Super-secret address revealed: you MUST eat here
They’re springing up like mushrooms: pop-up restaurants. Chefs who couldn’t work during the intelligent lockdown – corona measures, you know the drill – are setting up something themselves to keep their hands busy. Our secret tip: Zwarthoed at Het Broeker Huis, in the Instagram-perfect village of Broek in Waterland. You MUST go here!
Professional chefs aren’t really the type to watch Netflix for hours, patiently complete a thousand-piece puzzle or finally tidy the attic during coronavirus times. No, they’re caged tigers when they’re no longer allowed to cook. And before their hands become soft and fluffy because the calluses disappear and the burn blisters heal, they’re already busy with locations, new menus and test dishes. That’s certainly how it works for chef Marga Zwarthoed, who previously worked at Bussia, L’Europe and LaStage.
Along the sidelines
Pop-up restaurants are absolutely everywhere this summer: at new places (with lots of space) and unexpected locations, famous and lesser-known chefs are cooking up a storm – simply because they feel like it. In Nijmegen, the largest pop-up restaurant in the Netherlands is opening in the Papierfabriek; in Ghent, there are plenty of pop-up summer bars; and along the sidelines of the Johan Cruijf ArenA, you can enjoy a proper pop-up meal this summer.
Orphans, weddings – and where are all the tourists?
So Marga started a pop-up restaurant in Het Broeker Huis, a beautiful old building in Broek in Waterland. From Thursday through Sunday, she cooks a new three-course menu every week. Are you thinking: Broek in Waterland? Yes, it’s a fairytale-like village near Amsterdam that, for some reason, hasn’t yet been discovered by busloads of Chinese and American tourists – well, let them keep going to Giethoorn and Volendam. Het Broeker Huis is a beautiful townhouse in the middle of the village. It used to be an orphanage and a youth hostel, and apparently you can get married there too. On warm days, tables are set up in the courtyard behind the house, in the shade, giving you the feeling that you’re on holiday in Italy or France.
Less talking, more stuffing your face
Marga’s kitchen doesn’t serve up a concept or an artistic experience, nor ingredients placed on your plate with tweezers, but simply insanely well-prepared, delicious food. An example? Nettle risotto with burrata and spring vegetables as a starter, the kind of dish that makes you hope the dishwashers lick the entire pan clean with their fingers before the leftovers disappear into the dishwasher. Then cod with beurre blanc sauce, pumpkin and gnocchi: fish cooked to perfection, so soft and delicious that you stuff it into your mouth one bite after another, mop up the sauce with a piece of bread and only then remember that your date might still want to chat pleasantly. Not very charming, but it’s the hard reality – and if you don’t recognize this, you’ve never truly eaten well.
A gold star in your notebook
If three courses aren’t enough, or you simply don’t want it to end, order a cheese board with Dutch cheeses. Dessert: so delicious it’ll make you cry. Wine pairing: a ten out of ten and a gold star in your notebook. No need to say anything more; just reserve quickly – if there’s still a spot for you. And then only tell nice people about it, okay? It is, after all, a secret address.
