At the end of November, Flore, the first book by Chef Bas van Kranen, will be published, exploring the evolution of Restaurant Flore in Amsterdam. After five years of conscious fine dining, awarded two MICHELIN Stars and a MICHELIN Green Star, Bas looks back in depth for the first time at the story behind Flore: from the choices and beliefs that shaped the restaurant to the dishes, techniques and flavours that define Flore today.

The past five years went by faster than Bas van Kranen realised. Service, preparation, creativity and development continuously intertwined. For the first time, the book gave him the opportunity to reflect on an important question: why does Restaurant Flore do what it does? Not to explain everything, but to better understand the journey himself.

An important starting point in that journey can be traced back to a farm in Lunteren. Jersey cows graze on herb-rich pastures, calves are raised by foster mothers, and bulls are given the space to live. It was there that Bas realised he had been eating cheese from this farm for ten years without ever truly considering the story and system behind it.

Not long afterwards, he decided to close the restaurant where he was Chef at the time. The restaurant was doing well, and many people around him struggled to understand his decision. Yet Bas chose to start again: without a name, without recognition and with an entirely new culinary direction.

One week before Restaurant Flore opened, the team cooked the menu for the first time. According to Bas, it was the worst menu they had ever created. Without dairy, without butter and without many of the ingredients and techniques he had relied on for fifteen years, almost everything had to be reinvented.

That evolution forms an important part of Flore. The book tells the story of the search, the struggles, the failures and the ideas that sometimes took years to finally work. It shows how Restaurant Flore developed step by step into the restaurant it is today.

The Taste of Restaurant Flore

An important chapter explores the taste of Flore. Bas van Kranen had previously tried to explain this philosophy in interviews, during presentations and at the tables of the restaurant, but was rarely completely satisfied with the words afterwards. In the book, the idea is given the space he felt it needed.

Then come the dishes. A complete year at Restaurant Flore has been documented, with each season captured at the moment its ingredients and dishes were truly there. The book features more than fifty dishes and over three hundred recipes. Some can be made at home tomorrow; others require weeks or even an entire season of preparation.

For Bas, above all, the book is the result of five years of collaboration. From the people who offered criticism and asked difficult questions to the colleagues who continued to believe in the direction Restaurant Flore was taking. It is therefore not only his first book, but also a tribute to the people who have shaped Flore alongside him.

Bas van Kranen — FLORE

Available for pre-order from 11 September 2026 via basvankranen.com. The book will be published at the end of November 2026 and will subsequently be available at Restaurant Flore at De L’Europe Amsterdam and at bookshops.

The first thousand copies will include an original print of the Pepers artwork by Maartje Coenen (Nay Kid) and an exclusive recipe by Bas van Kranen that does not appear in the book: a dish he has been cooking for his friends for years.