Femke grew up in the south of the Netherlands, where good food and big family tables go hand in hand, a tradition she has carried with her ever since. Now living in the heart of Madrid, she cooks daily for a household of six, which means she has mastered the art of making food that is both satisfying and repeatable, without ever letting it feel like a chore.

Her strengths are quiet but impressive: she has an extraordinary feel for the oven, coaxing out depth and comfort from whatever goes in, and an equal talent for salads and lighter dishes that manage to feel fresh, complete, and genuinely nourishing rather than like an afterthought. Healthy eating, for Femke, is never about restriction; it’s about balance, colour, and knowing how to make simple ingredients shine.

Thirty years of travelling alongside her husband have left their mark on her cooking in the best possible way. From kitchen to kitchen, market to market, and table to table across different countries and cultures, she has quietly absorbed techniques, flavour combinations, and recipes that have found their way into her everyday cooking back home. The result is a repertoire that spans far beyond her Dutch roots; layered, curious, and always grounded in what actually works for a real family on a real weeknight.

At Applause for the Chef, Femke brings that same grounded, well-travelled perspective: recipes that are fresh, thoughtful, and built for the people you love to feed.

Going out is as much a part of his process as cooking at home. Restaurants, tapas bars, market stalls, hole-in-the-wall spots that only locals know; Bram eats everywhere with open eyes and a good memory. Much of that inspiration ends up on the table at his dinner parties, which are a regular fixture and something of a local legend among his friends.

When the occasion calls for it, he also takes his cooking beyond his own kitchen available for private catering for those who want something a little less ordinary on the table.

Bram has never stayed in one place long enough to cook the same thing twice and that is exactly the point. Having lived across different corners of Spain, through the vibrant food cultures of South America, and deep into the street kitchens and spice markets of Southeast Asia, he has spent years eating with intention and cooking with everything he picks up along the way. He now calls Barcelona home, a city that suits him perfectly: cosmopolitan, ingredient-obsessed, and always with something new happening around the next corner.

His cooking reflects the life he has lived. One evening it might be a slow-cooked Colombian stew that took root during a year abroad; the next, a Thai-inspired dish built from what he found at the market that morning. He loves to experiment; with techniques, with unexpected ingredient pairings, with dishes that shouldn’t work on paper but somehow do; yet he has equal respect for the staples. A perfect tortilla, a proper rice dish, a sauce that has been made the same way for generations. He understands that knowing the rules makes the experimenting mean something.

Going out is as much a part of his process as cooking at home. Restaurants, tapas bars, market stalls, hole-in-the-wall spots that only locals know; Bram eats everywhere with open eyes and a good memory. Much of that inspiration ends up on the table at his dinner parties, which are a regular fixture and something of a local legend among his friends.

When the occasion calls for it, he also takes his cooking beyond his own kitchen available for private catering for those who want something a little less ordinary on the table.

At Applause for the Chef, Bram brings restless curiosity, serious range, and the kind of confidence that only comes from having cooked your way around the world.Her strengths are quiet but impressive: she has an extraordinary feel for the oven, coaxing out depth and comfort from whatever goes in, and an equal talent for salads and lighter dishes that manage to feel fresh, complete, and genuinely nourishing rather than like an afterthought. Healthy eating, for Femke, is never about restriction; it’s about balance, colour, and knowing how to make simple ingredients shine.Thirty years of travelling alongside her husband have left their mark on her cooking in the best possible way. From kitchen to kitchen, market to market, and table to table across different countries and cultures, she has quietly absorbed techniques, flavour combinations, and recipes that have found their way into her everyday cooking back home. The result is a repertoire that spans far beyond her Dutch roots; layered, curious, and always grounded in what actually works for a real family on a real weeknight.At Applause for the Chef, Femke brings that same grounded, well-travelled perspective: recipes that are fresh, thoughtful, and built for the people you love to feed.

Dutch by origin, he is one of the founders of Applause for the Chef and a passionate home cook with a love for classic European cooking, simple Mediterranean and Asian ingredients, practical kitchen techniques, and a kitchen full of toys. And when the weather calls for it, which in Madrid is more often than not, he takes it all outside: BBQ is a serious passion, and the grill is as much his domain as the stovetop. He approaches live-fire cooking the same way he does everything else in the kitchen: with curiosity, a willingness to experiment, and no fear of getting it wrong the first time.

Over the years, he has collected recipes, notes, and ideas from travels, restaurants, family dinners, and countless evenings cooking with friends around Madrid. Some came together perfectly on the first try. Many took a few rounds of tinkering, tweaking the spice balance, rethinking the technique, swapping an ingredient, before becoming something worth sharing.

His focus is on recipes that are approachable, balanced, and genuinely enjoyable to cook at home. Whether that’s a slow-braised Dutch classic, a bright Mediterranean spread, a bold Asian-inspired dish, or something that spent the afternoon on the grill.