A green, innovative approach that exploits the melting pot of traders and immigrants in a contemporary key, taking elements from the past to interpret a future that is both uncertain and challenging. A journey in to the world of Dutch hospitality really does offer a glimpse of the future, hinting as it does at the fashions and trends we can look forward to. Common to all activities is a concern for the environment which the country has been pursuing decisively and creatively in recent years.

Particularly emblematic among recent developments are the rooftops of Rotterdam, which are among the most spectacular venues of Dutch hospitality. And the most extensive: the city boasts more than 18 square kilometres of roof terrace space. Some have been turned into cocktail bars, with gardens and restaurants that are at the forefront of these so-called dakdorpen, ‘roof villages’ which are also green surfaces that clean the air and define a smart city which is also very human, bringing rural life into the city. This is also the home of the first urban Floating Farm. And we can look forward to the first rooftop hotel in the coming years.

As for the circular economy, there are numerous projects that are making abandoned historical buildings available to the people of the city, having repurposed them as catering venues. They include the Café Restaurant Eindhoven in the iconic Tower of Light, where Philips used to make light bulbs, with a hybrid concept that is a café, restaurant, brewery, bakery and roastery rolled into one. The spaces interact with one another and the waste material from production processes are reworked and re-used as much as possible.

Heilige Boontjes, meanwhile, is located in an old Rotterdam police headquarters. This pub and à-la-carte restaurant created by a social worker and a former police office, is almost entirely staffed by young people who have been in trouble with the law. And there’s more: four of its former police cells have been refurbished by Daan Bakker of Daf-architecten and turned into boutique B&Bs.

Innovation is also key in Eindhoven: at Phood Kitchen, two entrepreneurs under the age of 30 have created the world’s first completely Aquaponic farm-restaurant, which grows its own organic fruit and vegetables and also breeds fish.

In Amsterdam the attention is very much on diversity and inclusive cuisine, diets and alternative approaches to different foods that can be harmoniously combined. There is a definite focus on vegetables: at De Kas, in a 1926 greenhouse, a “blind” menu is served (diners simply choose the number of courses and mention any dietary restrictions) prepared using vegetables from the restaurant’s own garden. Meanwhile, Capital Kitchen’s theme is the ‘inner human being’: in a setting that is all reinforced concrete columns, wooden floors and colourful staircases, various representations of the human body decorate the tables and are featured in the art works on display, in a kind of ever-changing organic cave, while the kitchen is mostly unashamedly vegetarian. Its attitude to meat is that no more than one head of cattle should be used in any one week.