“Amsterdam Restaurants Awarded Michelin Stars: Vinkeles with Second Star, Three New One-Star Restaurants”

Amsterdam has three new restaurants with a Michelin star since Monday afternoon. Vanderveen, Bistro de la Mer and Coulisse can now call themselves star restaurants. Restaurant Vinkeles even received a second star. One restaurant lost its star: Lastage on the Geldersekade.

“Keeping our star was the most important thing and suddenly my name was on the screen for the second star,” says surprised chef Jurgen van der Zalm of Vinkeles – the restaurant in hotel The Dylan on Keizersgracht – after the ceremony where he is short of hands to receive the congratulations of culinary Netherlands. This year he is the only chef in the Netherlands to receive a second star.

No three-star restaurant was added, that honor is still only awarded to Jonnie Boer from De Librije from Zwolle and Jannis Brevet from Inter Scaldes from Kruiningen. The two top chefs were allowed to make fifteen other chefs happy with their first star. Three of them come from Amsterdam: George Kataras from restaurant Vanderveen in Beethovenstraat in Zuid, Julius Nuiten from Bistro de la Mer in Utrechtsestraat in Centrum and Tim van der Molen from Coulisse on Oostenburgergracht in Centrum. They can now call themselves all three star chefs.

The chefs of the Amsterdam restaurants Hanabi and Choux, who were seen as contenders by culinary experts, will be disappointed. They were last week on a leaked list that suggested that they would get their first star. The same list also stated that the Amsterdam restaurant Spectrum would go from two to three stars. Michelin already dismissed the list, which caused unrest among chefs, as fake news last week and that turned out to be correct. Who leaked the list will probably never be known, although the extra publicity Michelin will not have been bad either.

Quality and guest experience

Back to Van der Zalm, who recently took over from Dennis Kuipers, who held sway at the Vinkeles for no fewer than twenty years and whose right-hand man he was for many years. Why did Vinkeles immediately receive a second star with him at the helm? “We have started to focus even more on quality and guest experience,” he says. “We’ve been cooking consistently for a long time, but we didn’t do much at the table.” According to Van der Zalm, the food in his restaurant has become ‘more of an experience’ in the past year than in previous years.

According to the Michelin inspectors, Van der Zalm ‘follows his own path, with respect for the past’. “Classical craftsmanship in the form of stunning sauces and playful creativity go hand in hand at Vinkeles. Whether he cooks completely vegetarian or sublimates a luxury product: Jurgen van der Zalm always captivates with a fascinating taste spectacle.”

Van der Zalm says he will celebrate his second star properly. “The director called and I’m going straight to the store and then we’re going to party. Luckily it’s just around the corner.”

In total, Amsterdam (including Amstelveen) now has twenty restaurants with one star and six with two stars. Restaurant Lastage on the Geldersekade lost its star.