I chose to do my stage at Cafe Binnenvisser in Amsterdam, Netherlands. I was drawn to this space because of its commitment to seasonal cooking and local ingredients in a small, intimate setting with a menu that has carefully chosen ingredients to create something that is both new, familiar, and satisfying. Cafe Binnenvisser is a small operation. Most days I was working with the head chef, Tim and one other cook.
I intentionally chose a smaller operation because I felt that I could be more hands on with the food and the creative process this way. When you work in a small kitchen, there are no porters who help with putting away all of the ordered produce. There are no prep cooks who help with cleaning piles of ramps, picking herbs or delicately small dicing quarts of lemon peel for you. These jobs can often be time consuming and tedious, and the porters and prep cooks are the people who keep large kitchens running efficiently. In small kitchens, there is often not the space nor the means for that. Therefore everything is done on your own.I really feel like this benefits me so much as a cook. You interact with the product from the moment it arrives at the restaurant to the moment it ends up on a guest's plate.There is a great sense of responsibility in that. I believe that being so hands-on in every step of the process fosters a deeper appreciation of the beautiful ingredients we are privileged to work with.
Most days of my stage started with me arriving at work and having a meeting with the chef and other cooks. We would discuss what tasks there were to do and delegate them between us. At 3pm everyday we were always required to take a break, and go over what was done and what was left to accomplish. This happened no matter how busy or behind we were. I asked Chef Tim why we take a break even when we are busy. He explained to me that slowing down is sometimes necessary to speed up. When you take a moment to collect yourself and plan, you approach the rest of the day with more energy and organization. This became something that really resonated with me, and I truly believe I performed better for it.
My role during service at Binnenvisser was cooking everything. Since we were a small operation we only had two cooks on the line at once. One cooked all the food, and the other plated everything. Most of the cooking I was doing was on a small Japanese charcoal grill. There is a gentle art to adding the right amount of charcoal at the right times to keep the heat stable. It was so valuable to get to work with this kind of cooking technique every night and learn how to balance it during a busy service. It was also invigorating and deeply satisfying to know the food I was cooking ended up on every single guest of the night's plate. This really helped keep the standards high.
At Cafe Binnenvisser there is also a big focus on fermentation. Fermentation is something I hadn't had a lot of experience with, and it was a goal of mine to learn more about it during my stage. I was deeply impressed to see how Chef Tim was incorporating fermentation into his menu. Fermentation often takes time and space, and can be difficult to navigate in a small kitchen. We were doing a lot of ferments that only took a few days. Nothing was taking up too much space at a time as we would be using that product quickly. It was eye opening to see how seemingly subtle things could elevate a dish so drastically. For example, we would ferment fennel at 3% salt for 3 days and use that in a roasted endive dish.The fermented fennel elevated the dish so much instead of just using raw fennel. It was these simple, thoughtful changes that made the food special.
I feel like I grew so much as a cook in my short month in Amsterdam. On top of all of the incredible things I learned specific to Cafe Binnenvisser, I was also able to experience the inner workings of a European kitchen. I was able to work with products I have never seen before. I was able to see a different system of ordering and organization. I saw techniques I thought I was well acquainted with used in totally new ways. I found it so deeply valuable to gain these new perspectives.
In the future I hope to open a restaurant of my own. My time at Cafe Binnenvisser helped me gain so much perspective on how I want to operate that restaurant. It has challenged what I thought I knew in the best ways possible. In the meantime, I plan to take everything I have learned with me back to my current kitchen team in New York. It is so incredible to think that this experience has a trickle down effect of promoting growth. What I learned I can take back with me and teach someone else, and the cycle can continue on from there. This experience fundamentally changed how I will approach management, cooking, and hospitality for the rest of my career. For that, I am so incredibly grateful.
