Dennis Huwaë from Amsterdam restaurant Daalder will be changing location from October 13 to 5 November as he moves from the ‘Venice of the North’ to the Japanese Tower of the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen for a pop-up. Huwaë will take his cuisine which won him accolades to Copenhagen where he will be showcasing two tasting menus.
Daalder is an unusual establishment that embodies the essence of modern Dutch cuisine with a twist. Chef Dennis Huwaë has created his own personal style, one that reflects his city, his Moluccan roots and his limitless and colourful imagination, reasons why he won as the Most Promising Chef by Gault & Millau in 2018, a Michelin star and ranked #64 of The Best Chef Awards Top 100 in 2021.
“I never want to set boundaries for myself when it comes to cooking and I find it hard to limit what we do in Daalder to a specific type of cuisine or product. I think that my curiosity wouldn’t allow me to do that, doing only French cuisine, Dutch cuisine, or Moluccan/Indonesian cuisine. I’m really interested in all foods and flavours from all over the world and I always end up taking ideas from everywhere and mixing them in my mind when I have to create a new dish. So why limit it? There are no rules at Daalder other than working towards being the best.” says Dennis Huwaë.
The restaurant’s ambiance adds to the experience: Neon lights, music and street art welcome guests into an almost night-club lounge atmosphere, and in the back of the room, Dennis Huwaë commands an open front kitchen and creates an immersive dining experience, allowing guests to witness the culinary craftsmanship firsthand.
Above: Anjou Pigeon with parsley oil, kumquat gelé, pistachio crumble and green olive sauce. Below: Daalder Stroopwafel, reversed with caramel and dough ice cream.
In October, he will be taking to Copenhagen, one of the food capitals of the world, for three flavour-filled weeks.
The Halloween season is one the best ones to visit Tivoli Gardens. Witches have cast a seasonal spell with spooky toads and spiders, screeching crows, and more than 20,000 jack-o’-lanterns in the blazing autumn gardens. It all becomes the backdrop of the Daalder residency and the two dynamic menu options that Dennis and his team will take from Amsterdam.
The lunch menu consists of four bites and four courses. Things start with a Nigiri Salmon Meringue, followed by a Moluccan Sate Kambing and a flavour bomb inspired by Dennis’ grandmother, the shrimp bao with red curry, Thai basil and Indonesian beans. Let’s leave the last snack as a surprise and jump to the courses: Japanese Hamachi with green apple, white sesame, shiso leaves, tofu foam, yuzu sorbet and seaweed crisp is one of guests’ favourite dishes back in Amsterdam and of course, a part of the menu, as well as the Anjou Pigeon with parsley oil, kumquat gelé, pistachio crumble and green olive sauce.
The dinner menu is even more self-indulgent and includes ten servings. Guests that want to spend a fall night of halloween fun with a break of creative and explosive fine dining will enjoy extra dishes like the fregola with octopus, fermented garlic and salad of Champignons de Paris with grapefruit and celeriac or the sea bass with green curry, jasmine rice and wild garlic. The sweet ending comes in the form of a rhubarb and basil cake with tropical fruit salad, citrus and coconut sorbet and Daalder’s Dutch Stroopwafel reversed with caramel and dough ice cream.
Tivoli Gardens was founded in 1843 and has become a national treasure and an international attraction. Fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen visited many times, as did Walt Disney who found the inspiration for his own Disney World there. When the garden was founded it was placed outside the city’s moats, but today it’s located right next to the Central Station and within walking distance of City Hall.
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