Something quite different has landed on the site of the former Bar Kartel on the Overtoom. Chez Chloé - full Vins et cuisine française moderne - is not a bistro with a French accent, but a restaurant that deliberately operates above that level. With 58 covers, an extensive French wine list and a chef who is classically trained, the establishment is aiming for an evening that stands for something. The fact that the restaurant opened in early April 2025 on a busy connecting street between downtown and Vondelpark is a choice that has its own logic: plenty of crowds walk here, but the atmosphere is Old West, not Leidseplein.
Behind the restaurant is entrepreneur Matthijs van Stapele. He brought in Marcelo Hernandez for the kitchen, a chef who is classically French trained and shows it in what he brings to the table. Hernandez works from that traditional base - classic techniques that he does not deny, but also does not slavishly follow. The result is cuisine with structure and modern clarity. Maître Rutger Bogers takes care of the dining room. Together, Van Stapele, Hernandez and Bogers form a team with a clear plan: know what you want to create and then just do it.
That order in the name - Vins et cuisine - is no accident. The wine list here is as serious as the cuisine, and that's exactly the point. The selection is exclusively French and functions not as an appendix to the menu, but as an equal part of the evening. As maître, Bogers works closely with the kitchen, so that dish and glass reinforce each other rather than coexist. The restaurant deliberately chose 58 covers - small enough to give attention per table, large enough to fill a room with atmosphere. With more tables, that kind of precision is quickly lost.
The wine list here is as serious as the cuisine, which is exactly the point.
The Overtoom has everything: lunchrooms, Asian restaurants, cafes. Chez Chloé takes an explicit position in that landscape with serious French gastronomy at stake. Whether Oud-West needed that will become clear in the coming months. But the basics stand: a clear concept, a chef who knows what he's doing and a venue owner who takes wine seriously. That's not a bad starting position for a restaurant that wants to stay here.