Just a few months ago, we filed for bankruptcy for the restaurant and hospitality branch. We restarted right away and I ended up behind the cooker in the Lobby Restaurant with what are now very dear colleagues. It was a fantastic time. And now we have 2 chefs, hugely motivated staff and will soon reopen the Grand Café!
But there is much more! The penny regarding art at our premises seems to have finally dropped (this will happen more often, but it still feels like a crucial insight arising from a long development). The hotel is located where the gallery was and the gallery is in the showroom awaiting its final destination. On 16 June, Aart Roos’ exhibition will open there! If you come for art, you walk past design and vice versa. Actually as the addition of art was intended, but the art was always in a separate room. Last year, we thought that the whole showroom could also work as a kind of museum. Not empty ballrooms with a bit of art, but an exploratory experience with design, antiques and art together. It’s like the Wonder Room actually already was, but at building level! In short, what we will do is what we were already doing and yet it is very different! If you can’t follow it, no problem, because we are open 7 days a week and from now on, always with one of the restaurants.
Soon, the non-curated exhibition series in the space above the Grand Café will also start. As far as we are concerned, no more artists who have not been given a chance. I always find my own choices quite subjective, so I thought it would be nice to just offer the space. The coincidence of being recognised by a gallery owner gives way to the artist’s initiative! The chances of being successful then remain slim, but at least there is a platform!
We have also been struggling with a kiosk for years. Nice thing, but hard to find a good use for it. The kiosk is now a small gallery. Marc Mulders kicks off the exhibition and there are two small works by him. Picture perfect!
Anyway, the Grand Café will reopen on 17 June with chefs Erling and Felice behind the wheel! A Swedish Englishman and an Italian, both ended up in the Netherlands and eventually wound up with us. Felice said that, although he does have an open mind about other cuisines, he is a true Italian chef. I thought, if I have to choose, then I’d choose an Italian or Japanese chef. Where the ingredients take the lead. Felice starts to shine as he stands behind the cooker holding a pan. Chef Erling also fits that bill perfectly. He works mainly with local produce, personally knows the buffalo from which the burrata is made (he also knows the farmer, by the way) and personally picks the flowers that buffalo eat, but which you can also taste when you come to eat with us. It is a marvel how tasty is what you can get in a 45-kilometre radius. Although then, of course, you still have to be able to cook, and Erling can do that! A bit of magic, you might say.
It is a blessing that the chefs came our way, because it seems that the eye for beauty and quality for material in my work now finds its match in the restaurant in their love for ingredients. The big question was, will the chefs get along? It seems they have found each other. You can come and see and taste that for the first time on 17 June!
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