Chefs & Cellars – Dining at Restaurant RJ, Texel

Chefs & Cellars – Dining at Restaurant RJ, Texel.

An Island Restaurant Finding Its Own Destination.

The ferry crossing from Den Helder to Texel is short, yet there is something about leaving the mainland behind that immediately changes the rhythm. The island may still be best known for its beaches, dunes, sheep and North Sea landscape, but its culinary identity has been evolving as well, with a growing number of restaurants looking beyond the traditional tourism model towards more individual and ambitious forms of gastronomy.

Restaurant RJ belongs firmly within that development.

For Episode 5 of Season 2 of Chefs & Cellars, we travelled to Texel to meet owner Jordy Schuijl, whose restaurant currently finds itself between two chapters. Restaurant RJ operates from a temporary location in Den Burg while a new restaurant and hotel are being developed in De Koog, yet very little about our dinner on the evening before recording the podcast felt temporary. The atmosphere was settled, the service confident and, perhaps most importantly, there was already a clear relationship between the kitchen and a wine programme that has become central to RJ’s identity.

From Texel to RJ

Hospitality has surrounded Jordy from an early age. His parents built their business around tourism on Texel, while his own route eventually led towards gastronomy. He started washing dishes at eleven, gradually moved into the kitchen and later developed experience in service and wine. His curiosity also took him away from the island, most notably to De Nederlanden, where he worked both in the kitchen and front of house at Michelin level.

He was eighteen when he arrived and did so without a traditional culinary education. Learning came through practice and pressure, in an environment where standards had to remain high every day. Jordy still describes that period as one of the most important parts of his development, particularly because it taught him to look beyond individual techniques towards the mentality required to run a serious restaurant.

In 2020, he opened Restaurant RJ. As the restaurant developed, however, the limitations of its original location became increasingly apparent. The cooking grew more ambitious, the cellar expanded and Jordy’s ideas about hospitality became more defined, eventually leading to the decision to create a new home in De Koog.

That ambition is not about becoming larger. Jordy repeatedly returns to the opposite idea: working with a compact team in which knowledge and responsibility matter more than headcount.

In the kitchen he works closely with Chef Patrick van der Hoek, whose role in shaping the cuisine alongside Jordy is an important part of RJ’s development. The two create the menus together, working within a French framework while allowing ingredients and influences from elsewhere to enter naturally. Their small team also makes that creative exchange particularly direct, with dishes developing through working alongside one another rather than through the hierarchy of a large kitchen brigade.

One of the interesting things about RJ is Jordy’s double role. Besides his work in the kitchen he frequently appears in service, where he is responsible for the wine selections in a duo with Sommelier Sebastiaan Landaal. The two have jointly developed a strong understanding of wines and food-wine pairings, and each have their own interests and favourites when it comes to wine regions, grape varieties and producers. In practice this means that each of the two has the freedom to select his own wine for a dish, sometimes leading to different pairings for the exact same dish,

Texel naturally provides part of their pantry, from sheep’s milk and cheese to fish arriving from local fishermen, although Jordy is equally clear that provenance alone is never enough. An ingredient has to be good and, just as importantly, it has to be used at the right moment. During our conversation he compared that idea to opening wine: availability does not necessarily mean readiness, and sometimes the better decision is simply to wait.

A Restaurant Built Around Wine

That comparison comes naturally because Jordy’s involvement with wine extends far beyond compiling a list. Wine is woven into the way RJ approaches the menu, and because he moves between kitchen and cellar, he can think about a pairing through the entire construction of a dish rather than simply its principal ingredient.

The scale and accessibility of the collection are remarkable for such an intimate restaurant. Hundreds of wines are available, with a significant part of the collection accessible by the glass through Coravin and the team’s willingness to open bottles when the opportunity makes sense. RJ’s programme has been recognized repeatedly by Star Wine List, including its Best By the Glass List 2025 distinction, while the wine list has also received recognition from Wine Spectator.

More interesting than the awards, however, is the personal nature of the collection. Jordy describes the list as being composed largely of wines he has tasted and enjoyed himself, while annual wine trips are used to revisit established producers and search for new discoveries. Burgundy remains an important reference, particularly white Burgundy, but the cellar extends well beyond the classic European regions, with Jordy increasingly interested in wines from less obvious origins as well.

That curiosity reaches the table. RJ does not necessarily work with one rigid pairing that every guest receives. Wines can change according to the dish, the guest and what is showing particularly well at that moment, while Coravin gives the team access to mature vintages and bottles that would otherwise be difficult to offer within a pairing.

Service followed much the same rhythm during our evening, with the wines introduced with enough context to understand the thinking behind each choice without allowing the explanation to take over the table. The result was a wine experience that felt knowledgeable but conversational, which suits a cellar built as much around discovery as prestige.

 
Dining at RJ

Our dinner put much of that philosophy into practice. The menu moved comfortably between seafood, vegetables and meat, with French foundations frequently intersecting with Japanese and other Asian ingredients. Richness was repeatedly answered by acidity, salinity or spice, and the wine pairings followed an equally broad route through Champagne, Alsace, Friuli, Burgundy, Jura, the Mâconnais and Bordeaux.

A series of amuse-bouches opened alongside Perrier-Jouët Belle Époque 2016, immediately setting the tone for the evening. There was enough depth and maturity in the Champagne to accompany the opening bites, but the wine retained the freshness and finesse expected at the beginning of a long menu. More revealing than the prestige of the label was the ease with which it was poured. Serious bottles at RJ are not there simply to decorate the cellar; they are there to be drunk.

The first course brought Hamachi with Cucumber, Grapefruit, Jalapeño and Bergamot, with the natural richness of the fish balanced by citrus, freshness and controlled heat. Albert Boxler Riesling 2017 proved an intelligent companion, its acidity working through the texture of the Hamachi while Riesling’s aromatic character found natural connections with Grapefruit and Bergamot.

The bottle age added another dimension. The wine was no longer dependent entirely on youthful fruit, yet retained the freshness that makes Riesling such a versatile gastronomic variety. This gave it enough substance to stand alongside the fish while dealing comfortably with the citrus and spice surrounding it.

The following Terrine with Carrot, Orange, Yellow Curry and Kohlrabi was one of the evening’s more intriguing dishes, moving between sweetness, earthiness, spice and freshness. Its pairing, Vie di Romans Dessimis Pinot Grigio 2022, was equally interesting.

Dessimis sits a considerable distance from the neutral, lightweight style that has shaped much of Pinot Grigio’s international reputation. It is a more structured and textural interpretation, with enough breadth to behave as a gastronomic wine rather than merely something refreshing before dinner.

This is something we explored in our earlier feature, Vie di Romans: Terroir, Precision and a Clear Voice in Friuli, where Dessimis stood out as one of the clearest examples of the estate’s ability to give Pinot Grigio genuine structure and personality. Our tasting of the 2023 vintage resulted in a 95/100 DWA rating.

With the Carrot terrine, those qualities became particularly useful. A lighter expression of the grape could easily have disappeared against the sweetness of Carrot and warmth of Yellow Curry, whereas Dessimis had enough presence to remain part of the conversation, with Orange and Kohlrabi providing a fresher counterpoint.

Jordy returned to this combination during our conversation the following morning, describing it as both successful and surprising, which is perhaps exactly what his wine programme is designed to achieve: taking something familiar and allowing the guest to experience it from a different perspective.

With Gambero Rosso, Caviar, Dashi and Paprika, the menu returned to seafood but moved deeper into umami and salinity. The sweetness of the red prawn, salinity of the Caviar and savoury depth of Dashi called for a wine with both freshness and substance, and Hubert Lamy Saint-Aubin La Princée 2018 provided precisely that balance.

Several years of bottle development had given the Chardonnay greater breadth, while the underlying tension kept the combination defined. It was also a reminder that RJ’s interest in Burgundy is not simply about famous appellations. Saint-Aubin, particularly in the hands of a producer such as Hubert Lamy, can provide precision and depth while retaining an identity distinct from its more celebrated neighbors.

Perhaps the pairing that best explained Jordy’s philosophy came with A5 Wagyu, Clams, Leek and Seawater. Wagyu can become almost overwhelmingly rich when surrounded by equally rich accompaniments, but here Jordy and Patrick pulled in another direction. Clams and Seawater introduced salinity while Leek brought a gentler sweetness, placing one of the world’s richest meats within an unexpectedly maritime context.

That changed the possibilities in the glass as well.

Instead of reaching for a powerful red, RJ poured Domaine des Carlines Côtes du Jura La Vouivre, a blend of Chardonnay and Savagnin. Chardonnay provided body, while Savagnin brought another layer of savoury character and tension, allowing the wine to connect with the marine side of the dish rather than attempting to compete directly with the beef.

The acidity was equally important, cutting through the fat of the Wagyu and continually returning freshness to the palate. A structured red could easily have increased the sense of weight; the Jura did the opposite, opening up the dish and drawing attention towards the Clams, Seawater and savoury character of the meat. It was the evening’s most convincing example of pairing through structure rather than convention.

With Pieterman, Potato, Shrimp and XO, the kitchen brought the menu closer to the North Sea while retaining its Asian references. Les Héritiers du Comte Lafon Viré-Clessé 2018 provided a broader expression of Chardonnay than the Saint-Aubin served earlier, its generosity working well with Potato and the savoury concentration of XO while retaining sufficient freshness for the fish and Shrimp.

Serving the two wines within the same menu also offered an interesting comparison. Saint-Aubin and Viré-Clessé may share Chardonnay and Burgundy, but they arrive at the table with quite different personalities, demonstrating how dramatically origin and style can shape the variety.

The final savoury course brought Anjou Pigeon with Blueberry, Parsnip and Pistachio, and after a sequence dominated by white wines, Château Paveil de Luze 2011 from Margaux marked a natural change of direction.

Here maturity was fundamental to the pairing. With more than a decade of development, Bordeaux moves away from the primary fruit and firmer tannic profile of youth towards something more integrated and savoury. Those characteristics found an obvious partner in Pigeon, whose slightly ferrous, game-like intensity was softened by Blueberry and Parsnip and given additional texture through Pistachio.

Margaux was also a thoughtful choice. Rather than meeting the bird with the greater power one might find elsewhere in Bordeaux, the wine could accompany its relatively delicate texture without overwhelming it. After some of the more unconventional combinations earlier in the menu, this was a pairing rooted in classical logic, and no less satisfying for it. RJ’s approach is not about avoiding established combinations in pursuit of originality, but about knowing when convention works and when there is a more interesting route to take.

The menu concluded with Green Apple, Sake, Wasabi and White Chocolate, paired with Perrier-Jouët Blanc de Blancs. Returning to Champagne created a natural symmetry with the Belle Époque that had opened the evening, but here Chardonnay’s freshness played a different role. It connected easily with the Green Apple while providing enough acidity to counter the richness of White Chocolate, allowing the dinner to finish with energy rather than accumulated sweetness.

Looking back across the evening, it was not necessarily the most prestigious bottles that remained most interesting. The Dessimis showed how much personality Pinot Grigio can possess, the Jura demonstrated why the obvious pairing is not always the most convincing, while mature Margaux reminded us that a classical combination can be just as compelling when the bottle has reached the right stage of its life.

That variety is ultimately the strength of RJ’s wine programme. The cellar provides the possibilities, but Jordy and his team are prepared to use them without being constrained by hierarchy or a predetermined sequence.

Towards De Koog

The next stage of Restaurant RJ will bring the restaurant, hotel and wine programme together in De Koog. The restaurant itself will remain deliberately intimate, with approximately 26 seats, while the hotel will offer 18 suites. A dedicated wine cellar will create further possibilities for private dining and wine-focused experiences.

The concept makes particular sense on Texel. Guests will be able to arrive, stay overnight, dine downstairs and explore the cellar without having to consider the journey afterwards. Yet the project is about more than convenience. It gives Jordy the opportunity to build the physical surroundings around the kind of restaurant RJ has gradually become, rather than continuing to adapt the restaurant to the limitations of an existing space.

The move to De Koog will undoubtedly change the surroundings, but our evening in Den Burg suggested that the identity of RJ no longer depends on the building. It is already visible in the way Jordy and Patrick cook, in the bottles being opened from the cellar and in the curiosity with which the two are brought together.

Chefs & Cellars

For Episode 5 of Season 2 of Chefs & Cellars, we travelled to Texel to sit down with Jordy Schuijl, owner of Restaurant RJ. We spoke about his route into hospitality, the development of the restaurant, his preference for a small and knowledgeable team, the role of Texel within the kitchen and, naturally, the wine programme that has become such an important part of RJ’s identity.

Our conversation also looks ahead to De Koog, where restaurant, hotel and cellar will eventually come together under one roof, while our dinner offered an opportunity to experience the ideas behind that next chapter before the building itself is complete.

This article is written by our own Niels Aarts for Dutch Wine Apprentice. Picture credits: Restaurant RJ and Dutch Wine Apprentice.