Many of the Michelin star chefs have secondary restaurants, either with or without a star of its own. Parkheuvel is one of the Netherlands’ best-know Michelin star restaurants. The chef of Restaurant Parkheuvel, Erik van Loo, has also prepared the menu for The Park which is the restaurant inside the Bilderberg Hotel in Rotterdam. As such, you could argue that this is his secondary restaurant (although I have no idea if he owns The Park or not).
As you enter the restaurant from the hotel, one of the main things you notice is that this route isn’t exactly wheelchair-friendly. Although not a lot of steps, you have to ascend and descent some stairs and even with a stroller this can be a challenge, as we know now. Once taken the hurdle, you enter a nicely designed, modern and bright space. There are some nice seats for when you’re just having some coffee that is next to the terrace. Since we forgot to announce that we would be coming with a baby, we were asked to wait there for a few minutes. The seats are big and comfortable.
Usually, we go for the set menu. This is slightly different here, as we opted for the chef’s signature dishes, designed by Erik van Loo. The menu was ‘just’ three courses, consisting of beef bonbon starter, venison for main course and a red fruit soup for desert.
Up first is a bonbon of beef. Sounds silly, as a bonbon is usually associated with chocolate. In short, this is a slice of carpaccio stuffed with a potato salad with pancetta ans parmesan cheese. Drizzle over some basil vinaigrette and you have a simple but delicious first course. As simple as this may sound, it is a nice twist to a traditional carpaccio. The salad inside is a little creamy with a salty touch from both the pancetta and cheese. If you go easy on the basil, this is a really delicious addition and they got it just right.
Main course is venison, something I had not eaten before. To what extent the preparation influenced it is something I don’t know, but I was pleasantly surprised. Where the meat could have been a little hotter, it was just hot enough to eat. The meat was served with some a cream of celeriac, some string bean, chanterelle mushrooms and cherries. The flavour combinations were not surprising, but who cares if; If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Normally I am not a big fan of game, rare meat or mushrooms, but somehow I did enjoy the dish. A rich gravy was the cherry on the cake, but I did skip the real cherries.
Where it is nice that the waiters take time to speak to the guests, it is also important to keep an eye on the needs of the entire restaurant. When we ordered a glass of wine for the main course, this wasn’t served until the course was almost finished because the waiter was in a conversation with another guest. In the end it did come and they decided to complement the drink, so in the end it was handled correctly.
Simple things can be delicious. This was demonstrated with dessert: Red fruit soup with sorbet of cassis, thin cream and crispy almonds. Really nothing much to say here. Some people may think the soup is a little on the sweet side, but with the slight acidity of the fresh berries it was just the way I like it. A bit more crunch would have been nice though.
I have always wanted to eat at Parkheuvel, if this is a taste of what to expect there then I now want to go even more. Dinner at The Park was very nice and with a price tag of approx. EUR 40-45 per person for 3 courses (excl. drinks) the restaurant is all but expensive. With plenty of dishes on the menu, there is something for everyone. The restaurant is suitable for everyone, whether travelling/dining alone, with a large group or young children.
Restaurant location: View on Google Maps
Restaurant website: http://www.thepark.nl