For years, Jord Coree, Roy Lammers and Birk Heijkants have been dreaming of their own restaurant. Whenever they went out to eat, they tried to analyze everything. What makes a restaurant so good? What would they do differently? They kept everything in mind during their work in the hospitality industry as it was a long-term plan. But then Covid-19 happened and everything went very fast. They will open Restaurant Rotonde at Goudsesingel 230 on December 1st 2021.
Chef Jord was working in Paris at the natural wine restaurant Yard. But then Covid-19 hit and Jord suddenly found himself without work as did Birk. Roy still had a job at specialty-coffee phenomenon The Village Coffee in Utrecht. But coffee-to-go is a lot less personal than table service. They asked themselves: What are we waiting for?
Rotonde will be a restaurant that cooks on an open wood fire using local produce as it gives an amazing flavor. The threesome wants to be able to justify all aspects of the restaurant. So they cook with vegetables – from the land and from the sea – grains, and mushrooms, among other things. They collect the ingredients themselves from market gardeners and other producers. The ingredients will be prepared as pure as possible. Through special combinations, vegetables you may never have heard of and a glass of thought-provoking natural wine they hope to impress the guests.
On the menu
On the menu will be dishes like potato with kombucha crème fraîche and ramson, Oyster mushroom for two with pine branches, walnut and gravy, Black Apple with a crumble of buckwheat and powder of apple skin and Elderflower with a cremeux, red and black currant, frozen blackberry and mint powder. Rotonde is located in an upcoming part of town, next to the city and near other innovative restaurants like Héroine, COCO, By Jarmush and Verward.
Outside the menu, Rotonde Restaurant also wants to be responsible. They want to move towards a world where there is enough food for everyone, without damaging animals, people, or the planet itself. Hence the name. Rotonde means roundabout and this perfectly expresses their mission to be as circular as possible. For example, the van in which they collect ingredients runs on green CNG gas (extracted from green waste and sewage treatment), and the cleaning products they will use are microbiological.
The three friends are building the entire business almost themselves. Sustainability is also taken into account as the chairs or from the Tweede Kamer, the lamps are from the TU Delft and the bar top is made of recycled printers and refrigerators.
Get Rotonde running
Those who are interested can already buy a dinner voucher on the website https://restaurantrotonde.nl/winkel
Apart from the fact that such a voucher is a bit cheaper. The financial support is also a boost for Restaurant Rotonde.
