Ronald van Roon CALLA’S

Watch the kitchen at work

“The restaurant is spacious, yet intimate. We have nine tables upstairs, and downstairs there’s the chef’s table for a group of up to ten people. The restaurant is à la carte, and we decide the menu at the chef’s table. It’s a wonderful place if you enjoy surprises and watching the kitchen.”

Fruit and vegetable garden

“I cook classic French cuisine with international and regional accents. We go to our own garden in Wassenaar with the kitchen team at least three times a week, and pick fruit and vegetables and special herbs that you can’t buy from farmers. What we pick also determines the vegetarian signature dish named after the garden, Laantje Voorham, which is on the menu from May to September.

French cuisine, Dutch cheeses

“Another popular dish that guests come back for year after year is sweetbreads, which is the thymus of a young animal. We ideally use calf’s heart sweetbreads, which are the best and most delicious, served with calf jus. It’s a wonderful classic French dish. We’ll also recommend one of our 300 wines, mostly French ones from Burgundy and Bordeaux, but obviously a very varied assortment from the rest of the world. And all the cheeses come from the Netherlands. We like to surprise people.”

Ronald van Roon (b. 1985) grew up in rural Barendrecht. His grandfather gave him his first kitchen job, but when Ronald discovered fine dining at Kasteel van Rhoon, he immediately turned his ambitions up a notch. After training as a chef, he worked in a number of renowned restaurants in the Netherlands and abroad. He moved to Calla’s in The Hague in 2007, and became co-owner eight years later. The restaurant has had one Michelin star for eighteen years, and this became his in 2017.