Eric Swaghoven VALUAS

Quality is everything

“Our ingredients are fresh and of the very finest quality. We like to work with the best that the Netherlands has to offer: blueberries, dairy, shitake, fish, and of course Limburg asparagus. We go abroad for some of our products, such as Simmental beef from Switzerland, and a wide range of wines from every continent. Quality is key to the choices we make, and there’s no frills, fuss, or chi-chi pretension in our dishes. You got a nice piece of meat or fish with a delicious sauce and wonderful vegetables.”

Some specialities

‘Tenderloin Stroganoff has been one of the stars of the menu for years. It’s a wonderful, typically French Valuas dish cooked in a flaming pan at the table. But we also have distinctive Venlo dishes such as our frietei, a soft-boiled egg coated with ragout, fried in breadcrumbs with some truffle round the outside. It’s really great.”

Traditional but contemporary

“I’m classically trained. I’ve always been attracted by French cuisine, but I wouldn’t necessarily pigeonhole myself that way. I’m also excited by techniques from South American, Asian and Arab cooking, and we like to use herbs and spices just as much as cream and butter. The food has become a little bit lighter in recent years. We’re traditional, but contemporary, and our dishes are a beautiful balance of ingredients.”

Eric Swaghoven (b. 1969) has been awarded the coveted Master Chef title of the Stichting Vakbekwaamheid Horeca. He grew up in a family of restaurateurs in the province of Limburg. His father preferred him not to follow in his footsteps, so he didn’t go to cooking school. But if you want to do something enough, you’ll do it and, after various foreign internships, Swaghoven ended up in the kitchen of the family business in 1992. Since 1998, he has been patron cuisinier of Hotel Restaurant Valuas in Venlo, consisting of top restaurant Valuas, Bib Gourmand Brasserie La Vie, and a four-star boutique hotel.