Ron Gastrobar Indonesian sits in a place you won't easily forget: a terrace right on the Amstel River, along the famous strip where in summer boats dock and life takes place on the water. You can go there by bike, park your car at the Amstelslag, or just moor your boat. The latter sounds like a joke but is just possible.
Behind the business is Ron Blaauw, culinary entrepreneur with more than thirty years of kitchen experience. He started his first restaurant in 1999 in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, and the place hasn't stood still since. Blaauw travels the world to translate atmospheres and flavors to his restaurants, and you can tell by the menu. The kitchen is led by Chef Guillaume, who develops new dishes together with Blaauw. His own favorite on the menu: satay kambing, goat meat on the grill with soy sauce. A good indicator for the rest.
Behind the restaurant is a covered courtyard, a kind of green space used year-round. White chairs, plants, daylight from above. It feels different from a standard restaurant space, quieter too. At the front, it's the exact opposite: the strip along the Amstel River, boats passing by, and a terrace you won't want to leave anytime soon in the summer. The two sides of the business, the garden and the terrace, actually give you two very different evenings.
Chef Guillaume and Ron Blaauw are developing new dishes together, and the satay kambing with soy sauce is Guillaume's own favorite on the menu.
Ron Gastrobar Indonesian is part of a group with locations in Laren, Bloemendaal and Amsterdam. It all started ten years ago, and the group is now celebrating the anniversary under the name 10 Years Ron Gastrobar. But the Ouderkerk branch has something the others don't: that location by the water, the village around it, and the feeling that you are just outside the city when in fact you are right next door.