212

Most two-star kitchens in this city want you to feel the ceremony. 212 wants you to feel the fire. The room is a single long counter wrapped around the pass, twenty-odd seats, and the entire brigade cooking eighteen inches from your wine glass — which sounds like a gimmick until the first course lands and you understand it's simply the most honest way to serve this food.

Richard van Oostenbrugge and Thomas Groot cook French with a Japanese sense of restraint: langoustine barely touched, a sauce reduced past the point most kitchens have the nerve for. The menu changes when the produce says so, not when the season is officially over. Ask for the wine pairing — the sommelier pours things you can't buy, and knows exactly when to stop talking.

Two complaints, since you asked: the music drifts louder after ten, and the seats at the far left end miss half the theatre. Book the middle four. And go early in the week — Tuesday service is the sharpest thing happening in Amsterdam.

If you only eat one two-star meal in the Netherlands this year, make it this counter.

• Counter dining
• Tasting menu
• Serious wine
• Special occasion