Restaurant in Amsterdam, Netherlands
One Michelin star, tight sittings, book fast.
Restaurant Showw holds a 2024 Michelin one star and a 4.9 Google rating, with Chef Dorus Floris running a technically precise tasting menu in a lounge-like room in Amsterdam's Rivierenbuurt. Fewer than ten services per week make availability tight — book three to four weeks out. The six-course format and blind wine pairing from sommelier Lendl Mijnhijmer are the reasons to come.
Yes — but move quickly. Restaurant Showw operates on a schedule that limits access by design: sittings run Monday and Sunday at lunch (12:00–1:30 PM) and Thursday through Sunday at dinner (6:30–8:30 PM), with Tuesday and Wednesday dark. That is fewer than ten services per week, and a 4.9 Google rating across 143 reviews suggests every seat is in demand. If you are visiting Amsterdam for a single high-end dinner, this is one of the stronger cases for booking well in advance. The 2024 Michelin one-star confirms the kitchen is operating at a level that justifies the €€€€ price tier.
Restaurant Showw sits at Gelrestraat 28 in Amsterdam's Rivierenbuurt district, a residential neighbourhood south of the city centre that keeps the atmosphere noticeably calmer than the tourist-dense canal belt. The room is described as lounge-like and open-plan — not a hushed, white-tablecloth shrine, but a space designed for ease and conversation. For a first-timer, this matters: the formality level is high enough to signal a serious kitchen, relaxed enough that you are not performing at dinner. The spatial arrangement encourages lingering, which suits the pacing of a multi-course meal.
The team behind Showw is Chef Dorus Floris and sommelier Lendl Mijnhijmer, who first worked together at the Michelin-starred Restaurant Bougainville in Amsterdam. Their collaboration shows in the coherence between what arrives on the plate and what lands in the glass. Mijnhijmer serves wine blind , without revealing the label , and adds commentary once you have formed your own impression. For a first-timer this is either a pleasure or mild pressure depending on your confidence, but it is genuine hospitality rather than a test. The service approach across the room reflects that same attention: described as palpable in its synergy, it does not get in the way of the food.
On the ingredient side, Chef Floris works with global seasonings and what Michelin's own documentation calls "refreshing nuances" , a kitchen vocabulary that draws from multiple culinary traditions rather than anchoring to a single national cuisine. His sauce work is technically demanding: a bisque enriched with espresso and curry oil, paired with langoustines and Jerusalem artichoke, is the kind of construction that requires sourcing precision as much as technique. The vegetables are not background. Showw explicitly offers a dedicated vegetable menu , four to six courses , alongside its broader tasting format. For a city that has built a reputation around plant-forward fine dining, this is a considered position: the vegetable menu at Showw is presented as a peer choice, not a concession.
The tasting format runs four to six courses, and the consensus from available documentation is that the full six-course version is the better choice. Partial menus are available, but the kitchen's design logic favours the longer arc. For a first visit, book the full menu. You are here to see what the kitchen can do, and that argument is made across courses, not in one or two dishes.
Booking is hard. With fewer than ten services per week and a room that reads as intimate, availability moves fast. Plan on reserving three to four weeks in advance as a minimum for weekend dinner; the Monday and Sunday lunch sittings may offer slightly more flexibility but are still limited by the compressed 90-minute window. No booking method is confirmed in available data, so check the venue directly for current reservation channels. Phone and website details are not publicly confirmed at time of writing.
For Amsterdam context: Showw earned its Michelin star in 2024, which places it in the same tier as Lars Amsterdam and Flore, and one level below the two-star Ciel Bleu. Across the Netherlands, the one-star category includes strong regional options such as Aan de Poel in Amstelveen, De Bokkedoorns in Overveen, and Brut172 in Reijmerstok, as well as two-star destinations like De Librije in Zwolle, 't Nonnetje in Harderwijk, De Groene Lantaarn in Staphorst, Inter Scaldes in Kruiningen, and Parkheuvel in Rotterdam. Showw's distinction within Amsterdam's one-star tier is the combination of the plant-forward menu option, the wine-blind service format, and a room that sits closer to a lounge than a formal dining hall , a profile that differs meaningfully from the more architecture-forward The White Room by Jacob Jan Boerma.
The €€€€ price tier is consistent with Amsterdam's Michelin-starred set. You are paying for technical cooking, a curated wine pairing with genuine sommelier engagement, and a room that has been designed with the full experience in mind. For the city's fine-dining tier, that combination is positioned well. See our full Amsterdam restaurants guide for broader context, or explore hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences in Amsterdam if you are planning a full trip.
Book the full six-course tasting menu rather than the shorter four-course version. The kitchen at Showw , Michelin-starred since 2024 , structures its menu as a complete arc, and the sourcing detail (global seasonings, technically demanding sauces, high-quality langoustines and vegetables) pays off more fully across the longer format. If you prefer a plant-forward meal, the dedicated vegetable menu is a genuine option, not a fallback. Add the wine pairing: sommelier Lendl Mijnhijmer's blind-serving format is part of the experience, not an optional extra.
The room is described as open-plan and lounge-like, which typically suits groups better than narrow counter formats, but specific private dining or group booking details are not confirmed in available data. Given that Showw runs fewer than ten services per week at the €€€€ tier, larger groups should contact the restaurant well in advance , three to four weeks minimum , and confirm capacity directly. For group dining in Amsterdam at this price tier, Ciel Bleu has more confirmed infrastructure for larger parties if Showw cannot accommodate your numbers.
The lounge-like, open-plan room makes solo dining more comfortable than it would be in a rigid formal dining room. The blind wine service from sommelier Lendl Mijnhijmer also creates natural interaction without requiring a dining companion. At the €€€€ price tier in Amsterdam, solo diners at Showw are buying a full tasting-menu experience with genuine sommelier engagement , that is a reasonable spend for a single-evening investment. If budget is a concern, Bolenius offers a comparable creative approach at a similar tier with more confirmed solo-friendly seating data.
At the €€€€ tier with a 2024 Michelin one-star and a 4.9 rating from 143 Google reviews, the price is justified if tasting-menu dining is your format. Chef Dorus Floris's sourcing approach , drawing from global ingredient traditions rather than a single national pantry , produces technically precise cooking with real complexity. The sommelier pairing adds meaningful value beyond just wine delivery. Where Showw compares well against peers: the lounge ambiance makes the investment feel less transactional than some stiff fine-dining rooms at the same price. Where it may not suit: if you want à la carte flexibility or a shorter meal, the format does not accommodate that well.
Yes, with caveats. The combination of Michelin recognition, blind wine service, and a room designed for lingering makes it a strong choice for a dinner that needs to feel considered and unhurried. The plant-forward menu option is also useful if dietary requirements are part of the occasion planning. The compressed service windows (90 minutes at lunch, two hours at dinner) mean pacing is structured rather than open-ended , factor that in if the occasion calls for a long, unstructured evening. For a birthday or anniversary dinner in Amsterdam where the food should lead, Showw is among the more thoughtful options at the €€€€ tier.
For higher-end ambition at two stars, Ciel Bleu is the clearest step up in formal terms. At the same one-star tier, Flore and Lars Amsterdam offer different room personalities and menu approaches. For something more explicitly plant-forward at a lower price point, BAK (€€€, farm-to-table) is worth considering. If you want to stay in the modern Dutch tasting-menu world but prefer slightly easier booking, Bolenius covers similar creative ground. See our full Amsterdam restaurants guide for a broader comparison across price tiers.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurant Showw | €€€€ · Modern Cuisine | €€€€ | Hard |
| Ciel Bleu | €€€€ · Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Bolenius | Modern Dutch, Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| De Kas | €€€ · Organic | €€€ | Unknown |
| Wils | €€€ · World Cuisine | €€€ | Unknown |
| BAK | €€€ · Farm to table | €€€ | Unknown |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
Go for the longest vegetable tasting menu available. Chef Dorus Floris built Showw around plant-forward cooking with globally inflected sauces and technique — the shorter versions exist, but the full menu is where the 2024 Michelin star logic becomes clear. The sommelier blind-tasting wine service is part of the experience, so opt in rather than order a la carte wine by the glass.
Showw's sittings are short and structured — lunch runs 12:00–1:30 PM, dinner 6:30–8:30 PM — which limits flexibility for large parties. The open-plan layout and tasting menu format suit groups of two to four best. For larger private dining arrangements, check the venue's official channels, as nothing in the available record confirms a private room option.
Yes, provided you're comfortable with a tasting menu format. The lounge-like, open-plan space at Gelrestraat 28 is described as convivial rather than formal, and the sommelier interaction adds an engagement layer that works well for solo guests. It is a more comfortable solo proposition than a counter-only omakase, though the €€€€ price point is worth weighing against a shorter solo lunch sitting.
At €€€€, Showw is priced at the top of Amsterdam's dining bracket, but the 2024 Michelin star confirms the kitchen is operating at a level that justifies it. Chef Floris and sommelier Lendl Mijnhijmer previously worked at Michelin-starred Bougainville, so the technical baseline is high. If you're comparing value against other Amsterdam one-stars, Showw's vegetable-forward focus and blind wine service give it a distinct identity that makes the price defensible for the right diner.
Yes — the combination of a 2024 Michelin star, sommelier-led blind wine service, and a structured tasting menu format makes Showw a credible special occasion booking. The evening sittings (6:30–8:30 PM Thursday through Sunday) are the right slot for a celebratory dinner. Note that Wednesday and Tuesday are closed, so plan accordingly if you have a fixed date.
Ciel Bleu (two Michelin stars, Hotel Okura) is the step up in prestige and price. Bolenius focuses on seasonal Dutch produce in a greenhouse setting and is a close stylistic peer to Showw for vegetable-forward menus. De Kas takes the garden-to-plate concept further with its own greenhouse kitchen. Wils holds a Michelin Green Star for sustainability and suits diners who want plant-forward cooking with an ecological dimension. BAK in Amsterdam-Noord is a younger, less formal option at a lower price point.
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