Rotterdamβs fine diners are incredibly happy now: Wim Severeinβs new restaurant opened its doors this month from as the 18th of July.
Fans of Wim Severein will be glad to know that his signature dish is there on the menu at The MillΓ¨n, his acclaimed new venture. Of course it is! It would hardly be a Severein restaurant without Norway lobster featuring somewhere. (Here itβs accompanied, very inventively, by lapsang souchong, parsnip and shellfish jelly.) βEvery dish with langoustine is a hit,β the chef jokes. βOr perhaps itβs just meβ¦β Thereβs not a hint of arrogance in the statement. Severein is, in fact, the humblest of chefs, despite many years in haute cuisine, first in the celebrity chef Herman den Blijkerβs restaurants and then in the Wereldmuseumβs kitchen.
The MillΓ¨n couldnβt be better located, right across the road from Rotterdam Central Station in the five-star Marriott Hotel, on the first floor of its Millennium Tower. βThe name is derived from the tower, with a fancy French dash as a nod to our cuisine,β Severein says. Before you even get to the food thereβs the restaurant itself to take in, with a panorama of a view over Rotterdam, which is laid out before you like one big shifting painting. βYou can really feel the cityβs dynamic from here,β Severein says. βYou’re bang in the middle of it all, looking across to the beautiful Central Station.β
There are high-backed benches, bucket seats at round and square wooden tables and a stainless-steel and natural-stone kitchen. The interior oozes tranquillity. βItβs a little Japanese,β says the chef, who himself comes across as very Zen β an important quality when you are working in a restaurant with an open kitchen and chef’s table.The menu, meanwhile, shows local and international influences at work. βI use flavours from all over the world,β says the man now known, for good reason, as the spice king of Rotterdam. Anjou pigeon with cocoa and ras el hanout is one of his speciality dishes. βWe Dutch began importing herbs and spices long ago.β he explains. βWhy not use them? Besides, the world is so much smaller these days and everything can be sourced.β Vegetables also feature large (ask for his ‘pulled pumpkin’ or artichoke tempura). Severein is confident that this is exactly the sort of food people want to eat. βIβm charmed by Japanese cuisine,β he says. βI like pureness, only quality on the plate. I explore the market to see whatβs available and whatβs in season. During the summer, for example, I have mullet and lobster with Mediterranean flavours. After August 15 thereβs duck and in early October other sorts of game.βWho does Severein hope will come and dine in his 45-seat restaurant with its special chefβs table that seats 16 private guests? There are the guests from The Marriott, companies such as Unilever, whose offices are nearby, and also local food lovers. βI work with a young team and with them I want to cook for as diverse a public as possible.βΒ Weena 686Open: Tue – Fri 12pm-2.30pm and 6β10pmSat 6β10pm. T. 010 430 2333
