Cafe Rouge Croque Monsieur
My first actual meal in Amsterdam wan't much more Dutch. We had planned to go to a place called Cafe Bern which was recommended on Trip Advisor for doing a very good fondue (the Dutch class this as one of their national dishes) but there was no table available until 9.30. We then decided to just go into the city centre and find something. Big mistake. We walked around for about an hour trying to find somewhere but everything was either too expensive or Italian, I presume to cater for the tourists.
We finally settled on a place called Humphreys. The restaurant only offered a 3 course set menu at €23.90 but there were quite a few things to choose from. The restaurant itself looked really nice; cosy and candlelit and we thought we'd made a good choice although the menu was a little odd. It was from looking at the menu that I discovered that it was actually a Dutch chain. I presume a bit like Pizza Express or Zizzi's; fast food but not as fast as McDonald's etc. After half a loaf of fresh bread (that was impossible to cut with the tools provided-a steak knife and butter knife) I had:
Prawn Cocktail
This wasn't my idea of a prawn cocktail; a few prawns with lettuce and one big breaded prawn, half an egg (!), some Thousand Island dressing smeared Master Chef style on the edge of the plate and cubes of tomato jelly. This freaked me out the most. It tasted nice-ish but was a bit like the congealed ketchup you get at the top of the bottle...
North American Beefsteak with Truffle Mash and Cep Gravy
They didn't ask me how I wanted my steak cooked so I was really worried this would come well done or it would actually be a burger! It was cooked medium rare thankfully and tasted pretty good. The beans were extremely limp and over-cooked however.
Mini Creme Brulee with Coffee
Just a little pud as we were full.
Apparently the Dutch don't really do breakfast so it was really hard to find somewhere to go on our first full day before our walking tour. We ended up in a place that initially seemed ok but after we'd ordered I noticed there were loads of lies. It really put me off but I ate:
Holland Pancake
Basically ham and cheese pancake. It was ok but the flies made it hard to swallow.
We went for lunch with some of the people from our tour (Sandeman's New Amsterdam free City Tour-highly recommended) and Ryan, our tour guide. We both had:
Dutch Pea Soup
This was really good soup. It was really thick and had loads of meat in it; meatballs, sausages and chunks of meat. It also came with rye bread and ham on the side and we bought some of this gorgeous, slightly sweet bread home with us.
A snack of:
Stroopwafel
Traditional Dutch syrup biscuit. It's a bit like the inside of a Tunnock's Caramel Wafer.
The Dutch have a large Indonesian population and therefore a lot of Indonesian restaurants. Our guide book recommended a few and by chance we stumbled upon Blauw, one of their more highly recommended ones, right by our hotel (surprising as our hotel was on the outskirts of town).
Meat and Fish Rijsttafel
The picture doesn't do this meal justice but it does show the sheer quantity of food involved there was. Translated literally it means 'rice table' and is a Dutch creation, I suppose a bit like our invention of the chicken tikka masala (although the origin of chicken tikka is disputed according to Wikipedia). I've never had Indonesian food before but it was like a combination of Thai and Chinese. Lots of coconut and satay style sauces. The only thing I was not a fan of was the hard boiled egg satay-it just didn't appeal. I was also confused over whether the deep fried banana was supposed to be part of the meal or treated as a dessert. There were French diners either side of us and both sets left it for last.
The next day we went for a simpler breakfast at Gartine:
Croissant, Sourdough Toast and Tea
Simple enough but the mango and blackberry preserves tasted homemade and the cakes in here looked beautiful. It was a really nice setting and I only wish we'd gone back for lunch. Instead we went to a cafe called Katoen and had:
Tuna Melt
This was mediocre but we got desperate as my boyfriend didn't like the look of Van Dobben which I wanted to try. I think they might have used salad cream rather than mayo as it was really sweet.
On the way to the Erotic Museum we bought:
Herring and Pickles
We wanted to try this as it's a Dutch delicacy sold from street vendors. I thought it would be like a Rollmop but actually it was just plain raw herring with some gherkins and raw onion on the side. It wasn't hideous but I wouldn't have it again. I'll stick to Rollmops in the future.
The final meal had to be traditionally Dutch so we went to the Trip Advisor recommended Haesje Claes. The restaurant itself looked really good and was I think based around the style of the 16th Century. My starter was:
Cheese Kroketten
These were a lot like the croquettes you can get here but with cheese inside. Tasty but not hot enough. My boyfriend had a shrimp version which I tried but actually I've decided I don't much like shrimps. They remind me of insects somehow...
My main was very traditional:
Stamppot Sauerkraut with Meatball, Sausage and Bacon
This tasted good, especially the meatball and sausage, but looking at the picture and considering the ingredients I'm not sure it's worth £15... We were given two additional sides of fries and roast potatoes; that's a lot of potatoes.
Blurry Croissant
Quick breakfast from the hotel before we checked out.
We had this at the station:
Kaassoufle
from here:
There's a chain called Febo which provide hot food vending machines. We were warned by our tour guide that they were gross but I love a fad so had to have a go. The one we used wasn't actually a Febo but it was the same kind of thing. The Kaassouffle is basically a Findus Crispy Pancake. I'm not gonna lie to you; it was amazing. I wish these things existed here for an alternative to a dirty kebab or dirty chicken on the way home from a night out. I might buy the franchise...
At the airport we had:
Quarter Pounder with Cheese Meal
It was about £15 for 2 meals. Ridiculous.
Laziness when we got home meant we had a Chinese takeaway. I disgust myself sometimes (often).
Chicken Noodle Soup (on which I burnt my mouth)
Salt and Pepper Squid with Egg Fried Rice
Today I've been a little better and had a bowl of cereal (you've seen that photo enough now) and for lunch :
M & S Chicken and Salami Sandwich (my favourite)
I'm out tonight for my friend's birthday. I'm hoping that won't mean you get a picture of a congealed chicken burger tomorrow but I can't promise anything.
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