Spectrum is the restaurant of chef Sidney Schutte and maître-sommelier Cas Kratz, located inside the Waldorf Astoria hotel in the historic center of Amsterdam. The restaurant, formerly known as Librije’s Zusje, has held two Michelin stars since 2015. Since it is one of my favorite restaurants, I thought it was the perfect place to take my friend Sebas for his birthday. We had the 7-course tasting menu (240 euros) with wine pairing. But we started with champagne and 3 appetizers.

There were 3 champagnes by the glass to choose from, and we opted for the rosé extra brut champagne by Maurice Choppin, 93% Chardonnay, 7% Pinot Meunier, aged 20 months on the lees. This was a very nice champagne, dry with a great fruity aroma.

The first appetizer was a Japanese style custard with winkles (small sea snales), lime leaves, crème fraîche, and sole roe. Delicious layers of multiple flavors and textures.

Next was a one-bite version of one of the chef’s signature dishes: raw carabinero shrimp, deep fried beef short ribs, oil from XO sauce, watermelon, and ginger. An explosion of flavors that is unusual but delicious.

The final appetizer was crab with eggplant, smoked seaweed, bergamot, and grated frozen foie gras on top. Another explosion of delicious flavors. The three appetizers were a great start of the evening.

The first wine was a blend of Jacquère and Altesse from the Savoie by Adrian Berlioz called La Cuvée des Gueux 2022. Nice balanced acidity and great minerality.

Cas knows I am a wine lover and so added some ‘bonus’ wines with some courses. In this case a 2018 Mosel Riesling by Scharzhof. Dry but with a touch of residual sugar, great balance between acidity and fattiness, and wonderful petrol aroma.

These cubes of brioche were perfectly fried in butter until brown and crispy.

Both wines were a good pairing for the potato with black truffle, salsify, lovage, and ferment. The potato had been hollowed out and deep fried until very crunchy, and filled with ‘potato salad’. The potato was served whole and then smashed with a hammer; subsequently fresh black truffle was shaved on top. A wonderful combination of textures, flavors, and aromas. I think the perfect pairing for this dish would be slightly more rich than the Savoie, and slightly less rich than the Riesling. Both wines were great though.

The second wine was a 2019 Furmint by Gilvesy from Tokaji in Hungary. Furmint is mostly known for sweet wines, but this wine was more like a Riesling with a balance between acidity and fattiness and an aroma that was almost like petrol.

The wine had a bit of a saline character, and was an excellent pairing with the aged Caviar with uni (sea urchin), crispy deep fried brussel sprout leaves, coffee, and jerusalem artichoke. It may sound like a random list of ingredients, but together it was just wonderful. Caviar usually stands out or is enjoyed by itself, but here it was an integral part of the whole flavor profile (which caviar lovers may consider a waste).

The third wine from the regular pairing was a 2022 Federspiel Grüner Veltliner from Wachau, Austria by Nikolaihof. Although classified as “Federspiel” (the ‘mid level’ between Steinfeder and Smaragd), this Grüner Veltliner had a very nice body and aroma. The bonus wine was a Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Romanée 2017 by Vincent Dancer with great complexity, balance, and wonderful reductive minerality.

Both wines were an excellent pairing with the sepia (cuttlefish) with verbena, peanut dressing, blueberry, goat cheese, and red hornweed. I was paying so much attention to the Chassagne, that I almost forgot to take a photo of this dish. The sepis was served in a beautiful S-shape, and you can see that the bottom part is already missing. The sepia had been prepared as a confit, giving it a wonderful texture and flavor. The chef often uses fruit (in this case blueberry) and Asian touches (in this case peanut) in his dishes. A bite with blueberry in it paired better with the more fruity Grüner Veltliner than the Chassagne. The Chassagne was great to enjoy itself, and after finishing the dish we got a bit more of it and did just that.

Next was an orange wine from the Loire Valley, a 2022 Calima by Charobert of the little known grape variety Grolleaux Gris (a color mutation of Grolleaux Noir, known for Rosé d’Anjou). Orange wines can be too astringent, but this one was very nice.

The fourth course came in two parts, both using the same ingredients: cold and hot. The cold version was red mullet served as a (soupy) ceviche of mezcal with small diced black pudding.

The cold part was very nice, but the hot part was absolutely delicious. The red mullet here was served on top of mussels, with more diced black pudding, pear, and artichoke. This was perhaps the best wine pairing of the evening, because the black pudding really enhanced the enjoyment of the wine.

For the main course there was a choice between duck and venison. As it was mentioned that the duck was the chef’s signature dish but I had never tried it yet in one of my 4 previous meals at Spectrum, I decided I should have that. The duck was paired with a 2020 Valeirano Barbaresco by Ada Nada. When I saw the vintage I commented that this was “baby murder” as I would normally not open a Barbaresco less than 8 years after the vintage (and usually a lot later). The wine was ready to drink though, less tannic and more fruity than a more traditional Barbaresco.

The sommelier took note of my comment though and as a bonus wine came up with a 2014 Villero Barolo by Guiseppe e Figlio Mascarello. Due to the character of the 2014 vintage, this wine was a bit similar in style to the Barbaresco, but with more complexity and less fruity.

Both the Barbaresco and the Barolo were good pairings for the duck breast with five spice, eggplant, tulip bulb, pomegranate, and black olive. The duck was perfectly cooked: nicely medium rare, very tender and flavorful, with crispy skin. I suspect the skin and meat may have been cooked seperately and then put together again. It paired wonderfully with the other flavors on the plate.

The first dessert was paired with a 2022 Spätlese Huxelrebe by Erbeldinger from Rheinhessen in Germany. The wine had a very nice balance between sweetness and acidity.

It was a very good pairing for the dessert of carrot with liquorice, cream, pumpkin, and smoked butter. The dessert was not too sweet and had had a wonderful complex flavor.

Instead of the regular second dessert wine, the sommelier treated us to a 1998 Château Guiraud 1er Cru Sauternes. This wine was in fact older than Sebas. It had aged very nicely with some notes of saffron and great balance and complexity.

It was a good pairing for the second dessert of red cabbage in different textures with buckwheat, pine, and white chocolate.

The desserts were followed by some nice palate cleansers.

As usual at Spectrum, the coffee or tea at the end was accompanied by chocolates that echoed the flavors of some of the dishes on the menu, indicated by a colored overlay of the menu. Very nice and very delicious.

When we left, the staff of the restaurant celebrated Sebas’ birthday, a very nice touch.

We also took a tour of the kitchen to make the experience complete. And wow, what an experience it was! Sidney and especially Cas went out of their way to show us a very memorable experience. For me it added a lot to the enjoyment to see Sebas so thoroughly enjoying everything. All food and wine was excellent. Sidney manages to create original dishes out of seemingly strange combinations of ingredients that really work together. Although the number of flavors in each dish is higher than usual at this level of cuisine (where ‘less = more’ is usually what works best), in Sidney’s dishes all the ingredients play their part to create one new delicious whole. His cooking style is unique and clearly recognizable, so like in 2022 I am still wondering why there is no third Michelin star yet. The dishes are not easy to pair wines with, but Cas manages to do so. All the wines and wine pairings were excellent, which I do not encounter frequently, not even at restaurants of this level. The service was excellent as well. The best service is when it makes you feel comfortable without even realizing why and you never feel like you are waiting or being rushed, and that is exactly how good the service was at Spectrum. Apart from a little disruption by Covid I’ve been frequenting Spectrum at regular 2-year intervals (2015, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2024), but I believe I won’t wait 2 years to return again!