Sunday 19 November 2023 – Monocle Minute

Sunday Roast / Esther Stam, Amsterdam

Going Dutch

Amsterdam-based Esther Stam started interior architecture practice Studio Modijefsky in 2009 and has since become a darling of the Dutch dining scene (writes Liv Kessler). She focuses on hospitality, having worked on the interiors of Polly Goudvisch, Gitane and Café Marcella, and the redesign of the modernist 1930s Blauwe Theehuis in the Vondelpark. Here, she tells us about her very Dutch breakfast, the fear (and joy) of taking her toddlers to the museum and the pleasure of a good bottle of Portuguese wine.

Where do we find you this weekend?
One of my favourite museums in the Netherlands, Museum Voorlinden. It has a forest and is close to the dunes and sea. The garden is by Piet Oudolf and is nice to look at, even at this time of the year.

Ideal start to a Sunday? Gentle start or a jolt?
There are no gentle starts any more because there are two two-and-a-half-year-olds running around. I guess it’s more of a jolt than a gentle start.

What’s for breakfast?
It’s always very Dutch: a good sandwich with cheese. We have bread from a friend who started a bakery called Kometen Brood Café. After years of researching, we have found the perfect cheese called Terschelling, which is the ideal mix of being creamy and having the right amount of salt crystals in it.

Lunch in or out?
Out. I love every opportunity to be in a restaurant, bar, café or hotel.

Walk the dog or downward dog?
I have been doing Ashtanga yoga for years and it’s really my moment to get out of the head and into the body.

A Sunday soundtrack?
Not one thing typically but a combination of artists such as Little Simz, A Tribe Called Quest and Mac Miller.

Sunday culture must?
Museums. But it’s a challenge to get to see enough and prevent my children from ruining some very important piece.

News or no news?
I’m not a newspaper person. I don’t have a lot of time on my hands, though I do read some newsletters.

What’s on the menu?
Sometimes we have friends over. My boyfriend cooks one of his signature pasta dishes and we have wine from our holiday in Portugal. Otherwise, we try to eat with the children. It’s chaotic but nice with cocktails and food.

Any Sunday evening routine?
An early dinner at one of our favourite restaurants, Café Restaurant Amsterdam. It serves the perfect smoked halibut with toast and horseradish sauce, Caesar salad, mussels and king crab.

Will you lay out your outfit for Monday?
Never. That’s too organised, even for me. Besides, I don’t know what mood I’m going to be in and I live in the Netherlands, so you never know whether it’s going to rain.

For more of Esther Stam and Studio Modijefsky’s majestic work, pick up the November issue of Monocle, which is out now. Or subscribe today so that you never miss an issue.