A new Italian Fine Dining Restaurant in the Netherlands | Restaurant AROMA

3-8-2021

  • Chef Pasquale Carfora - restaurant AROMA
  • Restaurant AROMA Vaassen

Disclaimer: this article is more interesting for Dutchies.

Opening – Top chef Jacob Jan Boerma has sold his 3-Michelin star restaurant De Leest to Jan Leune, a Dutch entrepreneur from Italy. Together with chef Pasquale Carfora and hostess and wine connoisseur Elisa Leune, Jan Leune opens his new Italian Fine Dining Restaurant AROMA. Jacob Jan Boerma will remain involved as an advisor for the time being.

Restaurant AROMA will probably open in September, we wish the chef, Elisa and Jan Leune lots of success at this special location. Judging by the experience of Pasquale Carfora, gained, among other restaurants in restaurant La Pergola (***) in the Hilton Waldorf Astoria in Rome, the Netherlands is getting a top culinary Italian restaurant. We’re curious! And if you are still looking for a job in the kitchen or waiting staff, they are still looking for people.

Reading time: 2 minutes

Italian Fine Dining Restaurant AROMA

Under his leadership, Jacob Jan Boerma has managed to bring restaurant De Leest, located in the idyllic village of Vaassen (The Netherlands), to an exceptionally high level. In 2013, he was awarded a third Michelin star. After almost 18 years, it was time for Boerma to spread his wings and his former 3-star restaurant went on sale just before the corona crisis. Now the young Italian talent, chef Pasquale Carfora will cook here. Leune and Carfora want to give a new purpose to the former location of De Leest: Italian Fine Dining.

Leune: “With this new concept we want our guests to take a creative and inspiring culinary journey through Italy. So we don’t serve standard Italian dishes, but all prepared with the pure techniques of Italian cuisine. Only the best Italian ingredients and local Dutch products will be used, which we integrate in our kitchen in an Italian way.”

Harmony between the Netherlands and Italy

Born and raised in the Lazio region south of Rome, Pasquale Carfora will be the chef and lead the restaurant with Elisa Leune. Having gained experience as Chef de Cuisine at Grand Hotel Krasnapolski, Restaurant Cosa in Baarn, Antica Osteria Nonna Rosa * in Vico Equense (IT) and La Pergola *** (Hilton Waldorf Astoria) in Rome, Carfora is now going to serve its guests in restaurant  AROMA. “The aim of my dishes is to create a harmony between quality products from Italy, which we often import directly, and seasonal products from the Netherlands. The result? Surprising combinations full of intense flavors and aromas. Hence our name!”

Quality wines

Elisa Leune, Jan’s daughter, will advise the guests as a hostess and wine specialist from a wide selection of Italian quality wines, kept in the luxurious wine cellar of the restaurant. “Of course, good Italian dishes need the best Italian wines. We will carry a large selection of well-known but especially lesser well-known quality wines that we will also largely import ourselves. And of course we also serve the most delicious Italian liqueurs and grappa’s, partly made by our own chef Pasquale.”

Continuing tradition

Pasquale Carfora: ‘There is no better place to present my guests a unique taste experience than in Jacob Jan’s former 3-star restaurant De Leest. This way, we want to add a new chapter to a place that has become a symbol of Dutch Haute Cuisine!”

Website: Restaurant AROMA

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