Private chef · Costa del Sol · Est. 2023
An eye for light. Years in uniform. A Michelin kitchen for the precision. One table in the sun, and that's it.
Chapter 01 · About Nick
I'm Nick. Thirty-six. Born in Zwolle, childhood split across Belgium and Germany, school finished in Groningen. The kitchen found me late. Three years with the Royal Marechaussee first. Then a year volunteering in Gambia.
Twenty-six before I went all in. Started on the cold side of a kitchen. Then a year in the patisserie at Bord'eau, Hotel de L'Europe, under Bas van Kranen. The year that taught me what discipline looks like. The camera came earlier, eighteen. Same discipline, different tool.
Since 2023 I cook privately on the Costa del Sol. Uniform discipline. Michelin precision. Andalusian calm. All of it at one table. Real food, by hand.
Chapter 02 · The Timeline
Born in Zwolle, raised partly in Belgium and partly in Germany. Different countries, different kitchens, different tables. An early lesson that food speaks a different language wherever you go.
The family eventually settled in Groningen, where I finished my schooling.
three countries · one table
Before the kitchen called, I chose the service. With the Royal Marechaussee I trained as a first-class sergeant and worked, among other places, at Schiphol airport.
Three years long I learned what precision, responsibility and finishing a task actually mean. An attitude that walked straight into the kitchen with me.
first-class sergeant · schiphol
After the service years I left for a year of volunteer work in The Gambia. One of the roots of my curiosity about other kitchens and other cultures.
It also turned out to be one of the first real stamps in a passport that would eventually count 27.
volunteer work · west africa
All through it, I was cooking. No training, no brigade. But an unsatisfiable hunger, endless 24Kitchen, and a camera never far away.
Two passions sitting on a low flame, waiting for their moment.
amateur · 24kitchen · patience
It wasn't until around twenty-six that I went all in on the craft. I started in a restaurant kitchen, mostly on the cold section. The place where you learn that build, timing and cleanliness are half the work.
From there I moved on, with a stop at De Middenstip in Epe, on the road to Amsterdam.
cold section · de middenstip, epe
Through a meeting at the Horecava trade fair with chef Mounir Toub, a referral to Robert Kranenborg and eventually a conversation with Bas van Kranen, I landed in the kitchen of Bord'eau at Hotel de L'Europe.
I worked in the pastry section and picked up the rhythm of all the other parties on the way through. The lesson that stayed: a plate has to be honest, and precision lives in the smallest detail.
bord'eau · hotel de l'europe · pastry
I picked my own road. First I took over Eetcafé Texels. And learned right away how heavy a wrong location and an oversized building weigh.
After that, in a small unit on the Gelkingestraat, I opened Holyburgers: Groningen's first halal burger spot. Great product, accessible but with class. It grew into the best-reviewed burger spot in the city. That's where I really learned how to run a business.
holyburgers · gelkingestraat · top-rated
I've been shooting since I was eighteen. As an all-round photographer with a heart for portraits I learned the same discipline that shapes my kitchen: wait for the right light, pick the right moment, and know when to stop fine-tuning.
In 2024 I travelled across Japan. A wealth of images and a wealth of kitchen inspiration.
portrait · street · japan '24
I swapped Holland for Andalucía. Lemons grow on the tree here, the fish comes straight out of the sea, and everyone takes their time. Friends asked if I'd cook for them, then their friends, then a villa for a whole week.
That's how TOORN at table was born: private cooking at someone else's table, with the precision of the starred kitchen and the pace of the south.
private dinners · villa takeovers · 2023
Services · What you can book
No fixed prices. Everything is bespoke. The shape is below; we'll work out the details together.
01 · At your table
I cook at your home or villa. One evening, one table, one menu we agree on in advance. From shopping to plating to clean-up. You welcome your guests and hold your glass.
Plan an evening02 · A resident chef for a week
A full week on location. Dinners, and lunches or breakfasts if you like. I move with the rhythm of the group: one night raw fire, another an Italian village menu, everything straight from the market.
Book a week03 · Hands-on at my pace
Small group, your kitchen or mine. One dish or a full line-up, always following the seasons. What I teach you: technique above all. A strong foundation makes every dinner better.
Ask about it04 · Organised by Nick
Dinners I host myself: a fire-pit evening on a finca, an olive-grove table, a Dining under the Stars on the beach. Open booking, small group, a different setting each time.
See the agendaThe evening · What a night is
Not a delivery, not a buffet. One menu, built for the people in the room, cooked in front of them.
How the night runs
Before anything, we shape the night together. The table, the people, what they love and what they won't touch.
Market in the morning, whatever stands out that day. The menu finishes itself at the stall, not a week before.
I cook in full view. No hiding behind a door. The kitchen is part of the evening, not a back room.
Nothing rushed. The night moves with the table, not a clock. We stop when you're full, not before.
Shopping, plating, clean-up. You hold your glass and welcome your guests. I handle the rest.
To start
Gougère with Comté, Parmesan and goat-cheese mousse
A crisp choux puff with cheese in the dough, cold mousse in the heart. Warm-cold game.
Starter
Vitello tonnato
Italian classic. Nothing to update. Cold veal, creamy tuna sauce.
From the sea
Dorada à la plancha with charred lemon and olive oil
Whole fish, crisp skin, nothing else. Costa del Sol on a plate.
Main
Beef cheek braised in red wine with roasted garlic
Eight hours of braise, fifteen minutes of work. Meat that falls under a spoon.
To finish
Roasted pear with cardamom and honey mascarpone
Warm-cold, sweet-salt, cardamom and honey. Simple, hits deep.
An example, not a fixed card. Every menu is built around your table and the morning market.
Chapter 03 · Travels
Tap any stamp for the story. Every kitchen had its lesson. Every plate left a mark.
Countries visited
0
From San Sebastián to Tokyo.
Years in the trade
0
Since I was twenty-six. Not a year earlier.
Tables per month
0
Kept small, on purpose.
Chapter 04 · The Cookbook
A small, growing cookbook. Pick one for an evening, cook for someone you love, pour something I think pairs well.
22 recipes
An open bun, salt-creamy, velvet with a crunch. Two bites of work.
A crisp choux puff with cheese in the dough, cold mousse in the heart. Warm-cold game.
Rustic, not smooth. Toasted bread, cold rillette, a warm room.
Black-garlic aioli, hazelnut romesco, green-chilli chimichurri verde. Not the textbook versions.
Warm-cold, sweet-salt, cardamom and honey. Simple, hits deep.
Twenty hours of fermentation, two minutes of work. Blistered crust, wild crumb.
Eight hours of braise, fifteen minutes of work. Meat that falls under a spoon.
Whole fish, crisp skin, nothing else. Costa del Sol on a plate.
Jet-black, fire-red, fierce yellow. Spicy, fat, fresh, crunchy on one fork.
Italian classic. Nothing to update. Cold veal, creamy tuna sauce.
Fudgy middle, crackled edge. Smoked salt, no smoke flavour.
Decadent, classic, old-school French. No needless modernising.
High heat, short heat, long rest. Beef the way it should be.
Airy inside, crackling outside, all its flavour kneaded in. The lean one nobody believes is lean.
Crisp cucumber, sour, sweet, and a slow burn. Surprisingly hard to stop eating.
Fried aubergine drowned in cane syrup. Crisp, soft, sweet, salty. The first thing you order in a Málaga bar.
Roasted tomatoes, sweet onion, garlic, blitzed and strained to silk. The bay goes in the blender. Velvet.
Raw beef pressed thin onto a fresh tortilla and slammed face-down in a screaming-hot dry pan until the meat be…
Cinnamon rolls that won't put you in a coma. Quark in the dough instead of a stick of butter, quark in the gla…
A pizza crust made of cottage cheese and eggs. Put the eye-roll down. Baked thin and gold, topped with a real…
A hard-boiled egg wrapped in thick spiced ragout, breaded, and dropped in hot fat until it is gold and crackli…
Twenty Madame Jeanettes in a single jar. That is not a recipe, it is a dare. Bright, fruity, and honestly dang…
Chapter 05 · Events
A few times a month I cook at a long table where you can book a seat. Small groups, local produce, each time a different spot on the Costa.
Interlude
“Real food, by hand,
to your table.”
Nick
Before you write · Questions
Straight answers, so you know where you stand before you send a word.
Everything is bespoke, so there's no fixed price list. Tell me the shape of your evening and I send a first proposal, with a price, within a day. No surprises after that.
At your home or villa across the Costa del Sol. Marbella, Estepona, Sotogrande, Benahavís, Mijas, Málaga and around. Further afield on request.
Tell me at booking and I build the menu around them. If a guest has an allergy I can't safely guarantee around, I'll tell you straight rather than risk it.
No. Shopping, cooking, plating, clean-up, all mine. You welcome your guests and hold your glass. You wake to a kitchen cleaner than you left it.
Send the shape of it through the form, WhatsApp or email. I reply within a day with a proposal. The date is firm once you accept in writing and pay the deposit. Popular dates go early, so sooner is safer.
Thirty percent on confirmation, the rest within a week of the dinner. Bank transfer or card. Proper receipts from a Spanish autónomo number.
You can move the date once at no cost up to 14 days before. The full cancellation terms are written in plain words on the booking terms page.
Yes. I carry professional liability insurance for the cooking work. Years in a Michelin kitchen taught me that hygiene and safety are not optional.
English, Spanish and Dutch. The evening runs in whatever your table, and your staff, are most comfortable with.
Chapter 06 · At the table
A private dinner at home. A villa week. A birthday. Something else entirely. It all fits, as long as the table matters. The more you tell me, the sharper the first proposal.
Setting the table
Costa del Sol · Private chef
