Maastricht
Pop-up restaurant by Maurer United
REcentre is a center for sustainable design that focuses on the Meuse-Rhine Euregion, which consists of Belgian and Dutch Limburg, Regio Aachen and Liège. Last weekend I went to one of their recent activities which was called ‘Local Food Local Homes’, a pop-up restaurant in Maastricht, NL that proves that the best food comes from nearby.
A booklet with all contacts & stories about the food that was served
The entire pavilion is made from scaffold boards and executed by Maastricht-based Maurer United architects. I just read that the design is a mix of two former projects by Maurer United: the ‘Boerenwereldkeuken’ pop-up restaurant (2003) and the ‘Guesthouse Belvedère’ folly (2007).
Branded napkin, probably natural paint from the region
Located in the backyard of the Timmerfabriek, the wooden pavilion seems to belong to the collection of Art currently being displayed there. This is what I assumed the first time I went to visit the Out of Storage exhibition. But in fact it was build for the purpose to serve as a Recentre project.
The ‘local herbs’ garden
In order to serve the best and freshest ingredients the designers from Institute Of Relevant Studies insisted on a temporary garden to grow produce for the dinners. The herbs of the garden were provided by Puur Aromaone, of the producers.
Chef Nora Rödner went around the Euregion, visiting local producers, selecting an array of produce to use in her 3 week culinary venture. A couple of them are Wijngoed Thorn and Buffalo Foods Limburg.
The kitchen was located in a small truck, also in the backyard. The operating team for the evening were Linde Dorenbosch who coordinated everything, Roos Greve and Fien de Graaf who were excellent in serving and finally the chef, Nora Rödner (alias Nora Bell) who was assisted by a young man, whos name I did not discover.
The food – Starter: A incredibly delicious buffalo mozzarella and pumpkin salad with capers fried in grapeseed oil – Main: tender pork with three sorts of carrots and potatoes in a succulent sauce – Dessert: a mini apple cake (unfortunately not the sugar experience my body craved for and the only personal disappointment ) with cream – all together an authentic and honest composition. I had to force myself to not lick the plate in front of everyone.
The drinks – beer: Het Loorberger, a new polycultural beer. Also by Maurer United, specially brewed for the pop-up restaurant. Red and white wine came from Wijngoed Thorn. As last treat we got served coffee and fresh tea from the garden. A four hour dinner came to an end: I consider myself a local food connoisseur now.
The company: Natascha Rommens – director of REcentre, Liesje Dessers – Communication & press Officer, Priscilla Machils – collaborator, Veerle Verbakel – ex press officer, Bert Sohl – in-house photographer, Tom Astrella – my favourite entourage and Tom Pepels – Foldit and me shared one of the three exclusive tables for dinner