Amsterdam’s greenhouse dining experience

The COVID-19 pandemic forced all restaurants and cafes to suddenly close as the virus spread across the world. As countries re-emerged from national lockdowns restaurants looked for creative ways to bring their customers back. One innovative approach managed to catch the world’s attention. A restaurant in Amsterdam, called Mediamatic Eten, trialled the use of small greenhouses for dining on the Oosterdok river.

Channel News Asia’s flagship food documentary series For Food’s Sake is broadcast across the Asia Pacific region. As part of a series on how restaurants innovated around the COVID-19 pandemic, producers wanted standout examples from across the world. This included Amsterdam’s Mediamatic Eten, whose greenhouse dining experiencer had featured prominently in global media.  

Our crew consisted of renowned Dutch chef and presenter, Rene Pluijm, two cameramen, a sound technician and a producer. Working around COVID-19 restrictions in Amsterdam, we collaborated with staff at Mediamaic Eten to develop a short documentary segment about greenhouse dining which aired across Asia in November 2o20.