From Maris Piper to NEO
Owner Vagarsh Mogatseljan and his team ran restaurant Maris Piper for years. With NEO, they let go of classic fine dining. The choice is deliberate: no set courses, no formal order, but a menu of smaller dishes that depends on what the season is offering at the time.
Mogatseljan on the change: “With NEO, we want to get back to the essence of hospitality. Good food, good wine and a relaxed setting, without the rules that used to come with it.”
What's on the table
The dishes show how NEO is rethinking classics. A duck à l'orange becomes gently cooked duck breast with blood orange, artichoke cream, artichoke heart and subtle notes of orange blossom. Beets and bacon - Dutch comfort food - appear as puffed and smoked beets with pickled chioggia, beet XO and beurre rouge.
Bites like gougères with Parmesan crust and chorizo filling set the tone: recognizable, precisely executed, no fuss.
In the pastas, the kitchen works with a head-to-tail philosophy: for a double ravioli, the whole plant is incorporated into the dish, along with egg yolk and butter. The menu also features “gin bacon” - because they don't have an attic, but the wink is there. Desserts remain accessible: pain perdu as French toast with coffee ice cream, dark chocolate, hazelnut and a coffee glaze.
Seasonal dishes like duck or fish change constantly. Vegetable dishes are on par with the rest of the menu - not as a side dish, but as a full part of the evening.
Wine and atmosphere
The wine list consists of low-intervention wines: pure, lively, meant to support the dish without being overpowering. The atmosphere is warm and informal. NEO is as much for a spontaneous dinner as for a long evening with friends.