Dudok In Het Park

Dudok In Het Park is located at Baden Powelllaan 12 in Rotterdam. Situated in Het Park, near the Euromast, it falls within the city’s center area. The business is part of the Dudok Horeca Groep and combines a brasserie with a venue for meetings and events.

The brasserie is housed in Het Heerenhuys, a building Dudok describes as a national monument dating back to 1750. Public sources do not mention specific founders for Dudok In Het Park, but it is well-established that Ton van Zanten and Aad van der Wel opened the first Restaurant Brasserie Café Dudok on the Meent in Rotterdam in 1991.

There is some nuance regarding the opening year of Dudok In Het Park. Dudok’s own information states that the building reopened as Dudok In Het Park in 2017 after renovation. However, a food blog from May 2018 described the location at that time as a newly opened café in the park. For an accurate picture, it is important to note that both dates appear in the documentation.

The concept aligns with how Het Park is used throughout the day. The brasserie offers breakfast, coffee, tea with pastries, lunch, and “borrel” (after-work drinks) moments. De Buik van Rotterdam quoted Bart van der Wel on the location’s focus on the day-time crowd. As such, Dudok In Het Park does not position itself as a pure specialty coffee shop, but as a hospitality venue where coffee is one part of a broader offering.

For coffee lovers, the menu is the most relevant part. It features coffee, espresso, double espresso, cappuccino, koffie verkeerd, latte macchiato, flat white, and iced latte. Additionally, the menu lists coffee drinks with alcohol, such as Irish coffee, Baileys coffee, Italian coffee, French coffee, and Spanish coffee.

The menu also lists coffee additions. Guests can choose from vanilla, hazelnut, caramel, or chocolate syrups. Oat milk is listed as a dairy alternative. The available information makes no mention of manual brewing methods; filter coffee, pour-over, AeroPress, cold brew, or other specialty methods are not documented in the menu sources examined.

The available information names Smit & Dorlas as the coffee partner. A public source describes a sixteen-year partnership between Dudok Horeca Groep and SMIT&DORLAS. However, that source does not mention Dudok In Het Park separately as a specific client. Therefore, it can only be stated that the partnership is documented at the group level.

Alongside coffee, the menu features tea from T’s. A 2018 blog mentioned Legends of Tea from Smit & Dorlas in the context of a high tea at Dudok In Het Park. Current information regarding tea and high tea further indicates a relationship with Dudok Patisserie, which provides the sweet and savory components.

Dudok In Het Park also functions as an event venue. Official information mentions meetings, workshops, drinks, business lunches, dinners, weddings, ceremonies, and private gatherings. Two halls are documented: the Parkzaal, with a capacity of 10 to 100 people, and the Zocherszaal, with a capacity of 10 to 60 people.

A recurring feature of the location is the Heerenhuyskamerconcerten series. According to Dudok, these concerts take place every Sunday morning in the Parkzaal. The program begins at 11:30 AM, lasts one hour, and is set up for 60 visitors. Uitagenda Rotterdam describes the Parkzaal during these events as an intimate music venue for jazz, classical, and world music.

The concert series is linked to Stichting Droom en Daad. In 2022, De Havenloods and RotterdamStyle reported that the Heerenhuyskamerconcerten had welcomed their 10,000th visitor. It was noted that since 2018, live music has taken place every Sunday at Het Heerenhuys.

The researched sources provide limited insight into origin and sustainability. No specific sustainability practices are publicly documented for Dudok In Het Park. Furthermore, coffee bean origin, farm-level details, certifications, or sustainability claims regarding their coffee are not mentioned in the available sources.

However, several suppliers and brands are visible in the documentation. In addition to T’s tea, the menu mentions Schulp juice, Loopuyt, Grolsch, and Brouwerij ’t IJ. The sources do not, however, mention the criteria used to select these suppliers. For pastries, Dudok points to Dudok Patisserie. This bakery is part of the Dudok Horeca Groep and has been based in Barendrecht since May 15, 2017.

Since its opening, Dudok In Het Park has received attention in local and regional media. In May 2018, De Buik van Rotterdam published an article about the location and maintains a listing including the address, neighborhood, meal times, and a description. Weekends in Rotterdam included the establishment in July 2018 in an overview of new hospitality locations in Rotterdam.

Uitagenda Rotterdam lists Dudok In Het Park as a cultural venue, partly due to the Sunday concerts. In 2025, RotterdamStyle reported that Dudok In Het Park was among ten nominated terraces in a Rotterdam terrace competition. In the same report, By Ami was named the winner. These mentions primarily highlight the location’s role within the hospitality scene, park usage, and small-scale cultural programming in Rotterdam.