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Assen · Netherlands

The Black Tie

A French bistro in central Assen serving monthly-changing surprise tasting menus from an open kitchen, with fresh oysters a house speciality.

The essentials, at a glance

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Impact score
2 - Not assignable
→
Documented practices
Local sourcing
Seasonal cooking
Sustainable meat/fish

Style
Fine dining
Cosy
Cuisine
French
Good to know
Terrace
Bar
Dog-friendly

The delicious details

The Black Tie is a French bistro in the centre of Assen where chef Benjamin Vandenberg cooks classic dishes with a contemporary twist. The kitchen works to a surprise format, offering four, five, or six-course menus so guests place the evening in the team's hands.

Menus follow the seasons and change month to month, built around fresh produce as it becomes available. An open kitchen lets diners watch Vandenberg and his team at work, while maitre Liz Janssen and the sommeliers guide the wine pairings.

Fresh oysters are a house speciality, and the room keeps a relaxed, romantic feel with a bar and a terrace for warmer evenings.

Menu
What's on the table, and what's left off

Tasting menus of four to six courses, built around French classics like langoustine, lobster, and rose-roasted duck, changing monthly with the seasons. Fresh oysters are a signature, offered with wine pairings and vegetarian menus available by advance request.

Cuisine
French
Dietary options
Vegetarian options
Allergies handling
Notice At booking

Notify the restaurant at booking; the kitchen accommodates dietary restrictions on a per-booking basis, reserving the right to decline requests that would compromise the menu's character.

Impact score
How this restaurant rates
2 - Not assignable

The kitchen cooks to the seasons, with a surprise menu that changes month to month around produce at its best. This seasonal rhythm is the clearest thread in how the restaurant approaches its cooking.

The impact dimensions
Local & direct sourcing✓
Seasonal cooking✓
Sustainable animal products✓
Plant-forward menu

The kitchen emphasises fresh regional products and direct relationships with its suppliers.

The restaurant positions fresh regional products and conscious, nature-and-season-led buying as a kitchen value, and the chef describes direct relationships with his suppliers.

Strongest sourcetheblacktie.nl ↗

The kitchen cooks with the seasons, running a surprise menu that changes monthly around produce as it becomes available.

Seasonality is a stated guiding principle: the kitchen presents koken met de seizoenen (cooking with the seasons), states it is deeply involved with nature and the seasons, and runs a surprise menu that changes monthly around produce as it becomes available.

Strongest sourcetheblacktie.nl ↗

The chef personally checks livestock farmers for animal welfare, and the oysters come from Speciales Geay, a named French oyster house.

The chef states he personally checks all of his livestock farmers and works only with suppliers whose animals had a good and free life, and the menu names a French oyster house (Speciales Geay) for its oysters.

Strongest sourcetheblacktie.nl ↗

A vegetarian menu is available by arrangement, with vegetarian amuses featured in some menus.

The menu is a classic French tasting format centred on meat and seafood. A vegetarian menu can be arranged on request and vegetarian amuses feature in some menus, so vegetarian options exist.

Strongest sourcetheblacktie.nl ↗
Visit & practical info
Address, price, and more
Address
Weiersloop 1, 9401 DZ Assen, Assen, Netherlands
Open in Google Maps ↗
Price
€€€
Format
Tasting menu, booking required
Hours
MondayClosed
TuesdayClosed
Wednesday16:00–22:00
Thursday16:00–22:00
Friday16:00–22:00
Saturday16:00–22:00
SundayClosed
Style
Fine dining
Cosy
Good to know
Terrace
Bar
Dog-friendly
Web
theblacktie.nl
Reserve a table
Reviewed by My Treats
Last reviewed 12 Jul 2026
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How we score
The My Treats impact scale

Every restaurant is assessed against SEERO, our six-dimension sustainability framework — covering sourcing, seasonality, waste, animal products, social impact, and plant-forward cooking. Each finding is weighted by how strongly it is corroborated. The combined result is translated into a planet rating from 1 to 5.

The five levels

SEERO is an acronym for Starting, Engaged, Endorsed, Recognised, Outstanding:

Starting First verified signals of sustainable practice.
Engaged Credible practice across two dimensions.
This place
Endorsed Meaningful practice across three or more dimensions.
Recognised Strong practice across four or more dimensions, with independent corroboration.
Outstanding Top-tier practice, confirmed by recognised third-party audit.

How a level is reached. Each level needs two things together: a minimum number of dimensions covered, and a minimum overall strength of evidence across them. A dimension only counts once its evidence is specific and substantiated — a passing mention doesn't qualify. Meeting only one of the two keeps a restaurant a level lower.

Ratings of four or five planets require human validation and, at the top tier, an external audit. Scores are based on publicly available evidence and restaurant submissions at the time of assessment.

Full methodology→
Impact dimension
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How this dimension works
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How evidence is weighted
Self-declared Stated by the restaurant on its website, menu or in a submission. Plausible, but not yet independently corroborated.
Researched Found through independent research; one credible third-party source backs the claim.
Vouched Corroborated across more than one independent source. Some gaps may remain.
Audited Fully corroborated across independent sources or by a recognised third-party certification.
What the sourcing checkmarks mean
✓ Full check — independently verified: corroborated across more than one source, or audited / third-party certified (vouched or audited).
✓ Light check — self-declared or from a single source. Not yet independently verified.
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