Kasteel Heemstede (*)

On December 3, 2019 I had dinner with a friend at Kasteel Heemstede in Houten (Heemsteedse weg). Restaurant is currently going through a new phase. Since summer 2019 Ollie Schuiling is one of the owners of the restaurant and the chef of this restaurant. He worked at Schloss Schauenstein (***) in Switzerland. The maître and sommelier is Koen van der Plas, he worked previously at Interscaldes (***) in Kruiningen. The sous-chef is Tom Broekmeijer, he worked at ‘t Nonnetje (**) in Harderwijk The other owner is Mr. Frans den Boer. The restaurant has high ambitions with the new owners and the new initiative taker. So we are excited to dine here.

Note: After Christmas 2019 the restaurant closes till February 1, 2020 to replace the interior and kitchen. Also excited to see the new interior next year.

My friend ate here two weeks ago and had the tasting menu, so we decided to go for a-la-card. Koen van der Plas was not in the restaurant this evening, but Ollie was there.

We received 4 appetizers together with our champagne and then two extra appetizers / starters.

The macadamia nuts with duck liver are to die for. We said to each other give us a bag full of these and we will eat them while watching TV. The shrimp was very tasty as well the shrimp was baked and placed in a soja dressing. Asian flavors.

My first dish was lobster with chili, fennel and citrus. On the lobster some caviar was placed. The dish was excellent. Lobster cooked well, foam of fennel, citrus and lobster bisque.

The second dish is foie gras (duck liver). It came in two portions. The first one was the cold duck liver topped with truffle and grapes. Truffle was also used in the brioche. Give me more please…..

The second portion of the second dish was warm duck liver again with autumn truffle. Unfortunate I did not taste the truffle this time, probably because the brioche truffle was very intense. The warm duck liver was creamy as it has to be.

Third dish was my main course and this was tenderloin with autumn truffle together with some beetroots, sauce of red wine. The beef was very tender. The red wine sauce was good, thanks for letting the cup on the table. The beetroots and vegetables were a great combination with the dish. A large portion what I liked.

We decided to get some cheese as well. The cheese was good and companioned with fig bread, apricot and pecan nuts. The first (mildest cheese) was a bit dry, looked like this was not packed well from the previous day. The last cheese (most strongest) was a great cheese, soft from the inside and strong flavour on the outside.

Last dish was chocolate with miso, cassis and pine nuts. The lady informed us we had to take everything together as the miso is more at the bottom of the dish and you need to combine everything. She was right, a great combination.

Overall

A great evening. This restaurant has with the new chefs and new maître potential to grow in number of Michelin stars. The dishes are not cheap, but it’s well worth it. When we left we understood that the chefs created the menu card very fast. They are new in the restaurant and new as team, so it is promising for the future. We loved the ambiance. The interior is already nice, so we are curious how it looks after February 1, 2020.