Huiskamer Restaurant Water&Wijn (English: Living Room Restaurant Water&Wine) was founded by my girlfriend Marije and her best friend Nienke in 2014.
A brilliant idea that has sent waves around our neighbourhood of Zwolle, from being reviewed by a local newspaper and radio channel to getting requests to hold bachelorette parties, the living room restaurant Water and Wine was a major hit. How did it work? A one-off service per week restaurant right inside the living room of our current house in Zwolle, advertised through social media and run on a non profit basis. Where people can reserve seats at the dinner table to enjoy a three course feast, not only be wowed by the culinary talents of Marije and Nienke, but also get to know their neighbours in Zwolle, make some new friends, meet differentminded people and listen to live music performed by up and coming musicians. Heck, growing up in New Zealand and Australia, I fully understand the cult-like love for living room restaurants from reality TV shows like ‘My Kitchen Rules’ and I can see the appeal of this concept.
As the Tiny House chapter begins in our lives, Marije and I decide to carry on the Water and Wine legacy into our Tiny House. Brilliant is it not!? A Tiny House living room restaurant. Where our diners can also get the benefits I mentioned above, and it is a chance for others to look into tiny house living. As pioneers of the Tiny House living concept, I see it as our responsibility to expose the Tiny House movement to others. The more that follow us on this journey, the more accessible this lifestyle will be for others. Imagine this: councils and municipalities will want to help us, rules and regulations will be more defined.. United we stand, divided we fall! Dear audience, what we need is thinking outside the box. Life is full of possibilities. You never know what kind of amazing opportunity waits for you around the corner when you think outside the box and step out of your comfort zone. The possibilities are endless and I think the Tiny House restaurant is one of these great possibilities.
While we were living in Melbourne, we came across a restaurant called ‘Lentils as anything’. A unique non profit restaurant where diners can pay as they feel the food is worth, which takes out of the equation their financial situation. We love the concept of this restaurant. Money should help bring people together, not divide us, so we would like to get rid of the financial system as much as possible. Instead of selling our food, we would like to give people the chance to give a donation, in the form of money or in another way. In anthropological terms: reciprocity. I do something for you, you do something for me.
You might wonder how a restaurant will fit in a Tiny House. Well, we would like to invite you to come and see for yourself. But whether it will be dining inside our tiny house living room and getting amazed by the cleverness of the structure or feeling like you are part of nature dining on our tiny house porch, it will be a experience to remember. As we are trying to be as green as possible, we will try to make the cuisine vegan too. This is the best chance to show the world it is possible to make everyone’s favourite dishes vegan when you are passionate about it. Made from home-grown veges and herbs, as we will definitely make a vege patch next to or on top of our tiny house. Delicious and compassionate, I think the time has come to show some mercy to the world, and all the creatures living in it, don’t you think? Mercy.. a good name for our future Tiny House Restaurant?
