Café Visscher brings bistronomy to Leiden

29-9-2023

Since early September, Café Visscher has opened on the Stationsweg in Leiden. As luxurious as the Art Deco interior of the brand-new establishment of chef Arie Visscher (36) from Rotterdam looks, Arie himself is down-to-earth. After years of cooking at the highest level, the chef takes a completely different approach in Leiden. In Café Visscher, Arie cooks without any fuss and does not have the intention to score in the guides, but to score with the guests. In Visscher’s first own establishment, located at the gateway to the centre of Leiden, accessibility is the key word. From guests who prefer something tasty à la minute to extensive à la carte dining: no one is missing out here.

Besides cosy dining, Café Visscher also serves lunch and drinks! Especially on the terrace with a Parisian flair, the wine is served at the right temperature together with delicious bar bites. Be sure to try their oysters with cucumber and dashi, the marinated mussels and the delicious watermelon!

2 minutes read

Cosmopolitan ambiance at Café Visscher

After years of working in some of the most prominent kitchens in the Netherlands – including at De Librije (***) in Zwolle and at Joelia (*) by Mario Ridder in Rotterdam – Arie was certainly not done with cooking, but rather with predictability and exclusivity. A meeting with Leiden-based Theor Verplancke resulted in serious plans for his own business. Supported by Leiden entrepreneurs Singha Witteman and Paul Herman, the perfect location was found at Stationsweg 7 in Leiden. With the approachability of a neighbourhood restaurant and a cosmopolitan ambiance, Café Visscher rolls out the red carpet for food lovers who love bistronomy. Whether you come for a glass of wine and a steak frites at the bar, for a lunch of oysters with champagne or want to dine extensively à la carte. Not only the establishment, but also Arie’s attractive and accessible menu offers more than enough room for guests to find something to their liking.

Bistronomy

Arie: “Café Visscher is a place I would love to visit myself. Where you can just as easily meet up with friends as for a business lunch or a romantic date. One of those places you dare to recommend to anyone, because you know the food, ambiance and experience are always good and afterwards no one has to have a stomach ache because of the bill.”

Parisian flair

Part of that experience was created by Too Many Agencies who handled the design. With a nod to the Paris of the Moulin Rouge, Visscher is a spectacularly theatrical restaurant with hanging flower arrangements and antique English chandeliers above a blue and white mosaic floor. The mix of bright colours and contrasting patterns gives a dramatic and luxurious effect, but the ambiance is not one of exclusivity, but rather of festivity and warmth. A mundane setting where you can walk in, whether announced or unannounced, at any time of the day to celebrate alone, with an intimate or with a large party. As in the famous nightclub on which the interior design is based, all you have to do is sit down and enjoy what comes out from behind the scenes, because in the kitchen the bar is set high. Arie simply doesn’t know any better. Classics such as oysters, lobster soup, steak tartare and sirloin steak all make an appearance, but in his own style.

This means you already have a starter for 12 euros and all main courses are under 30 euros. The prices of the wines – both by the glass and by the bottle (from 28 euros) – are also very reasonable. If you want caviar and champagne, you can of course get it, but the food at Café Visscher is also particularly good without it.

Arie: “Great food really doesn’t have to cost the world. It may require more creativity from the kitchen, but for me the most important thing is that the complete picture is right: from the entry to the plate, the beers, the cutlery and the bill. The ambiance is definitely part of it too. In the beginning, I thought: how fierce all those colours and patterns, but after a few weeks’ trial run, we see that we managed to perfectly translate that feeling of wanting to offer people something extra into an interior in which everyone feels at ease.”

About Café Visscher

In the start-up phase, Café Visscher is open from Tuesday to Saturday. On weekdays from 11am to 11pm and on weekends even until 1am. The kitchen closes at 10pm every day.

We wrote more articles about restaurants and leisure in Leiden.

Website: Café Visscher

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