Restaurant in Schuinesloot, Netherlands
Seasonal garden cooking, easy to book.
De Tuinkamer operates inside a converted greenhouse on the 60-year-old Priona estate in Schuinesloot, open April to Christmas. Chef Alwin Leemhuis builds a weekly-changing menu around what the surrounding ecological gardens produce, with every dish at least 80% plants. Booking is easy by Dutch fine-dining standards, making this one of the more accessible routes into serious garden-to-table cooking in the country.
The most common assumption about plant-forward dining in the Netherlands is that it means a high-design urban restaurant charging €€€€ for a tasting menu. De Tuinkamer, operating out of a converted greenhouse on the grounds of the Priona gardens in Schuinesloot, breaks that assumption. This is a kitchen anchored to one of the most ecologically significant garden landscapes in the country, running a weekly-changing menu with over 80% plant content, and doing it in a setting that reads as relaxed rather than reverent. If you have visited once and left impressed, the case for returning is the menu rotation: it changes every week, tied directly to what the surrounding gardens are producing.
The physical setting is a meaningful part of the decision here. The restaurant occupies a former greenhouse within the Priona gardens, which were designed roughly 60 years ago and became a reference point for Dutch wave-landscape architecture. That context is not incidental — the dining room sits inside a working garden estate, surrounded by over 6,000 plant species, including approximately 1,000 that appear on the red list of threatened plants. The spatial experience is unusual for a restaurant of this type: you are eating inside a structure that was built to grow things, enclosed by the same landscape that supplies the kitchen. If design-led restaurants like [De Nieuwe Winkel in Nijmegen](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/de-nieuwe-winkel-nijmegen-restaurant) feel urban and architectural, De Tuinkamer feels genuinely rural and grounded. That distinction matters when choosing between them.
Chef Alwin Leemhuis structures the menu around what the Priona gardens are producing in any given week. Every dish contains a minimum of 80% plants — this is not a vegetarian restaurant in the strict sense, but plant material is the clear priority and the starting point for each creation. Because the gardens have been managed ecologically since their founding, the supply chain is about as short and traceable as it gets. The weekly rotation means repeat visits are never redundant, which is the practical upside of a hyper-seasonal model. If you visited earlier in the season, a return trip even a month later will produce a meaningfully different menu. The kitchen is open from April through Christmas, the window when the gardens are productive. Outside of that period, there is no service.
Booking difficulty is rated easy, which is notable for a restaurant operating on a weekly-changing garden menu in a genuinely distinctive setting. This is partly a function of location , Schuinesloot is not a destination most diners pass through by accident , but it means you can plan a visit without the three-month lead time that comparable plant-forward restaurants at the €€€€ tier require. The season runs April to Christmas, so plan accordingly. If you are travelling from Amsterdam or Zwolle, treat this as a day-trip destination and consider pairing it with an overnight stay by checking our [Schuinesloot hotels guide](https://www.joinpearl.co/hotels/schuinesloot).
| Detail | De Tuinkamer | De Nieuwe Winkel (Nijmegen) | De Lindehof (Nuenen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price tier | Not confirmed | €€€€ | €€€€ |
| Cuisine focus | Plant-forward, garden-led | Organic, plant-based | Contemporary Dutch, Creative |
| Booking difficulty | Easy | Harder | Harder |
| Season / hours | April to Christmas | Year-round | Year-round |
| Setting | Converted greenhouse, estate garden | Urban restaurant | Country house |
For a broader view of what is available in the area, see our full Schuinesloot restaurants guide, bars guide, and experiences guide.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| De Tuinkamer | Easy | ||
| De Librije | €€€€ · Modern Cuisine | €€€€ | Unknown |
| 't Nonnetje | €€€€ · Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| De Lindehof | Contemporary Dutch, Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| De Nieuwe Winkel | €€€€ · Organic | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Fred | €€€€ · Creative French | €€€€ | Unknown |
What to weigh when choosing between De Tuinkamer and alternatives.
Group capacity details are not confirmed in available records, so check the venue's official channels before planning a party visit. Given the setting — a converted greenhouse within the Priona gardens — space is likely limited, and a weekly-changing menu means the kitchen is already working to a specific rhythm. Book early and confirm group minimums before you commit.
Book as early as you can, particularly for weekend visits between April and Christmas, which is the only window the restaurant operates. The combination of a short season, a weekly-changing menu, and a distinctive setting in Schuinesloot means demand concentrates into a narrow calendar. Mid-week slots may be more available, but there is no public booking data to confirm lead times precisely.
There is no fixed menu to select from — chef Alwin Leemhuis builds the menu around what the Priona gardens are producing that week, with every dish containing at least 80% plants. You are eating whatever the garden dictates, not choosing from a static list. That format suits guests who trust the kitchen; if you need menu certainty in advance, this is not the right format for you.
There are no direct comparators in Schuinesloot itself. For plant-forward cooking at a higher price point and with more formal credentials, De Nieuwe Winkel in Nijmegen is the reference in the Netherlands. For a different style of serious Dutch regional cooking, De Lindehof in Nuenen or 't Nonnetje in Harderwijk are worth the drive depending on your direction.
Yes, with the right expectations. The setting — a former greenhouse surrounded by the monumental Priona gardens, which took 60 years to develop — provides genuine atmosphere without manufactured occasion. The weekly-changing garden menu makes it feel considered rather than generic. It works well for a celebration where the experience itself is the point, not a predictable luxury formula.
No dress code is documented, and the garden greenhouse setting suggests the tone is relaxed rather than formal. Practical, comfortable clothing appropriate for a rural setting in the Netherlands makes sense — the Priona gardens are part of the experience, and the converted greenhouse is unlikely to demand black-tie presentation. Confirm with the restaurant if you are uncertain.
The format — a set weekly menu driven by garden produce, in a greenhouse setting — translates well to solo dining if you are comfortable with a kitchen-led experience. There is no à la carte to negotiate alone. Booking difficulty is rated easy, which removes the usual friction for solo guests trying to secure a single seat at a desirable restaurant.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
