Roef

Dutch-French sharing plates from a grandfather's grocery-garden idea, now with real vegetables to prove it.

Eshwin Boetting named this place after his grandfather Roelof, a Drenthe grocer who kept a garden that fed the family and the shop both. That idea now lives behind the restaurant on the Middenweg, where herbs and vegetables come straight off the beds and onto the plate, the beef tataki finished with kruiden uit eigen tuin rather than a supplier's box. The kitchen runs Dutch produce through a French frame: brioche with smoked eel and sour cream, a lamb shoarma salad with tzatziki and pita chips, a whole roast chicken with honey and garlic built for two to fight over. Fish comes from Wild 'n Zilt, caught with an eye on the North Sea's future rather than just tonight's catch. Three former townhouses were knocked into one warm, soft-toned room with a cheese bar at the far end, and downstairs seats forty for the kind of group dinner that starts civilized and doesn't stay that way. Closed Mondays, open for lunch Friday through Sunday. Barts Boekje summed it up as fijn, fijner, fijnst. Hard to argue.

Doors open at 11:00 Friday through Sunday for the only lunch service of the week; Tuesday to Thursday it's dinner only from 16:30, closed Mondays.