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TRAVELLER
Vinkeles
AMSTERDAM
Vinkeles is one of just five restaurants in
the Dutch capital to hold a Michelin
star and it’s all thanks to chef Dennis
Kuipers. He may be a home-grown
talent but as an alumnus of Paris’s Alain
Senderens, it’s not a surprise that his
culinary style has its roots firmly in
classic French cuisine. The dining room
features 18th-century baking ovens – an
atmospheric nod to its hotel home’s past
as an almshouse – but the cuisine is
dazzlingly opulent. Kuipers balances
traditional French technique with
quality ingredients, and exciting, fresh
flavour combinations like soft, rare veal
knuckle with sweet roasted langoustines
and curry mayonnaise; or exquisitely
tender Anjou pigeon served with its
crispy confit leg, tangy kidney and a rich
jus with a hint of five spice.
Unafraid to use luxury ingredients,
the Dutchman puts a modern spin on
Boco
PARIS
Who said top-level gastronomy was
expensive or healthy cuisine boring?
Certainly not the Ferniot brothers –
Simon and Vincent – who are behind
Parisian hotspot Boco. They’ve recruited
five of the city’s best up-and-coming
chefs to help them devise a menu that
offers a fine-dining experience at fast-
food prices. Yet that’s not even the most
interesting part of a trip here.
The restaurant’s name comes from
the French word
bocaux
, meaning
“ jars”, and that’s because the dishes are
all served up in little glass pots. The
simple ingredients are locally sourced
and organic (naturally) but this is not
just another faddy canteen: in fact,
everything is eco-friendly, from the
cutlery to the cleaning products.
It’s a recipe that’s certainly working.
At lunchtime, the well-priced cuisine,
convenient service and laid-back vibe
classic combinations like caviar and
pomme purée in his
pommes tsarine
dish – a generous mound of oscietra
caviar with crème fraîche sorbet, topped
with light potato
espuma
(foam).
Service is excellent and the sommelier
is keen to showcase fabulous, unusual
wines from lesser-known regions.
attract plenty of Parisians – curious
gourmets and workers on breaks sit
shoulder to shoulder. And why not? The
tapas-sized starters, like mellow egg,
melting lentils and soft petals of onion;
main courses such as sweet, spiced sea
bass tandoori with black-rice risotto;
and salted butter crème caramel for
dessert, all display innovation, flair and
more flavour than you could ever expect
from a tiny jar.
Three courses cost about €18. Boco
is open 9am-8.30pm, Monday to
Saturday. 3 Rue Danielle Casanova;
tel +33 (0)1 4261 1767, bocobio.com
Normandie Hoche
It’s also possible to enjoy the Vinkeles
gastronomic experience on board The
Muze, a renovated 19th-century river
cruiser, as it plies Amsterdam’s canals.
Three courses cost from about €90.
The Dylan Hotel, 384 Keizersgracht;
tel: +31 (0)20 530 2010, vinkeles.com
Rosie Birkett
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