Pikaar

After five successful years in Hilvarenbeek, owner-chef Cas and hostess Kelly Pikaar have settled in Riethoven, Cas’s birthplace in Brabant. At the front is a living-room-style restaurant with a beautiful parquet floor and light walls, furnished with pieces from their former restaurant in Hilvarenbeek. Through the doors lies a large dining hall reserved for celebrations and parties. The concept is unpretentious, serving exclusively à la carte dishes, including several classics from Hilvarenbeek. The wine list is minimal but features excellent wines at great prices. There are no amuse-bouches, just bites like the now-famous ‘Cas-eitje’: a sous-vide egg with mushrooms, finished with parmesan foam. Delicious and instantly recognizable. And wonderful fresh sourdough bread served with salted and eel butter. For the starter, steak tartare in a chive vinaigrette with finely sliced gherkins and papadum topped with grated aged goat cheese. A classic in a new guise that, in our view, should always remain on the menu. For the main course, a stunning piece of Chateaubriand ‘Rossini’, cooked medium-rare and topped with a brioche containing pan-fried foie gras, served with veal jus, diced foie gras, mushrooms, silky mashed potatoes, and sweet pickled pearl onions. The plate is cleared clean. Kelly pairs it with a classic: a Chianti Classico Sangiovese from the Italian winery Falorni. A perfect match. For dessert, another classic awaits: ‘Pikaar Blanche’, freshly churned vanilla cream ice cream with candied pecans, accompanied by warm chocolate sauce and freshly whipped vanilla cream, both served separately. We warmly welcome Pikaar 2.0 to this guide.

Cas Pikaar returns to his roots in Riethoven with a restaurant on the street where he was born and raised. He serves dishes with a very high comfort food factor, in which we can of course at many moments recognize the talent and the...

In December 2020, Chef Cas and hostess Kelly Pikaar opened this elegant restaurant with a living-room atmosphere in a townhouse on the rustic Vrijthof. Their reputation has since spread far beyond the region. Pikaar cooks, as he describes it, 'complex in its simplicity', giving the dishes remarkable depth and layered flavors, partly thanks to the use of distinctive, often Asian-inspired accents. The service, led by hostess Kelly, is efficient and charming. Three delightful amuse-bouches set the tone: steak tartare with sour cream and lemon zest, lacquered eel with balsamic and barbecue vinaigrette, and a mini version of asparagus à la Brabançonne. The eel butter served alongside a roll of fine sourdough bread alone is reason enough to return tomorrow. The wine selection is also exemplary. The taste of our glass of dry Jurançon blends seamlessly with two preparations of Norwegian salmon: tartare with ponzu, and a freshly smoked backfillet cooked to order with basil and wasabi. Seared scallops with beurre blanc, dashi, tuna flakes, green apple, and a chive and coriander vinaigrette have been the signature dish from day one. Both power and finesse. A lush Alsatian Pinot Gris from producer Jean Sipp rounds off the meal perfectly. A permanent fixture on the menu is also the distinctive, refreshing dessert based on gin, champagne, cucumber, honey, vanilla ice cream, and lemon thyme. Cas is a stunning artist with an exceptional palate. We eagerly await the next creations from this passionate chef. Book well in advance, as it is always fully booked. Rises to position 49.

New to this guide last year and certainly retained this year. Cas Pikaar and his wife Kelly are steadily laying the foundation at their charming living-room restaurant on the picturesque Vrijthof in Hilvarenbeek. Cas’s cooking style is complex. Refined, unexpected, light, and sophisticated. With flavor accents that take your breath away. The amuse-bouches offer a preview of what lies ahead. A crispy cylinder filled with ox sausage and kimchi, finished with sweet-and-sour mustard salt, is an immediate success. Our taste buds are then thoroughly awakened by the scallop “Osaka”: seared scallops with a dashi beurre blanc, chive oil, crispy nori, and a dusting of katsuobushi: thinly sliced dried, fermented, and smoked tuna. Truly a signature dish! The second starter is equally sublime: pan-seared veal escalope resting on a bed of kohlrabi, accompanied by onion and mushroom elements. A surprisingly excellent white Rioja Campillo Fermentado en Barrica Blanco 2020 is poured alongside. The main course features roasted saddle of lamb with lamb jus and mint oil, presented with a wide array of garnishes; including date compote, cabbage crumble, manchego foam, and an asparagus cremeux. It doesn’t quite leave us dizzy, but what a complex yet harmonious flavor profile. For dessert, there is Pikaar Blanche: freshly churned vanilla cream ice cream with burnt white chocolate and olive oil, served with two small pots containing caramel-chocolate sauce and miso, alongside cinnamon cream. Bravo! Pikaar bursts into the Top 100 at number 56.

Rarely has a young chef's star risen as quickly as Cas Pikaar's. Already at 23, he was receiving accolades. In 2021, the young Pikaar, originally from Doyy in Eindhoven, opened his own establishment at the Vrijthof in Hilvarenbeek. Housed in a stately building, it features a long corridor alongside which runs the open dining room, furnished with round tables draped in linen and comfortable leather armchairs. His culinary creations are firmly rooted in French cuisine but are elevated with distinctive and stimulating accents. We begin with a tom kha kai cremeux featuring, among other things, a pandan and lime vinaigrette and peanut curry. This is followed by a roasted tomato antiboise with chervil vinaigrette, ossenworst, and chorizo foam. Then comes an Argentine shrimp tartare with madras curry. And those are just the amuse-bouches! The dishes on the signature menu all boast a high degree of refinement without exception. The starter, sustainably caught kingfish lightly pickled and smoked, served with wasabi leaf, horseradish, and citrus, sets the stage for the signature dish: scallops in a beurre blanc and dashi sauce, accompanied by tuna flakes, green apple, and a chive and soy vinaigrette. Light, complete, layered. The classically named tournedos Rossini turns out to have been transformed into a memorable contemporary dish featuring, among other things, pommes soufflées, artichoke, anji mushrooms, shiitake, goat cheese, and a five-spice sauce. A bright future undoubtedly awaits here.