Restaurant in Giethoorn, Netherlands
Two Michelin stars. Plan the trip around it.
De Lindenhof holds two Michelin stars and 92 La Liste points in a village most visitors treat as a day trip. Chef Martin Kruithof's creative kitchen is worth the detour from Amsterdam's fine-dining circuit, but the remote Giethoorn setting means you are planning a full trip, not just a dinner. Book at least eight weeks out — availability is near-impossible at short notice.
If you are comparing De Lindenhof to other options in Giethoorn, stop — there are none at this level. The more useful comparison is to the Netherlands' broader two-Michelin-star tier, and here De Lindenhof holds its ground firmly. Chef Martin Kruithof operates a creative kitchen that has earned consistent recognition: two Michelin stars in both 2024 and 2025, 92 points from La Liste in both 2025 and 2026, and a ranking of #214 in Opinionated About Dining's Classical Europe list in 2024, improving to #229 in 2025 while remaining in a competitive bracket just below the country's three-star tier. For a diner traveling to the Netherlands specifically for fine dining, De Lindenhof requires a detour from the obvious Amsterdam circuit — and that detour is worth making if you want a two-star experience outside the capital's saturated market.
Giethoorn is a village of canals and footpaths, known almost entirely as a day-trip destination for tourists who arrive by boat and leave before dinner. That context matters for your decision. De Lindenhof at Beulakerweg 77 is not a city restaurant with convenient overnight options within walking distance , booking here means planning a stay, not just a meal. Check our full Giethoorn hotels guide before you confirm a reservation, because you will almost certainly need accommodation nearby. The restaurant's location is a genuine editorial argument in its favour: dining at two-star level in a rural Dutch village, surrounded by water and farmland rather than urban noise, produces a different atmosphere than you get at, say, Ciel Bleu in Amsterdam or FG , François Geurds in Rotterdam. Whether that quieter, more remote setting appeals to you or complicates your logistics is the central question to answer before booking.
The surrounding region rewards exploration beyond the restaurant itself. If you are building a multi-day itinerary around De Lindenhof, consult our full Giethoorn restaurants guide, the bars guide, and the experiences guide for the wider picture. Nearby options worth considering include De Groene Lantaarn in Staphorst for a lower-key regional meal, and the drive north opens up access to 't Nonnetje in Harderwijk if you want to combine two serious dinners across the trip.
De Lindenhof's award profile is consistent rather than ascending , 92 La Liste points held across two consecutive years, two Michelin stars maintained without interruption, and steady OAD rankings in the Classical Europe category. In Michelin terms, two stars signals cooking worth a detour, which is the appropriate framing here given the geography. The Classical classification in OAD suggests a kitchen working within established fine-dining language rather than pushing experimental boundaries , precise, technically grounded food with a creative sensibility under Kruithof's direction. If you are chasing the most avant-garde cooking in the Netherlands, De Nieuwe Winkel in Nijmegen (plant-forward and more experimental) may be a better fit. If you want classical technique at two-star level with a sense of place, De Lindenhof is the correct booking.
For context on how this kitchen sits within the Dutch fine-dining tier, compare it to De Librije in Zwolle, which operates at three-star level and represents the ceiling of Dutch haute cuisine. De Lindenhof sits a clear step below that ceiling, which also means it is somewhat more accessible in terms of booking and slightly less demanding as a financial commitment , though at €€€€ pricing, it is not a casual spend. You can also look at Spectrum in Amsterdam and Aan de Poel in Amstelveen as Amsterdam-area two-star alternatives if the rural setting does not suit your trip.
De Lindenhof's booking difficulty is rated near-impossible on Pearl's scale, which reflects both the restaurant's small physical footprint and its international reputation drawing diners specifically to Giethoorn. The kitchen operates Wednesday through Sunday, with both lunch (12–2 pm) and dinner (6–9 pm) services. Monday and Tuesday are closed. That five-day window sounds generous until you account for how few covers a restaurant of this scale turns each service. Lunch on a weekday is your leading statistical shot at a table on shorter notice, but do not count on it without a reservation already in hand. For weekend dinner slots, expect to be booking two to three months in advance, particularly during summer when Giethoorn's tourist season peaks and hotel availability in the area tightens simultaneously.
No booking method details are available in our current data , check the restaurant's website directly, or approach via a hotel concierge if you are staying locally. Given the booking difficulty, set a calendar reminder for the earliest date you can act on, and have a fallback option identified. De Bokkedoorns in Overveen and De Treeswijkhoeve in Waalre are two-star-quality alternatives in different Dutch regions that may have more availability if Giethoorn does not open up.
De Lindenhof is the right booking if you are a food traveler willing to organise a trip around a single restaurant, you want two-Michelin-star creative cooking outside an urban centre, and you value the experience of reaching a serious kitchen in an unlikely place. It is less suited to visitors who need easy access to nightlife, a wide choice of restaurants for the rest of the trip, or a city base from which to visit other leading tables in the same 24 hours. For those planning a full Dutch fine-dining tour, this is a natural anchor for the northeast, while Brut172 in Reijmerstok and De Lindehof in Nuenen can fill southern legs of the same itinerary. Consult our Giethoorn wineries guide if you want to extend the trip with wine-focused stops in the region.
Google reviewers rate De Lindenhof 4.6 from 221 reviews, which is a strong signal of consistent guest satisfaction at this price tier. At €€€€, you are paying for an experience that the awards record supports , this is not a restaurant coasting on location novelty.
Quick reference: Two Michelin stars (2024–2025) · 92 La Liste pts (2025–2026) · €€€€ creative · Wed–Sun lunch & dinner · Giethoorn · Book 8+ weeks out.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| De Lindenhof | €€€€ · Creative | La Liste Top Restaurants (2026): 92pts; Opinionated About Dining Classical in Europe Ranked #229 (2025); La Liste Top Restaurants (2025): 92pts; Michelin 2 Stars (2025); Opinionated About Dining Classical in Europe Ranked #214 (2024); Michelin 2 Stars (2024); Opinionated About Dining Classical in Europe Highly Recommended (2023) | Near Impossible | — |
| De Librije | €€€€ · Modern Cuisine | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| 't Nonnetje | €€€€ · Creative | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| De Lindehof | Contemporary Dutch, Creative | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| De Nieuwe Winkel | €€€€ · Organic | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| Fred | €€€€ · Creative French | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
A quick look at how De Lindenhof measures up.
At €€€€ pricing with two Michelin stars held consecutively and 92 La Liste points across two years, De Lindenhof is the kind of kitchen that justifies a destination trip rather than a spontaneous booking. The award profile is stable, not hype-driven, which means you are paying for consistency. If creative fine dining at this level is your format, the answer is yes — but factor in the cost of reaching Giethoorn, which has no direct rail access, when calculating total spend.
De Lindenhof's small physical footprint in a village restaurant setting means large groups are likely to be difficult. Parties of two or four are the natural fit for a tasting-menu format at this scale. If you are planning for six or more, contact the restaurant well in advance — and note that booking difficulty is already near-impossible for standard reservations, so group logistics add another layer of complexity.
There is no bar-seating format confirmed in the available venue data for De Lindenhof. At a two-Michelin-star creative restaurant in a converted village setting, the experience is structured around the full tasting menu rather than informal counter dining. Arrive expecting a sit-down format.
Solo dining at a two-Michelin-star tasting-menu restaurant is a specific preference, and De Lindenhof's near-impossible booking difficulty does not discriminate by party size. If solo fine dining is your format and you are willing to plan eight or more weeks ahead, the kitchen's consistent award record — 2 Michelin stars through 2025, OAD Top 229 in Europe — makes it a defensible choice. The village setting means there is little else to anchor an evening if you arrive early, so build your schedule around the meal itself.
There are no comparable alternatives in Giethoorn itself at this award level. If you cannot secure a reservation, the more practical comparison is elsewhere in the Netherlands: De Librije in Zwolle (three Michelin stars) is the regional benchmark for ambition and is roughly in the same geographic orbit; De Nieuwe Winkel in Groningen holds two stars with a plant-focused format if you want a different creative direction. Treating De Lindenhof as one stop on a broader Dutch fine-dining trip is a more efficient use of travel effort than making it a standalone destination if you miss the booking window.
Yes — two Michelin stars, a stable 92-point La Liste rating, and a village setting that requires genuine planning effort all add up to a meal that feels intentional rather than routine. The booking difficulty itself becomes part of the occasion: you will not end up here by accident. Chef Martin Kruithof's kitchen operates Wednesday through Sunday, so plan your date around those windows and book at least eight weeks out.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
