Discover Benelux | Amsterdam Special | Jordaan Highlights
Teaming up with Caulil’s Delicatessen, the delicacy store of Bourgondisch Lifestyle has now settled in Amsterdam as well.
The best of two delicacy worlds TEXT: JULIËN L’ORTYE | PHOTOS: BOURGONDISCH LIFESTYLE
Nowadays, every self-respecting and larger-than-average city has at least one top-notch delicacy store. Because who knows what will happen when the city’s connoisseurs have to miss out on the best cheese, sausages and wines of the moment. We went to discover one of Amsterdam’s best-known delicatessens: Bourgondisch Lifestyle. Already running two successful shops in Haarlem and Beverwijk, they are now teaming up with Caulil’s Delicatessen to turn it into a Bourgondisch Lifestyle store as well. According to the owner, René Koelman, they wanted to do something different at Caulil’s. “A couple of months ago, Maarten van Caulil, the owner of Caulil’s, contacted me about his desire to change things up.” Bourgondisch Lifestyle mostly offers an enormous variety of cheeses and Koelman 20 | Issue 33 | September 2016
and his partner Latif Elmessoussi are masters in the maturation of this product. This is partially being done at a unique location, Fort Zuidwijkermeer, a building that is included on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Caulil’s, in his turn, has a wider assortment, with many different sausages and meats from all over Europe and a varied choice of wines and special beers. Now, the best of both worlds meet. In the words of Koelman: “We want to bring something from Bourgondisch Lifestyle into Caulil’s and the other way around as well, of course.” Caulil’s rose to fame when they developed the ‘perfect grilled cheese sandwich’, that consists of white sourdough bread, two different cheeses – the so-called Wilde Weide Cheese and an Etivaz d’Alpage– plus a mixture of finely chopped spring onions, red onions and leek. Sounds pretty perfect, if you ask us.
Running a successful delicacy store is all about knowing what you sell, according to Koelman: “We don’t sell brands, but we sell flavours. Elegance and refreshment are two important footholds for us. And of course, exclusivity. Once one of our products is being sold by the grocers a few blocks away, we will be looking for something else to replace it straight away.” Bourgondisch Lifestyle is not only for the local gourmets, as they are planning on organising cheese tastings for tourists as well, so every foreigner can be introduced to all the wonderful cheeses Holland and its surrounding countries have to offer. Our advice? Bring an extra suitcase, so you can take some cheese back home with you. www.bourgondischlifestyle.nl www.caulils.com