What to do as a design studio with your office, including kitchen, during the weekend? No doubt: inviting talented chefs! Enbiun loves to be inspired, and therefore we share our studio with fascinating people who turn it into something new. It teaches us about food and hospitality, adds dynamics to the office and connects us with a new network.
The first guest chefs we welcomed were the ladies of Studio Buik. At our home base, Kraanspoor 46, Sylvia, Tamara and Else organized a pop-up dinner together with our Food Creative Lieke. Buik arranged the food and the aperitif while Lieke took care of a wine, sake and beer arrangement, which suited the 7-course dinner.
Last summer one of Buiks' previous pop-up dinners took place in a meadow in the North of Amsterdam. An office might not sound cozy at first, but don't be fooled. Enbiun Head Quarters has an amazing view over the IJ-river, an inside jungle, thoughtfully picked design furniture and even a fireplace during this dinner.
The food journey started with a plum bloody mary. A sweet and at the same time savory cocktail made with concentrated plum juice, Worchester sauce, lime juice, thyme tea and Umeshu sake; a matured rice wine made of fermented Japanese plums. The dish was served with the leaf of dried plum, filled with Chaource and chopped nuts.
The ladies served the 7-course dinner from the studio's kitchen, in the middle of the room. The kitchen connected four long tables, where our guests were seated.
Buik brought fine dining with a nod towards the snack culture in their middle course; an haute friture ‘berenhap' (a Dutch snack) with self-cut fries and homemade mayonnaise. It was finger licking good. Lieke combined the dish with an exceptional beer; Oude Geuze, an almost protected beer type from Beersel, Belgium. This liquid gold is made out of 3 different years of Lambic; 1 year, 2 years and 3 years matured. These 3 years of Lambic were merged and aged for another 6 months in old wooden barrels before they were bottled. The name ‘Oude Geuze' is reserved for the region around Beersel, because it is the only place that houses Geuze yeast.
The evenings' star dish was the roll of kale filled with pumpkin, ricotta and raisins, topped with sage butter. Wine played the leading role in pairing, and again we finished with a fruit sake, a rice wine with the Japanese citrus fruit Yuzu.
Our office offers chefs with or without their own cooking spot the opportunity to experiment. We get the ability to learn from them while giving them a platform. Our concept designers and food architects won't sit still and will release their programming for 2019 soon. Lots of things are keeping us busy, and we would like to start the conversation with you, preferably while enjoying a glass of wine and excellent food.
