Chef Jim de Jong preparing the broccoli dish.
It is the usual belief that vegetarian and fine dining are not words usually combined. However, one sunny spring afternoon I discovered that it is not only possible, but it can also be brilliant. This happened when I stumbled upon Restaurant de Jong and had the most amazing vegetarian fine dining experience, and the best part: it is not even a ‘vegetarian’ restaurant!
First Impressions
Restaurant de Jong is located under a railroad track which is no longer in use next to the tracks of the Rotterdam train station. A very unusual location for many, but for Rotterdammers this is the height of cool. Chef Jim de Jong is a very talented young chef with an impressive resume under his belt, having worked in the kitchens of Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay and opening his first restaurant at the tender age of 21. The ambiance is unpretentious, retro with 60’s style chairs, white walls, old-time music, checkered floors and my favorite part: an open kitchen! But, we’re here for the food. Right? Let’s start by saying that the food was exceptional. We started our afternoon with drinks on their terrace, plenty of sun, bubbly, life’s good. The menu varies from season to season and it is based on what is fresh and available at the moment. Two choices, short and sweet: regular 4 course menu and vegetarian 4 course menu. With the immediate mention of the vegetarian 4 course menu, they had me at ‘hello!’.
The Menu
Fresh and seasonal, period. The cuisine is French-inspired spiked with a rebellious almost rock and roll edge and an attitude of “You know what? I’m going to take a ‘boring’ broccoli and I’m going to pimp the heck out of it, and the best part is that you’re going to love it.” And I did! We started our evening with an amuse of peas, freeze dried feta, mint and crispy peas on the top, it was the perfect start to our dinner, fresh and light like a spring’s day. What followed was an amazing combo of white asparagus, hazelnuts, puffed grains and a flash-cooked egg yolk which created a creamy sauce. Third course was a Burrata cheese, soft and creamy, served with yellow baby beets and orange. That combo sounded a bit strange, but the tastes were balanced. The main course which took me over the edge due to its creativity was the broccoli made three ways: a mash (which had more flavor than any potato mash I have ever tasted), steamed mini florets and the pièce de résistance, a broccoli ‘steak’ which the chef flashed cooked in water and then placed with a bit of oil on top and torched it to perfection, all of that topped with seaweed. To end our meal the dessert was a dainty bowl with juicy strawberries, a feta cream and freeze-dried black olive soil which tasted like salted chocolate (no kidding!).
The Bottom Line
The use of molecular gastronomy techniques in an unpretentious way, was what took the dishes from humble to amazing. Everything came together with a lovely ambiance, relaxed atmosphere and a short but straight forward wine selection. This will certainly be a restaurant that I will be returning to because the bottom line for me is that if I feel welcomed, I’ll be back. That happened at Restaurant de Jong, I not only felt welcomed, but my dinner consisted out of a well though and put together menu, not the typical ‘pasta’ that are served as vegetarian alternative at other restaurants that seems like an afterthought. At Restaurant the Jong, we vegetarians are stars and where fine dining and vegetarian makes perfect sense!
Information:
Restaurant de Jong
Address:
Raampoortstraat 38
3032 AH Rotterdam
Tel: 
010-4657955
Email: info@restaurantdejong.nl
Facebook: www.facebook.com/RestaurantDeJong?fref=ts
Open from: Wo-Sun, 18.00-23.00h.