4 - Recognised
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Flores holds a Michelin Green Star (2025) and is recognised by the We're Smart Green Guide (4 radishes) and Dutch Cuisine. Local and seasonal sourcing is underpinned by named suppliers including Bodemzicht, Oogstwold, and Het Ketelbos, with direct relationships to regional growers, farmers, and food forests around Nijmegen. The restaurant has deliberately eliminated high-impact imports such as Canadian lobster in favour of local alternatives.
The kitchen operates a near-zero-waste approach: nothing edible is discarded; scraps are repurposed into staff meals, sauces, or fermented products (koji, miso, garum); truly inedible leftovers go to a local farmer as chicken feed; sommelier Anita Hagendorn develops juice pairings from kitchen byproducts; fermentation preserves seasonal surplus for up to two years. Single-use plastics have been eliminated, and only tap water is served. Sommelier Anita Hagendorn develops juice pairings incorporating kitchen waste streams.
Animal products are sourced ethically: wild game from population management, retired dairy cows, and crayfish from invasive species control. Staff work a maximum four-day week with reasonable hours, reflecting a deliberate focus on workforce wellbeing.
The impact dimensions
Low waste & circular practices✓
Sustainable animal products✓
Extensive network of named local suppliers including Bodemzicht, Oogstwold, and Farmer Rene Schrama provides 60–80 per cent of key ingredients.
The restaurant sources most ingredient categories through a transparent, traceable network of local producers. Key suppliers include Bodemzicht (vegetables and free-range eggs), Farmer Rene Schrama (Kamper lamb), roodbont cattle from Berkel en Rodenrijs, crayfish from invasive species management in the Utrechtse polder, plus Oogstwold, Eet Meer Bosch, Gordon Spoor, Bijmegen, Het Ketelbos, and local cheese makers and bakeries.
The restaurant has deliberately eliminated imported luxury proteins—Canadian lobster and Angus beef—in favour of local alternatives, adapting cooking techniques to work with regional breeds and varieties. Local sourcing is independently corroborated by De Streek op Tafel (which names 7+ suppliers), food journalist Sheila Struyck, Michelin, and the We're Smart Green Guide.
The tasting menu changes with seasons, featuring spring asparagus and other produce when in season, with fermentation extending availability across the year.
The kitchen is organised around seasonal availability as a guiding principle. The menu changes with the seasons, featuring spring items such as asparagus from Beers, elderflower, and ground elder when in season. Vegetables are sourced from local grower Bodemzicht with seasonal availability dictating the menu.
An extensive fermentation and preservation programme extends the use of seasonal ingredients across months, with some preparations aged up to two years. Koji, miso, garum, and pickling techniques carry summer harvests through the colder months. Multiple independent sources—Michelin, Gault&Millau, Dutch Cuisine, and Sheila Struyck—confirm seasonality as a core kitchen principle.
Food scraps are repurposed into staff meals, sauces, and fermented products; single-use plastics have been eliminated; the restaurant is investigating heat recovery to recycle kitchen heat.
The kitchen operates a near-zero-waste approach: nothing edible is discarded. Scraps are repurposed into staff meals, sauces, or fermented products (koji, miso, garum); truly inedible leftovers go to a local farmer as chicken feed. Sommelier Anita Hagendorn develops juice pairings from kitchen byproducts, extending the use of every harvest.
Plastic and packaging waste has been addressed: single-use plastics have been eliminated from kitchen and service, and only tap water is served (no bottled water). The restaurant is investigating heat recovery to recycle kitchen heat for terrace warming, though this is not yet implemented. These practices are independently confirmed by food journalist Sheila Struyck, Slow Food NL, and Michelin.
Animal proteins are limited to one to two courses and sourced from named suppliers: farm-raised lamb, retired dairy cows, and wild crayfish from invasive species management.
Animal proteins are deliberately limited in quantity—appearing in only one to two courses in the standard menu—and sourced with explicit ethical criteria. Named suppliers include Farmer Rene Schrama for Kamper lamb, roodbont cattle from Berkel en Rodenrijs, and retired dairy cows for beef. River crayfish are sourced from invasive species management in the Utrechtse polder, and wild game is sourced from hunting and population control culling.
The restaurant has deliberately eliminated high-impact imports such as Canadian lobster. Locally sourced oysters come from personally known harvesters. Eggs are from Bodemzicht and split fresh in-house. These sourcing practices are independently confirmed by Dutch Cuisine, which notes the restaurant's commitment to avoiding bio-industrial products and its focus on traceable, ethical animal sourcing.
Staff work a four-day week with reasonable hours; the restaurant is a Slow Food Professionals member and part of the De Streek op Tafel regional initiative.
Flores demonstrates social commitment through fair employment practices and professional community membership. Staff work a maximum four-day, 40-hour work week with reasonable hours and open communication, reflecting a deliberate focus on workforce wellbeing. Sous chef Max Pesch participated in the Slow Food Youth Network Academy, and the restaurant is a member of the Slow Food Professionals Community.
The restaurant is rooted in the Nijmegen community as a family business and is listed with De Streek op Tafel, a regional food initiative. These engagements are independently verified by food journalist Sheila Struyck.
Vegetables form the foundation of every course; a fully vegan parallel menu is available at every service, prepared in the same kitchen.
The menu is structurally plant-forward: vegetables form the foundation of most dishes across both the omnivore and fully vegan tasting menus. A fully vegan menu (the Plant menu) is available at every service as a complete course-for-course alternative. The We're Smart Green Guide awards the restaurant 4 radishes (out of 5) with a Pure Plant Choices designation, independently recognising the vegetable-forward approach.
The signature Koji Kult vegetable charcuterie is built entirely from brined, smoked, and fermented root vegetables using natural koji cultures and is served to every table. Chef Luuk Freriks is publicly associated with vegetable-forward cooking by Michelin, Gault&Millau, Dutch Cuisine, and NRC Handelsblad (which described the restaurant as 'groentenrestaurant als bistro 2.0'). Animal proteins in the omnivore menu remain limited to one or two courses.
Sourcing signals
✓
Direct named-farm sourcing
Named network of local producers—Bodemzicht, Farmer Rene Schrama, regional dairy and crayfish sources—independently confirmed by De Streek op Tafel, Sheila Struyck, Dutch Cuisine, and Michelin.
