Outdoor experience, but completely different

Surprising guests with unexpected flavours

Tim Eleveld, who together with his wife Lisa owns Boutique Hotel & Restaurant Frenchie in Haarlem, has created a unique place in the heart of the city with its special combination of French bistro classics and Asian influences. At Frenchie, everything is about individuality and quality. "We don't want to be a thirteen-in-a-dozen restaurant. It has to be special and distinctive, no matter the time of day," Eleveld said.

After years of experience in various kitchens in Amsterdam, Overveen and Bloemendaal, Eleveld opened Frenchie seven years ago. Originally started as a restaurant, he expanded with five hotel rooms above the restaurant just before corona. "The renovation coincided with corona, which presented us with considerable challenges. Financially, we had to shift gears quite a bit. Nevertheless, we managed to get everything finished and now, fortunately, it is running well."

Focus on quality and recognisability

Eleveld is strongly committed to offering quality and recognisability, with a number of dishes being favourites with his guests from day one. "Our fried chicken is one such dish that has been on the menu from the start and that guests come back especially for," he says. At the same time, the evenings are full of experimentation with seasonal dishes. "We use special ingredients, such as Wagyu from Dutch beef, and combine them with unexpected flavours. Our aim is to surprise guests again and again."

Eleveld himself is currently a little less behind the cooker, as he is busy with a new hotel-restaurant project in a historic building four hundred metres away. This new hotel will be called Lazarus, a nod to the original purpose of the building from 1300, which was once a Lazarus convent. "The hotel will house restaurant Bowie. That will have a very different concept from Frenchie. Here we are going for Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavours. Although the concept is different, our strong base and attention to detail will remain central here too," Eleveld says enthusiastically.

Balancing price and quality

The Haarlem hospitality industry is very competitive, according to Eleveld, which brings challenges. Yet he sees this as a motivation to keep improving and innovating. "We consciously focus on good value for money and beautiful products. We have to, because Haarlem has a strong hospitality offering that guests look at critically. Our challenge is to keep it affordable and attractive without making concessions on quality."

Although the hospitality industry is currently struggling with rising costs and difficulties around personnel, Eleveld sees this as an incentive to stay creative. "Staffing remains a challenge, especially at management level, but we always find solutions. Ultimately, we want Frenchie to be a place where guests feel at home and can enjoy special flavours."

Vision for the future with Lazarus

With hotel Lazarus, which will open this summer, Eleveld aims to further expand and diversify his hospitality offering. This project, located in the historic building that previously housed star restaurants ML and Olivijn, promises to be another special hospitality venue. "It will be exciting, especially given the scale of the renovation and the investment involved. But we believe that with our vision we will once again add something unique to the Haarlem catering industry," Eleveld concludes with determination.