FOOD & DRINK THE NETHERLANDS CULTURE FEED Cartoons, architecture, ta! ooists, techno music, Damien Hirst ... chef Sergio Herman takes his cues from far more than just food BY JAY CHESHES MOST CHEFS LOOK FOR INSPIRATION in the ingredients IF IT AIN’T BROKE ... specially commissioned mixes by around them; others, in the traditional foods of world cultures. Food presented Dutch DJ Sander Kleinenberg accom- Sergio Herman, the Netherlands’ fi rst “rock-star chef,” seeks on artfully shattered pany the 15-course tasting menu. One dishes at Sergio his in fashion, architecture, electronic dance music, modern Herman’s Oud Sluis dish arrives on a plate illustrated by art and design. And if his three-Michelin-star destination a famous cartoonist; another comes restaurant, Oud Sluis, and his recent book, Sergiology, are in fractured cups and saucers imagined by top Belgian any indication, he’s found plenty. designer Sofi e Lachaert. Ingredients are arranged in con- Located in the quaint market town of Sluis, in southwest ceptual landscapes and seascapes in an homage to a stroll Holland, the traditional shingled building that houses Oud along the windswept Dutch coast, where Herman’s second TONY LE DUC/COURTESY SERGIO HERMAN Sluis belies the modern cultural treasury it holds. Inside, restaurant, Pure-C, opened three years ago. HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM • JANUARY 2013 29 p029-33_HEM0113_F&D.indd 29 30/11/2012 10:12 DISPATCHESDISPA || FOOD & DRINK A GIN BLOSSOMS HollandH ’s famous malt spirit makesm a comeback GGenever, a type of gin created in the 16th1 century by blending malt wine, AUDIO, BOOK Sergio Herman’s neutraln alcohol and botanicals, is Sergiology, complete with digital audio of interviews he conducted Holland’sH most distinctive home- growng spirit. By the late 20th century, Miniature chocolate skulls, con- however,h it had fallen out of fashion ceived with leading Dutch design firm among young Dutch drinkers, who’d Studio Job, evoke the work of renegade moved on to cocktails made with vodka and British artist Damien Hirst. A few years back, Herman served dessert “tattoos” rum (mojitos have been huge for a while now). designed by Hanky Panky, a well-known But in recent years Bols, the country’s largest ta! oo artist who once inked Kurt Cobain. genever producer, has been spearheading a These inspirations, and many more, revival, encouraging students at its bartend- are showcased in Herman’s book, which explores the complicated question of ing academy in Amsterdam to start playing where ideas come from by profi ling musi- with the stuff . At Door 74—Amsterdam’s fi rst cians, chefs, visual artists and architects speakeasy-style bar—head barkeep Timo Janse who have influenced him. The lavish, gets creative with his stash. photo-fi lled volume comes with its own audio player, containing interviews with several of the book’s big names as well as narration by Herman himself. “When you go to a museum, you hear stories through a headset that take you deeper into the artist’s world,” he says. “I wanted to do the same thing for my food.” In maintaining all these varied interests and funneling them into cuisine, Herman, 42, appears to have an almost super human drive. Last summer he signed on with the Tomorrowland festival, an electronic music blowout in Belgium, where he cooked under a tent for eight lucky winners who, like Willy Wonka’s potential protégés, had TONY LE DUC/COURTESY SERGIO HERMAN (BOOK) snagged “golden tickets.” He’s developing his fi rst city restaurant, in an old military hospital chapel in Antwerp, and is in talks to open an eatery on Ibiza. He has a string of cookbooks in the works and recently published a magazine with his name and face on the cover. And somehow he still fi nds time to cook at Oud Sluis, showing up in the kitchen for just about every service. “I work 17, 18 hours a day. I don’t really HOPSCOTCH TO HOLLAND need sleep,” Herman says, but adds that he’s not planning to keep that pace up forever. “I’ve got a date in my head when › 1½ oz. genever 1. Mix all ingredients in I’ll shut the door at Oud Sluis. I want to › 1½ oz. Lillet Blanc a shaker and shake stop while I’m at my peak.” Many wonder › ¾ oz. green Chartreuse vigorously. how much further that can possibly be › 1 oz. fresh lemon juice 2. Strain into a martini from where he is right now. › 2 dashes grapefruit glass and garnish with a bitters grapefruit peel. 30 JANUARY 2013 • HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM R1_p028-31_HEM0113_F&D.indd 30 07/12/2012 14:54 DISPATCHES || FOOD & DRINK MANSE MACABRE This Amsterdam eatery off ers an arty take on a grim history Opening restaurants in old commercial, institutional and industrial spaces is big everywhere these days, but nowhere more so than in Amsterdam, where former factories, warehouses, schools and banks have all been transformed into places to eat. And among these recycled venues, none is quite as off - Star Cra! beat as Lab 111, a café, bar and restaurant in a decommissioned pathology lab. Sea" le’s coff ee giant does the indie thing in Holland “The bodies used to come in through tun- nels,” says restaurateur Otto Groeneveld, HOW DOES THE WORLD’S largest cof ee chain shake of its one- who opened the place a few years ago as a size-fi ts-all image? For Seattle-based Starbucks—which is looking to for-profit arm of the nonprofit arts group move into new markets in Europe and Asia—the answer is to replace that holds screenings and performances elsewhere in the its gangbusters Starbucks-upon-Starbucks expansion model with a building (dinner cus- hyperlocal approach. The company’s new fl agship in Amsterdam is tomers help offset the ultimate expression of this corporate about-face. “Just because artist rents). you have a huge footprint on the planet doesn’t mean you have to do Lab 111’s décor puts the exact same thing wherever you go,” says Liz Muller, Starbucks’ a playful spin on Dutch-born concept design director. the space’s ghoulish Built in the former vault of the historic Amsterdamsche Bank on past. Metal cabinets Rembrandt Square, the Amsterdam Starbucks is the company’s fi rst that once housed European concept café and its largest outpost on the continent. “This specimens in jars now is the most iconic Starbucks in the world right now,” says Muller. stock bo" les of wine. Vintage operating- The 4,500-square-foot space features the work of some 35 local room lamps hang artists and artisans, as well as some ingenious recycled design ele- above the enormous ments. Old bicycle inner tubes function as soundproofi ng along one green table where wall. Stools crafted like bike seats, with worn leather stretched over THE LURID LARDER dishes like braised springs, line the counter at the “slow cof ee theater,” where reserve Old medical paraphernalia lamb with savoy cab- is juxtaposed with fake- pantry wallpaper at Lab 111 bage, pancetta and veal-oregano sauce, FARAWAY, SO CLOSE dignitaries, would introduce and quinoa with pumpkin, mushrooms, beets the many exotic tastes of their and chickpeas are served. A colonial feast that brings adopted home in one fell swoop. Groeneveld didn’t extend the theme much everything to the table The spread included a mound of beyond the décor, though. “We didn’t want to rice and up to 40 small dishes to take it too far,” he says. “We don’t want to be The rijsttafel, or “rice table,” go with it—iconic recipes from a circus act.” —J.C. is Amsterdam’s most across the islands such famous feast, as as gado gado (veg- emblematic of the etables with peanut BOARDING PASS Foodie alert: Sergio city as bike-riding sauce), sates Herman’s hypercreative Oud Sluis is just a grannies. Yet its (skewered meats), quick jaunt from Brussels, to which United foods don’t come sambals (chutneys) of ers nonstop service from its U.S. hubs in from the Nether- and rendangs Chicago, New York/Newark and Washington lands at all. The (coconut beef). Dulles. Or, if a culinary trip to Amsterdam is concept is a holdover These days most what you have in mind, fl y United nonstop to from the Dutch colo- of Amsterdam’s many the Netherlands’ capital from Chicago, Hous- nial era, when plantation Indonesian restaurants, ton, New York/Newark and Washington SPREAD ’EM Dulles. For detailed schedule information or honchos in Indonesia, Puri Mas’ take catering to a Dutch to book your fl ight, go to united.com. eager to impress visiting on the rijsttafel audience, serve some PHOTO CREDIT TK - REMOVE IF EMPTY CREDIT TK - REMOVE PHOTO 32 R1_p028-31_HEM0113_F&D.indd 32 07/12/2012 10:09 SAVE $20 OFF OF YOUR NEXT PURCHASE* DUTCH TREAT Starbucks’ fl agship cof eehouse in Amsterdam of ers spacious digs beans are brewed using the Clover vacuum system—a fi rst for Starbucks in Europe. Chairs rescued from a nearby public school surround tables made from oak stumps. The blue and white tiles found in every kitchen in Amsterdam cling to the bank’s con- crete pillars, and hundreds of intricate speculaas molds—for making the tra- ditional Dutch cookies—have been transformed into wall art. The whole space has been designed with lingering in mind. “The Dutch don’t run around with a cup in the street,” says Muller. “They want their coffee in a ceramic mug. And they want to sit down and enjoy it with a cookie.” —J.C.