Jarno Eggen starts again with Le Epifaan in Veeningen
After De Groene Lantaarn, Jarno Eggen cooks for seven tables in the Reest valley with his partner Amanda Rixtum. Le Epifaan won a Michelin star eight weeks after opening.
Jarno Eggen (48) is starting again, and he is doing it small. After years with two Michelin stars at De Groene Lantaarn in Staphorst, the chef now cooks at Le Epifaan, Bloemberg 5 in Veeningen, with seven tables and the line that Dagblad van het Noorden put in its headline today: ‘I pick the mushrooms myself.’
Le Epifaan sits in the Reest valley, on the border of Drenthe and Overijssel, in the building where Eggen previously ran restaurant Poortman. He sold that business in November 2024 because he could not hold the quality he wanted across two locations, he told RTV Drenthe in May. In early 2026 De Groene Lantaarn, which he ran with Cindy Borger, closed as well. Much of the team moved with him to Veeningen.
Who is Jarno Eggen
We got this beautiful star for what we were already doing, not for what we are going to do.
Jarno Eggen became an SVH Meesterkok in 2015 and Gault&Millau Chef of the Year in 2018, DvhN wrote in June. De Groene Lantaarn moved from Zuidwolde to its own building on the Gemeenteweg in Staphorst in 2019 and belonged to the small group of two-star restaurants in the Netherlands. His new restaurant opened this summer with his partner Amanda Rixtum, a sommelier who previously worked at De Gaffel and De Vlindertuin.
On 5 October, at the MECC in Maastricht, Le Epifaan received a Michelin star, about eight weeks after opening. That gives Drenthe two starred restaurants, alongside De Vlindertuin in Zuidlaren. ‘We got this beautiful star for what we were already doing, not for what we are going to do,’ Eggen told RTV Drenthe afterwards. Michelin calls the cooking creative and describes a meal there as a challenging voyage of discovery, familiar and innovative at once.
Mushrooms, game and seven tables in the Reest valley
The base is classic French with Asian influences. Asparagus comes from the Weiland nursery, game from hunter friends, mushrooms from the surrounding land. ‘You find beautiful mushrooms here, great game, and there are a few excellent Drenthe asparagus growers,’ Eggen said back in May. A fixed classic is his take on beschuit met muisjes, the Dutch birth biscuit: a round potato biscuit with chive cream and caviar.
According to the website, the suggestion menu costs €135 for four courses and €155 for five. The biscuit with 13 grams of caviar is a €35 supplement. Bookings are by phone on 0522 463116; Le Epifaan is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. For another chef in the east of the country handing over and moving on, read how Lars van Galen is handing ’t Lansink in Hengelo to new owners.
With seven tables the arithmetic is quick: after a star in eight weeks, getting a Friday night in Veeningen is for now the hardest part of the menu.
