Durgerdam is the kind of place that Amsterdammers know from cycling past, but rarely from queuing. De Mark is changing that. The restaurant is in boutique hotel De Durgerdam, right on the dike, overlooking the lake. Anyone who grabs a table here on the water terrace can almost forget that the city begins fifteen minutes away.
Behind the kitchen are Richard van Oostenbrugge and Thomas Groot as culinary advisors. Both carry a Michelin star and are also responsible for the restaurants 212, De Juwelier and Bistro de la Mer. At De Mark, they bring the same approach: serious cuisine, no fuss. The emphasis is on ingredients that tell you where they come from. Fish caught literally around the corner, cheese from farmers in the polder, produce from the fertile Waterland fields. That's not a marketing story, you can taste that.
The restaurant has three spaces, and all three feel different. The dining room has a fireplace you'll want to sit next to when it's gray outside. The wine snug is intimate, good for an evening with good friends and a bottle you take your time with. And then there is the water terrace, right on the lake, where in summer you just want to sit until dark. The wine cellar has more than 3,500 bottles, divided into over 600 labels from the best European vineyards. That's a serious collection for a restaurant of this size.
The wine cellar has more than 3,500 bottles, distributed over 600 labels from the best European vineyards.
Durgerdam is neither Jordaan nor De Pijp. It is a ribbon of little houses along the water, with a church, a jetty and now, therefore, a restaurant that you would normally expect in the middle of town. The Mark, oddly enough, fits perfectly here. The tranquility of the place and the quality of the cuisine reinforce each other. You drive specifically to it, and that feeling rings true as soon as you sit down.