Organic & Beyond (for Ekomenu)

De Kas

€€€€·Amsterdam·4.7

De Kas occupies a 1927 municipal greenhouse in Park Frankendael, Amsterdam Oost. The glass structure frames the kitchen's purpose: growing, harvesting and cooking vegetables on the same day. Over 300 varieties of vegetables, herbs and fruits are cultivated across the on-site gardens and a second plot in the Beemster polder, with the menu composed around whatever the harvest delivers each week. Chefs Jos Timmer and Wim de Beer, who took ownership in 2018, apply a light, Mediterranean approach to Dutch-grown produce. The fixed menu changes weekly, shaped entirely by what the gardens yield. Vegetables occupy the centre of every course; fish or meat appears in roughly one dish in ten. In summer, lunch is served on a terrace among the herb beds that supply the kitchen. A single evening seating and an open kitchen designed by Studio Piet Boon set an unhurried pace.

Pianeta Terra

€€€€·Amsterdam·4.7

Pianeta Terra opened in 2000 with a founding commitment to cook exclusively with organic ingredients, sourced locally where possible. Chef Fabio Antonini, manager Raul Mini and sommelier Laura Martini built the kitchen around direct relationships with small producers across the Netherlands and Italy. The restaurant sits in a converted 17th century stable on Beulingstraat, a quiet side street near the Singel canal. Three levels of warm, unhurried dining space give the room the feel of a private Italian supper rather than a formal evening out. Antonini was the first chef outside Italy to join the Slow Food Chefs Alliance in 2009, a network he has since championed across the Netherlands. The kitchen works with heritage breed suppliers and Slow Food Presidia products, translating these into a modern Italian menu that changes with the seasons and the day's deliveries.

Fruittuinen van west tuincafe

Amsterdam·4.5

Set on 6.5 hectares of orchard at the edge of Amsterdam, Fruittuin van West is a working biodynamic farm with a small café at its centre. The Tuincafé serves lunches built from what grows just outside, including apples from the orchard's own 22,000 trees. Guests eat at tables and in lazy chairs that look out over the rows of fruit. On pizza evenings, pies are baked thin and crisp in the clay oven on the terrace, topped with mushrooms grown in the on-site cellar and vegetables from partner growers visited each week. The whole operation carries Demeter certification, the biodynamic standard that adds welfare and closed-cycle requirements on top of EU organic. The café offers options for vegans, vegetarians, and meat eaters, with gluten-free desserts available.

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Green House Utrecht

€€€€·Utrecht·3.9

The Green House occupies a fully demountable glass-and-steel pavilion on Utrecht's Croeselaan, designed by cepezed from salvaged and recyclable materials. Chef Peter Scholte, a Dutch Cuisine Ambassador with experience spanning elBulli and the Nordic kitchen, leads a menu that draws 80% of its content from plants. An 80-square-metre urban farm on the first floor grows some 60 to 70 crop varieties, from specialty herbs to forgotten Dutch vegetables, supplying a significant share of the restaurant's greens. Rainwater feeds the greenhouse; kitchen scraps return as compost. Both the dinner experience and the chef's menu are available in fully vegan versions, and the signature Dutch Carrot Dog has become a calling card. The Colour Kitchen partnership brings 20% of staff from groups with distance to the labour market.

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KEEK

€€€€·Utrecht·4.6

KEEK stands for Kunst En Eerlijke Koffie: art and fair trade coffee. Founded in 2008 by Maria Zwart on Utrecht's Twijnstraat, it has grown from a single lunchroom into three locations across the city centre. The entirely vegetarian menu is more than half vegan, certified Lekker Vega Gold. Sourdough bread, croissants, cakes, and spreads are all made from scratch using SKAL-certified organic ingredients. Rotating art exhibitions through the KEEKollektief programme give Utrecht-based creatives a platform every two months.