
Yes, you’re seeing it correctly: there’s an asterisk after the restaurant where Peter used to work in the kitchen, so the food here is of the highest quality. You can choose between three menus, from a short option to an evening-long programme of more than twenty courses; you can also order à la carte. We get five courses, all of which exceed expectations. To be honest, I’m usually wary of Michelin-starred food: foams and mousses never win me over compared with a perfect, simple pasta. At Graphite, all the dishes are beautifully executed and genuine works of art arrive on your plate, but without too much fuss—and that’s a good thing.
We start with steak tartare with herring caviar and crème fraîche. Refined, simple and incredibly flavourful. The other dishes are also bursting with flavour: delicate fish gets a salty, crunchy addition from the terrine of lardo and Serrano ham. Another favourite is the monkfish with samphire, miso and bonito—all salty umami bombs that perhaps make this the most memorable dish of the evening. Or maybe I’m lying: the perfectly cooked Anjou pigeon is also in the running for that spot.
Noteworthy?
Speakeasy means whispering, and that is also somewhat the atmosphere at Graphite. Without revealing too much about the interior—for taking photos of the interior is strictly forbidden, although thankfully photos of the food are allowed—I can reveal that you dine in a very intimate setting. You sit with your party on round banquettes, quite far away from the other diners. As a result, the conversation never rises much above a murmur. A perfect place for an intimate evening, then, but a little less suitable if you’re going out for a wild night with six guys.
Graphite
Somewhere in the centre of Amsterdam
