Great food at the hotel you are staying at, that is killing two birds with one stone. It feels a bit like home, no need to go out and you can leave your car where it is parked. Of course you don’t have to stay in the hotel to be able to enjoy the food.
Kruisheren: Hotel – Restaurant, Maastricht
At the Kruisherenhotel in Maastricht, there is a more or less 50/50 division between hotel guests and outside visitors. We did book the hotel – restaurant combination and linked and overnight stay in the Kruisherenhotel to our lunch in restaurant Kruisheren. You can read more about that here.
Dinner in a church
The ‘spacy’ entrance with copper and metal draws you inside the beautiful church. There, everything just breathes history, while soft, warm materials and artworks create a contemporary, friendly atmosphere. You can enter the restaurant via the stairs with runner or the design lift. Because of its location, you benefit from both the atmosphere and activity in the hotel, as the tranquillity and intimacy of the restaurant, all in a unique, monumental setting. While enjoying the food you can look through the stained-glass windows and enjoy cosy Maastricht and the convent garden.
The interior is stylish and modern, with wooden floors, copper, design chairs out of synthetic materials and white tablecloths. You might call it elegance with a touch of bling and romance.
Flavours of the season
Vincent van Vierzen, the chef, takes into account the seasons and prefers to work with organic and local products. We decide to try a selection of à la carte dishes in order to really be able to experience what the restaurant stands for and what the cooking style is. Bring it on, we are ready.
We start with three appetizers to warm up our taste buds. The first one is smoked goat cheese with smoked almond and a kumquat-gel.
A crisp made of nori, crumbs, olive oil and duck liver is next.
The last one is nori-wrapped raw tuna combined with salmon eggs, soy beans and a cold miso bouillon.
The first appetizer consists of raw hamachi and king crab salad in two variants: one with leek and one with cucumber jelly. Furthermore, there are flavours of green curry, gomasio and mirasolpepper. The finishing touch is a wasabi creme and green curry foam.
We were given the opportunity to try the chef’s “Steak Design“, which is a modern interpretation of the classic steak tartare, whose presentation on a piece of bone on slate immediately catches the eye. This is, according to us, definitely a creative and appropriate way to present this dish. The meat is served in three variations: briefly grilled beef fillet, beef sausage and a beef croquette. A perfectly cooked quail egg yolk, pickles-creme and shallot-creme are added to the dish.
Next on the menu are the intermediate courses: a preparation of veal tenderloin, veal cheek and sweetbread. Cauliflower, romanesco and sweet potato mash add colour to the dish. By working with veal sauce the dish gets its beautiful, sophisticated and yet strong meat flavour.
An alternative dish is the mushroom risotto with sunny side up, Parmesan cheese and a generous portion of truffle. The wonderful smell makes your mouth water immediately.
We continue with stingray wings with black pasta, baby squid, tomato salsa and capers.
Venison with red cabbage, pear, candied potatoes, Brussels sprouts and venison sauce is our last main course.
The cheese platter looks extremely nice. We tried the Chaource A.O.P Lait Crû, Bonde Gatine de Vercors, Le Charmoix Bio Lait Crû, Oudendijk (N.H) Millenium (1000 days cheese) and bleu Gex A.O.P. It speaks for itself that crusty bread with nuts and candied fruit, apple syrup, fig compote, nuts and raspberries are perfectly suited to accompany the cheese.
We finish our meal with mille-feuille of marinated pear, dark chocolate, mascarpone, gel and panna cotta of pear and vanilla ice cream.
No adapted wines this time. We did drink three glasses: one white and one red, and one port to try with the cheeses. We gladly share the line-up here to conclude.
In short…
At restaurant Kruisheren you can eat well in an enchanting setting, close to the centre of Maastricht. Classic flavours with a twist, a clean presentation of the dishes and a professional, warm-hearted service. The meat preparations really stood out for us, and we would therefore recommend those in particular, but the truth is that it is mainly the complete experience that counts here.
Practical information
Restaurant Kruisheren, Kruisherengang 19-23, 6211 NW, Maastricht, The Netherlands | +31 (0)43 329 20 20 | info@kruisherenhotel.nl | www.kruisherenhotel.nl | Facebook | Instagram