Restaurant Vinkeles in the Dylan Hotel is located in a historic building in the historic canal district of Amsterdam and has held two Michelin stars since 2023, with Jurgen van der Zalm as chef. My previous dinner at Vinkeles was very nice (read about it here), except for the head sommelier back then. So when I heard that the assistant sommelier Jasper van Amerongen was now promoted to head sommelier, that was a good reason to return their soon. And so I took my friend Sebas to Vinkeles to celebrate his birthday.

Compared to 2023, the price of the chef’s menu has been increased from 185 to 220 euros (more in line with the two stars), and the wine pairings from 14.50 to 18 euros per glass (still cheap compared to the food). We opted for the chef’s menu with wine pairing, but asked Jasper to propose upgrades from the premium wines by the glass. Compared to last time, those wines were now better suited to be paired with the chef’s menu.

We started with a nice blanc de blancs Champagne (100% Chardonnay) by Person, Premier Cru L’Audacieuse, Extra Brut.

The first amuse was a smaller variation of a dish that was in the chef’s menu last time, but with crab instead of squid. It is inspired by Chawanmushi, a Japanese dish of duck egg steamed in a cup Excellent flavor and texture with nice contrasts.

Also very nice was the tartlet with razor clams.

The final amuse was the same as last time, a meringue with sea bass tartare.

The first wine of the pairing was a Gessamí by Gramona, Penedès, Spain, a blend of Gewürztraminer, Moscatel, and Sauvignon Blanc. Very aromatic but nicely balanced.

It was a good pairing for raw sea bream with unripe pear and a Japanese dressing with yuzu and soy sauce. This was my least favorite dish of the evening. Both the sea bream and the pear had very little flavor and were mostly there for texture, all of the flavor was in the dressing.

The next wine was a Chenin Blanc from Anjou, Loire Valley, France by Anne Claude Leflaive. Yes, related to the Leflaive from Burgundy, and this Chenin was made like a white Burgundy with oak, malo, and stirring of the lees. This was a very nice upgrade (33 instead of 18 euros) to the standard wine pairing.

It was a good pairing for Dutch oysters poached in Champagne with a sea urchin-flavored beurre blanc, and organic Osetra caviar from Spain. Wow, what a dish! The balance of flavors was absolutely perfect and the oysters had a great texture.

The next wine was from Greece, the Novus Optimum by Leonidas Nassiakos, 100% Moscofilero. Aromatic with a saline finish. I had never tasted this grape variety before.

It was a great wine, although perhaps not the best pairing for the langoustine with Lardo di Po, tiny Nashi pear brunoise, and a bisque enriched with duck foie gras. This dish was quite similar to the langoustine dish from my previous visit. Which I did not mind, as it was delicious with a very good balance of flavors in the bisque, and perfect cuisson of the langoustine.

Next was an orange wine from Pinot Gris, very textural but thankfully not a natural wine.

This was a good pairing for the sweetbread with a mushroom XO sauce, bread miso, lemon, and sambal. The sweetbread had excellent cuisson, which is quite a feat because sweetbread can easily become either mealy or slimy. The crispy cabbage on top provided a nice textural element. The astringency of the wine was a contrast to the richness of the dish and therefore the wine acted more like a palate cleanser than a pairing, but it did work.

As a pairing for the main course, Jasper proposed a Garnacha from Priorat (42 euros), and allowed us to taste it first.

I preferred to have a glass of Amarone instead (58 euros), as I suspected that would work better with the cherry and chocolate in the next course.

The Amarone was indeed an excellent pairing for the pigeon with ponzu, sour cherry, rose, and Cusco Chunco 100% cacao chocolate. The pigeon was served with the heart and back fillet, parts that I have so far always used for the jus when I prepared pigeon myself. The pigeon had perfect cuisson and the combination with the rose petals, jus, and chocolate was excellent.

As a delicious bonus, there was a brioche stuffed with the braised neck of the pigeon. Bapao, fine dining style!

The next wine was a field blend of Syrah, Mourvedre, Touriga Nacional, and Trincadeira from South Africa. The sommelier told us he had selected this wine because it includes some of the same grape varieties as Port. As the next dish is made with Port, but Port didn’t work as a pairing, this is what he came up with. And it worked!

The dish was black winter truffle, poached in port, and served with einkorn toast, truffle butter, and Murray salt. The idea was to spread some truffle butter on the toast and then put some truffle shavings with port jus on top. Delicious and a great pairing with the wine.

We asked for some wine to go with the cheese, and as usual the cheeses were so different that one wine was not going to work. So Jasper got us half glasses of two wines: a Soutch African Cinsault…

…and an Italian red of Sangiovese and Montepulciano, infused with wild prunello berries.

The wines did indeed pair very well with the cheeses. Some (heavily seasoned) lettuce was provided as a palate cleanser. The (Dutch) cheeses were very nice, and served at the correct (room) temperature.

The palate cleanser with cucumber and celery was very similar to the previous time.

The dessert wine was a Moscatel from Spain.

It was a good pairing for the dessert, which was almost identical to my previous visit. Almond ice cream, Verbena, Bergamot, and Kaffir lime.

Sebas got a nice cake for his birthday…

We finished with some very nice friandises to accompany tea or coffee.

This was another great meal at Vinkeles. Compared to last time, I’d say the dishes were even better. The cuissons and textures were just as perfect, but I think the seasoning has improved (except perhaps for the sea bream). Mostly new dishes compared to my previous visit. Very nice wines, good pairings, and great interaction with the new head sommelier. His pairings are a bit contrasting, but never clashing. The service was very good, except for the long time between the first and second amuse (and Sebas had run out of Champagne). The good sourdough bread was always replenished before we even thought of asking for it.

Looks like this will be another restaurant in Amsterdam that I will keep coming back to.