Top chef Erwin Oudijk cooks amazing dishes over an open fire at Current restaurant in Den Bosch
Besides the Bossche bol, Den Bosch now has a new unique selling point: Current Rooftop Restaurant & Bar. Here you can enjoy great food with a view over the city. And honestly: the celeriac dish with beurre blanc sauce alone is worth the trip from Amsterdam to ’s-Hertogenbosch.
Current Rooftop Restaurant & Bar is the new hotspot in ’s-Hertogenbosch. You can take that literally, because for the past four weeks, cooking over an open fire has been taking place on the 9th floor of the brand-new The Den hotel.
Location and interior
Current Rooftop is located in the Paleiskwartier, just a few minutes’ drive from the motorway and within walking distance of ’s-Hertogenbosch station. We take the lift to the ninth floor. The restaurant is spacious, with a striking bar and a large rooftop terrace on both sides. With its interior featuring plenty of brass and black-and-white accents, it has a sophisticated feel. Various bar bites are served at the bar, while the restaurant offers an extensive menu created by Head Chef Erwin Oudijk.
Chef Erwin Oudijk
Erwin Oudijk worked in Australia for years, where his passion for cooking over an open fire was sparked. Back in the Netherlands, he continued to fuel that passion; he cooked over an open fire with great success at the Michelin-starred Wils restaurant, for example. And now he is delighting Den Bosch with his speciality. Many dishes are prepared over an open fire, with smoke, wood and charcoal frequently returning in the dishes.
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- Chef Erwin
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- Erwin aan het werk in de open keuken van Current
On the menu
Cooking over an open fire is hot and delicious—we know from our experience at Wils. Dishes prepared over an open fire deliver sensational flavours, so we are looking forward to it. The friendly staff bring an amuse-bouche to start: a crispy seaweed snack with a pickled lemon cream and fish roe. A great beginning! We then order a selection from the menu. We are told that many products are sourced from local suppliers who produce according to the seasons. The starter of kingfish sashimi with sea buckthorn and pumpkin gets a fresh kick from the sour sauce, while the Jerusalem artichoke starter with various mushrooms, egg yolk and Australian winter truffle is true comfort food: autumnal and rich.
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- Krokantje | Zeewier | Citroen
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- Kingfish | Duindoornbes | Pompoen
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- Aardpeer | Paddenstoel | Eidooier
Magnificent salsify
The salsify dish genuinely puts us in a celebratory mood. It has a fantastic texture and a delicious smoky flavour—not overpowering, but just right. The salsify is served with pieces of barbecue kale on almond cream, with kale pesto and deep-fried capers. A wonderful dish that has everything. It is soothingly soft and smoky, with a crunch from the capers.
The scallops are also excellent. Once again, they are perfectly prepared, with a wonderfully pleasing texture—juicy, we would almost say. The lightly spicy satay sauce with tamarind, pieces of peanut, charred grapes and yet another great crunch, this time from deep-fried chicken skin, completes the dish. Original and delicious!
Best dish: celeriac with beurre blanc
But the best dish is still to come: celeriac with fried chanterelles in a finger-licking-good beurre blanc sauce with mustard. The celeriac is cooked in a salt crust for three hours and then roasted over the fire—amazing in terms of flavour and texture. This dish alone makes the hour-and-a-half drive south completely worthwhile.
That Erwin and his team also know exactly how to prepare fish is clear from the turbot and leek dish. Because of the magnificent celeriac, the turbot is slightly overshadowed, but unfairly so, because this dish once again contains perfectly combined ingredients and cooking techniques, along with a crunch from roasted cauliflower florets alongside the soft textures.
Sensuous bar
After dinner, you can simply settle into the intimate bar for a drink. Unlike the restaurant, the interior here is sultry and luxurious, with plenty of gold, purple and velvet, plus a leather-clad bar. From the bar, you can step out onto the rooftop terrace. A little cold at this time of year, but in spring and summer it is undoubtedly also a wonderful place to spend time.
DJ at the weekend
With Current Rooftop, Den Bosch has gained another hotspot. On weekdays, the atmosphere is intimate and relaxed; at the weekend, a DJ takes to the decks and Current comes even more to life. The bar is open Wednesday through Saturday from 16:00–01:00, and the restaurant from Thursday through Saturday from 16:00–01:00. More days will be added here in the near future.
Current, Magistratenlaan 54, 9th floor of Hotel The Den, Den Bosch
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