LVJ

LVJ sits on Voldersgracht, a narrow canal two blocks south of the Markt, in a 17th-century Delft canal house with the typical stepped gable. The restaurant opened in 2017 and has been reviewed consistently as the city's best wine restaurant — the wine list runs to 16 pages across Old World classics and small-grower allocations.

The food is contemporary Dutch with French technique. Signature dishes include North Sea turbot with bone-marrow sauce, Dutch-reared Wagyu with potato terrine, and a duck-liver preparation that references both Lyon and Amsterdam. The kitchen offers a three-course (€55), four-course (€70), or five-course (€85) dinner format.

The wine programme is the draw. Sommelier Niek de Jong built the list over six years with a particular focus on Loire Chenin Blanc, Burgundy premier cru, and a nearly complete vertical of Château Palmer from 1978 to 2015. The by-the-glass programme is deeper than the by-the-bottle programme at most competitors — roughly 40 wines by the glass at any time.

The dining room seats 45 — split between a street-level canal-facing section and a basement wine-cellar room with stone walls and barrel seating. The cellar room is the move for wine-forward dinners and comfortably holds parties of 8 to 14.

LVJ is the Delft wine-dinner restaurant. The 16-page list, the sommelier's genuine involvement at the table, and the cellar private room make it the best choice in Delft for any dinner where the wine matters as much as the food. For first dates, the street-level canal window table at dusk is the best seat in the room; for close-a-deal dinners, the cellar room handles parties of up to 14 with a dedicated sommelier.