Chapter 01 · Centrum & the Canals · Nieuwendijk

Kaagman & Kortekaas

Two chefs cooking pigeon, offal and house charcuterie better than anyone downtown.

Giel Kaagman and Bram Kortekaas cook the kind of Franco-Dutch food most kitchens are too nervous to serve: game birds, sweetbreads, terrines and house-cured charcuterie, with sauces that have actual backbone. The setting is a small, warm room on Sint Nicolaasstraat, a scruffy little street behind the Nieuwendijk you would otherwise speed-walk past, and one of the two chefs is usually visible at the pass, which tells you who is accountable for your dinner. The menu shifts with the seasons: pigeon with beets in autumn, herring and asparagus when the calendar allows, bread and butter worth ruining your appetite over. Volkskrant and Parool critics have purred about this place for years, and the reservation calendar fills accordingly. Dinner only, Tuesday to Saturday from 18:00. Book ahead and trust the chefs.

Start with the house-made charcuterie, and take the pigeon whenever it's on the menu.

What to order

IJsselmeer pike-perch a la plancha
Michelin's example dish: beluga lentils, crab salad, punchy bordelaise, local fish, French nerve
Seasonal game, nose-to-tail
Venison and poultry classics are why locals keep this alley address to themselves
Four-course menu€69.50
The prix-fixe format (4/5/6 courses, €69.50–89.50); trust the kitchen, it changes constantly