Best burgers in the netherlands. and beyond?
When it comes to awards there are two schools of thought – people who find them incredibly useful to help sort through the noise and find ‘the best…’ and those who believe the vast majority are vanity exercises that tend to miss out on hidden gems and secret hotspots.
So when we heard about Ter Marsch & Co and their award-winning burgers, expectations in our household were mixed. But the awards did look legit – I’m talking Best Burger Benelux; Best Burger Netherlands; Most Delicious Fries and perhaps most impressive of all, 12th place at the Florida World Food Championships in the ‘Best Hamburger’ category – facing off against 150 global participants.
(In case you don’t know, this is the grand daddy of burger competitions and a hugely prestigious event.)
An hour or two after sitting down for lunch and I can tell you those World Food judges know their bacon (and wagyu). Forget the touristy Bloemenmarkt location, the fact its nestled in the NH hotel, forget even the Instagrabby interior – the food here is genuinely outstanding. And let me tell you, if you can delight four fussy Amsterdam Wonderlanders, each with their own long list of ‘don’t eats’ and ‘won’t eats’ then you know you’re on to a winner.
so what’s on the inside?
These are burgers and sides designed for discerning stomachs not just cameras. Creative burgers and killer sides in fact that start with the highest quality ingredients – made from grass grain and linseed-fed meadow grazed Dutch Limousin and Blonde d’Aquitaine cows (want reassurance that they are happy cattle? Take a look at the video on their website) reared on their own farms in Twente. Agria potatoes grown and transported by local farmers and hand cut on site in their stores.
There are paragraphs on their website dedicated to the ‘terroir’ of their ingredients. The menu might be pink and jolly and the burgers may look attention-grabbing but make no mistake, everything starts with the extraordinary quality of their ingredients and they could just as easily be serving them in fine dining restaurants for a whole different type of starry award.
The provenance is all well and good but let’s face it, what you actually want to know is what the burgers are actually like? Whilst you’ll find their take on a standard hamburger and cheeseburger (neither of which are to be sniffed at mind you) many of the burgers on the list are much more creative and they are the ones that have won awards. They aren’t style over substance though, look at the ingredient list and you’ll see how well thought-through they are.
I opted for ‘De Burgeresse’ – recommended by our waitress this award-winner involved Dutch beef and wagyu steak served with winter truffle gravy, pancetta and all the usual toppings.
Child two opted for crispy chicken bites, bitterballen and fries whilst child one went off piste with The Gojira which is served in steamed asian buns – I’m talking ‘rib eye and wagyu with sour cucumber, mini bok-choy, bulgogi pulled pork, pickled red onion, yuzu-ginger sauce, gochujang bbq sauce and nori casave chips’.
Quite the feast for a growing teenager!
Wonderland Senior stuck with the ‘Royal Dutch’ (fitting given his Dutch royalty status in the Wonderland household)
Served medium this bad boy is all about Dutch dry Aged Rib Eye beef and Japanese Wagyu with lettuce, tomato, onion, sweet & sour cucumber, Old Amsterdam custard, Remeker nut crunch, yuzu cream and ponzu Sambia gravy.
As for the sides. Even if you don’t eat burgers, Ter Marsch should make it to your destination dining list. We indulged in crispy chicken; an insane slow roasted asian pork belly salad and their award winning volcano of sweet potato fries with truffle, parmesan and ‘cheese-nut crumble’. We didn’t come close to finishing it all and I’m still slightly gutted that I didn’t have room to order the asparagus with parmesan, poached egg, bernaise and cheese crumble.
Sadly we had no room for desserts either and being midday, no time for cocktails although these are a real feature of the menu.
The staff were absolutely lovely. I’m aware that as we were invited guests we may of course have enjoyed the very best of it, but I watched the team interact with other guests and I don’t believe we were marked out for special service.
the verdict
Would I go again as a paying guest? Most definitely. The location isn’t my favourite, the styling which would definitely appeal to teens is a little OTT for me, but as my picky other half who fancies himself as a bit of a burger connoisseur said ‘I was expecting a bit of a gimmicky fast food joint but wow, those burgers are insanely good.’ Turns out, some awards really do come up trumps.
Ter Marsch is a no reservations restaurant and they also have a smaller branch (offering takeaway fries as well as eat in) on the bustling Kalverstraat. There is also the original branch in Rotterdam.