There are restaurants that say they work with the farmer, and there is Wils at the Farm: a pop-up where the cooking literally happens in the farmyard. No decorative hay bales or a chalkboard with ‘seasonal produce. Chef Joris Bijdendijk and kitchen chef Thomas Val of restaurant Wils in Amsterdam are simply outside, at the Lindenhoff in Baambrugge, with an open fire as their only stove and the meadows of the Vecht region as their view.
Joris Bijdendijk is no stranger. His restaurant Wils in Amsterdam stands for serious cuisine that focuses on the product, not the technology for its own sake. Thomas Val is the kitchen chef who carries out that line every day. Together they moved to Baambrugge to cook at the place where the ingredient comes from. Lindenhoff is a family farm, founded in 1989 by the Te Voortwis family, which specializes in artisanal and sustainable food production. The short line between farmer and cook here is not a story for the menu, but simply reality.
Guests eat at long tables in the outdoor yard, overlooking the meadows. No white ironed tablecloths and muted light, but outdoors, open air, and the sound of a working farm in the background. The fire gives the dishes a smoky flavor and character that you don't get from an induction pan. That's the point. Bijdendijk and Val deliberately choose open fire as the central cooking technique, and you taste why: the food tastes like the place it came from.
The fire gives dishes a smoky flavor and character that you don't get from an induction pan.
Baambrugge is located just outside the city, between Amsterdam and Utrecht. Lindenhoff sits on the Rijksstraatweg, a straight road through the open polder landscape. Last year, Wils at the Farm ran over five weekends. This edition runs for six weeks, spanning Friday, Saturday and Sunday. One edition longer, slightly larger, but the idea remains the same: food where it's made, by people who know what they're doing.