Brass Boer Curaçao

The 3-star couple of De Librije in Zwolle, Jonnie and Therese Boer, have opened their second restaurant in the Dutch Antilles on Curaçao. The restaurant opened in 2022.

Because we have eaten at Librije a few times already, we wanted to go to the brasserie concept of the Boer family. Are very curious about this restaurant.

The restaurant is located at the Blue Bay Resort on the beach. To get to this resort you drive through barriers and then it is about 4 kilometers to the sea. The restaurant is located on the beach.

There is a large parking lot near the restaurant. After we have parked the car, we walk to the right of the parking lot between a restaurant and a shop to the end of the beach, where we see the lights of Brass Boer.

What a great location this is. It is a pity that dusk has set in, which means that the view is already a bit less, we are very curious to see what this paradise looks like during the day. During the day the restaurant is a beach club where sunbeds can be rented.

The welcome is warm. The reservation is recognized and we are taken to our table. View of the sea and the rocks for Cees and the kitchen for Thomas.

The menu contains a number of classic dishes from the Librije. There is no distinction between starters and main courses, you can combine what you want. If you don’t want to eat from the menu, there is a 5-course surprise menu. We see a number of dishes that we want to eat again, so we put together our own 4-course menu.

As amuse-bouche we receive an amuse we once ate in Zwolle, crunchy peanut with a peanut cream and spicy pickle. A nice start to the evening.

The first dish for Cees is one of those classics that he once ate and always wanted to eat again: On the beach. This is a dish of oyster and foie gras. The oyster is wrapped in goose liver, which in turn has the shape of an oyster. A very nice find. In addition, pieces of goose liver and beetroot are on the plate and everything is on crumbs of dough (the sand). What a nice dish.

As wine comes a Pinot Gris from Villa Wolf. A fresh wine to go with the oyster and sweeter because of the foie gras. A nice match.

Thomas takes tuna with avocado and watermelon. The tuna is fresh and has not been seasoned except that it has been lightly drizzled with watermelon juice. A cream of avocado lies between the tuna and the juice of watermelon lies on the plate. A very good dish. We are glad we found this restaurant this holiday.

Cees’ second dish is monkfish with a cream of paprika, curry mousse and a shell filled with eggplant. The Monkfish is good of cuisson. Nice firm white meat. The paprika cream has a sweet taste and the curry mousse is more of a mayonnaise than a mousse, but delicious to dip the monkfish in. The surprise lies in the pasta shell. Inside the pasta shell is fried eggplant. Very pleasant dish.

Although I had asked for matching wines, staff forgot to pour a wine in advance. Halfway through, the sommelier Jan Willem Berendsen arrived with a bottle of Chardonnay, since I was already almost done I didn’t want this wine. I was poured a bottom of wine to still experience the taste experience. Apologies were made. I didn’t take a picture of this wine because I didn’t actually drink it.

Thomas takes cauliflower with puffed black garlic and smoked almond. The cauliflower was baked and topped with a sauce of garlic and almond. The cauliflower still good crispy, the garlic gives the bite in this dish. Lovely dish, very surprising.

Next we both take the same dish: Tom Kha Kai. This is Thai chicken soup, but what is served seems anything but Thai soup. What a surprise. A cannelloni stuffed with chicken thigh and mushrooms, coconut soup as foam, lemongrass, peppers and a crispy chicken skin are in the plate. Wow what an amazing dish this is. We are pleasantly surprised by presentation and flavors.

The wine is also surprising, not a white Gewürztraminer or Riesling, but a red Pinot Noir from California by Bogle Family. The sommelier says he likes to surprise, and this lighter pinot noir served a bit colder goes well with this dish. He is right What a delight.

Dessert

We see on the menu a dessert that we have very fond memories of: Loose apple pie. During one of our first visits to the Librije, this dessert was served with the menu. Thomas liked it so much that he told Therese he’d like another one, she didn’t let him say that a second time….. We still talk about this dessert and are so glad it is here on the menu.

The dish contains all the ingredients of apple pie, but served separately. So you get star anise, dough, whipped cream, vanilla pod, apple, etc. Of course, everything is edible. The presentation is very nice and the taste is great. Dessert is almost as tasty as the first time.

For wine with dessert, I get a sherry Pedro Ximenez. A nice wine with this dish, surprisingly.

According to the manager Jan Willem Berendsen, some of the staff is from the Librije, however, we do not fully recognize that. The alertness that is at Librije is not present here. Of course, you can’t compare a 3-star restaurant to a brasserie. We secretly do it anyway because we are used to it.

Even though mistakes are made, they are fixed. We also see a certain rush. The dishes are served in fairly quick succession.

The interior is grandiose. Here you sit in a beach club with a roof of palm leaves. Large benches face the beach with their railing, overlooking the kitchen, and the chairs face the sea. On the ceiling wooden beams with attached flowers, plants, large fans. The interior has been very well thought out. Caribbean ambience, practical furnishings. Because some of the tables are on the beach and this is a beach club, you can come here barefoot.

Servants walk in shorts with a bright Hawaii shirt on, guests in shorts and dressed to impress sit and walk interchangeably. This is island life at its finest.

We will definitely come back here when we are on this island another time. A must visit. We tried other good restaurants, in terms of food this one is head and shoulders above the rest.