De Kas is a restaurant located in a nearby park, Frankendael Park. It used to be a city green house where apparently they kept tropical trees in the winter that they would put out on the street in summer. When the City stopped using it, it became empty and run down and they planned to demolish it. Chef Gert-Jan Hageman saw the building and decided it would be perfect for a restaurant and vegetable garden, so he approached the city with the proposal. He ended up buying it for 1 Euro from the city and he renovated it completely into the restaurant it is today.
The greenhouse is mostly now the restaurant, but there is also an herb garden in one section, which is mainly used to display what is in season. Also, he grows most of the vegetable for their dishes at nearby farm just outside Amsterdam.
De Kas cerebrated its 10th anniversary in January.
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| coat check in the green house |
It was our first time going there, but I has high expectation based on its website and what I'd read about it. Rowan had first showed it to me and was mainly excited about the building and re-use of greenhouse (as an urban planning student).
I made a reservation for De Kas from Vancouver before leaving to Europe. I decided to book the chef's table, which was to be next to the kitchen and a special course.
When we arrived at De Kas, the chef's table turned out to be right in the kitchen at a small table surrounded by all the activity, which was definitely the best seat in the place.
It was quite a small kitchen for the restaurant's capacity of 130, but was very well organized and super clean, we could even see the chefs teaching some apprentices that night.
This was our starter. It was very hard not to eat too much of this freshly baked bread before starting the courses. Of course Rowan ended up eating more than half...Also, next to it was the pickled chipollini I was talking about before, and fresh Spanish olives which were irresistible! They were sweet and with a silky texture.
After a glass of champagne, chef Baas (I think that was his name) gave us a tour of the restaurant and explained the history and concept of it. I really liked their idea of choosing the main vegetables first for a dish, then adding local seasonal fish or the meat that matches the vegetables, instead of the other way around.
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| Baby Mizuna in the herb garden |
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| I never knew how endives grow! their roots are bigger than the part you eat! |
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| Amuse-bouche was two bruschetti, tomato jam & pecorino, chutney & artichoke |
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| Goat cheese & kale quiche, macadamias, ruccola, and Jerusalem artichoke |
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| View from the chef's table |
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| this is how close our table was to the work area |
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| coquilles saint-jaques, rhubarb, polenta, green pea shoot |
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| warm salsify salad, anchovy sauce, micro greens, black olives, crispy black sesame sheet |
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| quail, puy lentils, beet and beet molasses |
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| veal, basil butter, pearl barley risotto, New Zealand spinach, endive |
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When they started cleaning the kitchen,
we were moved from the chef's table to the actual restaurant part |
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had some dessert wine, (It's lame but I can not remember the name of it),
but it was very heavy like molasses and tasted like prunes. A little too syrupy for my tastes |
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Of course, some Dutch cheese! and traditional apple stroop.
I really liked the old orange cheese on the left, but couldn't even touch the middle one which had a smell reminded me Japanese nukazuke pickles. |
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lovely chocolate mousse and pear sorbet
It looked heavy after all the other courses, but tasted so delicate and light, I finished it all! |
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| Digestive herbal tea and lemon meringue |
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| This is the main restaurant part (after all the customers had left, except for us) |
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| They gave us anniversary souvenirs, basil planting kits and apples from their garden |
It was 6 hours of delicious food, fun and educational experience learning about their garden and watching their cooking techniques. We both totally enjoyed it and loved their food and fun service. All the dishes were simply presented, but the best of the season ingredients were used and their technique really highlighted these delicious flavours and textures. It made me think that the vegetables I buy from the chain supermarkets are just similarly shaped and coloured crunchy stuff with barely any flavour...
The chef's table included everything : the tour of the restaurant, all the courses and the drinks. I'm glad that we booked this and it was a great deal. I'd like to go back for lunch next time becausein the day time the restaurant is so different from at night. You can see the surrounding greenery and birds from pretty much anywhere you sit and, of course, the sun shines through the glass ceiling.
Kamerlingh Onneslaan 3
1097 DE Amsterdam
T: 020 462 45 62
F: 020 462 45 63
E: info@restaurantdekas.nl
lunch: 12 am - 2 pm
dinner: 6.30 pm - 10 pm
Dinner only on Saturdays
Close on Sundays
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