Benz at Kazerne | Eindhoven (NL)

Luxury and more humble ingredients in this well-designed menu.
Pure flavours with real impact, tickling the senses. A culinary rockstar in the making!

Build in 1825, Kazerne in the city centre of Eindhoven (NL) was one of the first barracks of the military police in The Netherlands. Five years ago an ambitious project started to “created an international platform and home for the creative industry”, as they position themselves. “where the worlds of art, design, knowledge and techniques come together with good food and drinks”. So basically an art exposition with a restaurant!

Earlier this year a hotel was added and in March restaurant Benz at Kazerne opened it’s doors. The fine dining restaurant is located in the coachhouse of the former barracks, used from 1923 tot 1952 by the fire brigade. The restaurant is named after Eindhoven’s first motorised fire hose, which was called d’n Benz. The dining rooms seats 30 covers and has a moderne, industrial feel to it and has a clear view on the stainless steel open kitchen.

Presented as culinary rockers, the 3-headed kitchen team boasts with ambition. 24-year-old Head Chef Rasmus Olander hails from Sweden and previously worked at Kommilfoo* in Antwerp (BE) and Geranium*** in Copenhagen (DK). Sous Chef Nick Tonglet gained his experience at The Fat Duck*** in Bray (UK) and Noma** in Copenhagen (DK) and Mark Groenendaal comes from the other restaurant at the Kazerne. As explained on the website: “Similar to a rock band in which the lead singer and guitarist excel at working together with the drummer, this new restaurant is all about the synergy of the team.”

Benz at Kazerne is open for dinner on Tuesday to Saturday. It’s pure table d’hote, so no à la carte, but a set menu only. A 7-course menu (at €74) and on Tuesday to Thursday they also offer a 5-course business menu (at €59). I love that wine pairings are offered in three options: Full (at €49), Half (at €27) or Sip (at €19). Brilliant!

We had dinner two weeks ago on a Friday by invitation of our close friend. We had the 7-course menu, which comes in 12 servings as explained by Maître/Sommelier Alexander van der Voort.

The first appetiser was a buckwheat cracker with rye mayo. Very light, like a puffed rice cracker and tasted a bit like pork crackling. Yummm. Rye mayo, nice and smooth. Good start!

Next was a bitter salad with a sorrel dressing. Peppery rocket leaves tied together in a small bunch, dipped in the herby dressing. Should be eaten like a Dutch herring (cured young herring). Interesting,

Crunchy kohlrabi, with bold fermented kohlrabi on top. Fermentation made it taste like green cabbage. Different, fresh and tasty! Love this pure approach, with a play on flavours and textures.

Potato with unripe prunes, buttermilk and ashes of leek. The unripe prunes were quite bitter and dictating too much. Liked the combination though with the potatoes and creamy buttermilk. Ashes of the leek adding a touch of smokiness. Shame about the prunes.

Tomato water with mild garlicky ramson (wild garlic). Some cous cous in there to add texture. Clean, fibrant, intense tomato flavour. Lovely!

Swedish flatbread in two varieties. A hard flatbread with a perfect snap to it. And Hönö-bread, like a soft pita bread with a brioche texture. A typical bread from the Swedish island Hönö, just off the Swedish coast near Gothenburg. It was genuinely delicious, especially with the house-made butter. Excellent!

A beautiful meaty scallop with a nutty beurre noisette. The vinaigrette of cherry blossom, infused with smoked cherries, was like a cherry soy. Loved the Asian saltiness of the vinaigrette, which worked ever so nicely with the scallop. Looks simple and not sure about the presentation, but a very clever dish!

Fresh Dutch (brown) shrimps, with fried shrimp heads, which intensified the shrimp taste and added a bit of crunch to the dish. Oyster leaves brought the saltiness from the sea and a red flower of garden nasturtium with that gentle horse radish taste. Grated unpasteurised Belper Knolle (Swiss cheese made in the city of Belp), with a strong herby taste, to finish the dish. What a perfect combination of tastes and textures!

Barley almost cooked like a creamy risotto with a nice bite. Scrumptious! Not forgetting the perfect sea bass, all juicy and flaky with a lovely skin. A subtle parsley oil, bright green in colour and flavour, adds character to the dish. Comforting excellence!

Quality beef entrecôte, so tender and just bursting with flavour with an almost smokey taste. Some lightly sweet, but tart, toasted lingonberries on top. Deep and dark jus of oxtail with parsley emulsion. Thin sheets of crunchy celeriac with a bit of marrow to intensify the flavours in the dish even more. Perfect balance and astonishing taste!

House-made camembert with a very smooth texture. More like a soft mozzarella. Unfortunately it didn’t have much taste. Blackberries were quite tart, which was a big contrast with the sweet rosehip and raspberries. Nice taste when having everything together, but more like a breakfast yoghurt experience, than a dessert.

Smooth lemon thyme ice cream was delicious. Sweetness from the carrot jus and crispy carrot chips. The hint of saltiness from sea buckthorn, together with the sweet carrot was a clever variation on salted caramel. Lovely!

The pace was excellent and the atmosphere relaxed. Maître Alexander van der Voort and his cheeky waitress show great enthusiasm and manage to create a personal, almost custom-made experience. Chapeau!

A lovely mix of luxury and more humble ingredients in this well-designed menu, delivering pure flavours with real impact, tickling the senses. But not everything is perfect yet. The Nordic cuisine is not easy and not forgiving. With this minimalistic approach, the ingredients need to be top quality and the flavours spot on, as there is nowhere to hide. Dishes like the potato & prunes and the house-made camembert need work. Others like the Dutch shrimps, sea bass and the lemon thyme & carrot are setting the right standard.

Rasmus Olander wants to surprise with flavours, textures and techniques, clearly aiming for that star recognition. And he is definitely on the right path. A culinary rockstar in the making and one to watch!