After seven moves and seven years on the road through the city, chef Michiel van der Eerde finally has a place that no longer has to go anywhere. Bar Baut on Stadionweg in Oud-Zuid is the permanent home of the BAUT catering group - the end of a long nomadic journey along changing locations. Setting up pop-ups for seven years, tearing them down and starting over somewhere else sounds romantic, but at some point you just want a place that's yours. That place is here now.
Michiel van der Eerde (b. 1973) started BAUT not as a restaurant chain but as an idea that didn't need a fixed location. Year after year, he toured the city with his concept - seven moves in seven years - until it was time to stop touring. Outside the kitchen, many Amsterdamers know him as a former judge on MasterChef Netherlands. That television background has done him no favors: the BAUT group now has three permanent locations in the city.
The restaurant deliberately leaves behind the formalities of higher cuisine. The menu is à la carte, internationally oriented and deliberately limited - meat, fish and vegetarian, no ten-page menu. Van der Eerde opts for contemporary dishes with international ingredients, but without the theatrics found at other cuisines in this price segment. No dress code, no whispers, no cumbersome menu structure. That the MICHELIN Guide has included Bar Baut in the meantime says enough about the quality of the cuisine - but you don't notice much else in the atmosphere.
After seven moves and seven years on the road across town, chef Michiel van der Eerde finally has a place that doesn't have to go anywhere.
Stadionweg is not the most obvious restaurant street in the city, but the neighborhood definitely has something to offer. Within walking distance is Wils, which is also listed in the MICHELIN Guide. Bar Baut fits well into that list: restaurants that take it seriously without turning it into an event. For Oud-Zuid, a neighborhood that usually conjures up associations with expensive terraces and a chic look, a restaurant that just cooks good, down-to-earth food is exactly what the neighborhood needs.