Dinner in Amsterdam at Restaurant de Kas

Perhaps you noticed on my facebook feed, we ventured to Amsterdam last Saturday to try another restaurant.  In particular, this recommendation, Restaurant de Kas, came from a book we picked up on a trip to Amsterdam last summer.  The book is a compilation of restaurant recommendations from other chefs stratified by region (in Europe), cost, type of food, and etc. For this particular outing, I was looking for an establishment serving French food, but when I saw that this restaurant had its own greenhouse on site and a farm nearby, my curiosity got the best of me and I had to check it out.  Online, the website mentioned the food was influenced by Mediterranean cooking... I can't say I saw that reflected in the food I the evening we were there.  In my mind the food was neutral, not influenced by any particular country or region... just tasty! I'm happy with that!

While we intended to go to Amsterdam to see the Hermitage museum, due to the train station construction and what not, we didn't get into town in time (darn museumkaart is gonna go to waste, I can tell already!).  So, we walked around a little, went into the Oude Kerk (translates to Old Church... I know, super creative... most Dutch towns are like this by the way) and then found a small weekend neighborhood area to do some antiquing.  We found a great oyster plate, but then realized if we move back to MN we might not have much use for the plate.  So while our day to Amsterdam wasn't as educational as we initially planned, we sure did enjoy a nice sunny day in the big city! 

Below are some food pics that I'll share for your drooling pleasure (iPhone pics).  There is only a fixed menu available, but the experience can be completely your own.  You begin with three appetizers (which all come out at the same time), one main course, and one dessert.  You may replace the dessert with a cheese plate if you like (in true French form... hmmmmm.....), or you can supplement the cheese plate for an extra charge.  There is a massive wine selection, or there is a wine pairing you may choose to have instead. For us, the evening started off with the waiter asking us if we wanted to be surprised by the menu or if we wanted to know the full details.  We told him we wanted to be surprised.  Then he asked us if there was anything we didn't eat and I said no, but my husband very cleverly said he gets a little squeamish around offal.  The waiter assured us that this was not the case except for sweetbreads and we both said, no problem-o! We also chose the wine pairing, but asked for half pours as there was a lot of wine to accompany the meal, which they happily were able to accommodate.  

One last thing, I read on an informational booklet that you can tour the green house and participate in cooking events from May through October.  We definitely plan to go back and partake in these activities.  I also noticed there is a parking garage directly across from the entry way, so if you don't have time to explore the city, but want to check out the restaurant, don't worry about parking! 

On to the photos.... 

Outside shot of the restaurant, I can only imagine what it looks like when everything is in bloom!  To the right of this photo was a part along a canal/stream with a place to walk dogs and places to sit and read a book or admire the scenery.  I imagine this is can be a great getaway from the city life of Amsterdam when in need of something green and fresh.  

Apertif, olives from Puglia, Romaensco and cauliflower marinated in something with a bit of parsely, olive oil from Spain and warm bread.  

 

My hubby with a glass of organic, Dutch sparkling Riesling.  What's fun about the glass is that it's a view of the skyline from the restaurant's farm etched in.

Appetizer #1: Pork Belly with shaved truffle and brussel sprout. 

Appetizer #2: White fish (I think trout) with mushrooms and greens

Appetizer #3, Grilled fennel with a paprika/pepper sauce and a sesame seed twirl

Main Course: Veal with sweetbreads, bok choy, turnip (super small!), roasted purple carrot

Dessert: Blood orange tart with chocolate ice cream with dark chocolate shavings on top.  You can see the flower petals which were edible, but didn't add flavor to the dish - nice plate presentation touch though!

Restaurant Details: 
Address:
Kamerlingh Onneslaan 3
1097 DE Amsterdam
website: http://www.restaurantdekas.nl/
service: everyone speaks English
reservations: you can call (of course), but you can also make them online and they will send a confirmation email the day before

Restaurants in Yerseke and Middelburg, Zeeland, The Netherlands

In our quest to explore local hotspots near Eindhoven, we decided to travel to Zeeland, a group of islands in the south-western part of the country.  We traveled to the southern most island and stayed in a little town called Yerske, a harbor town on the North Sea (specifically the Eastern Scheldt).  We took a 1.5 hour tour through to learn about the towns top source of income, seafood!  We walked through the harbors, learning about the process for farming, auctioning, and selling mussels, oysters and lobsters specifically from the area (the rest of the time, they ship in Canadian lobster).  Since it was oyster season, we took some time to enjoy eating a variety of different oysters, raw and cooked.  

A photo of the other side of the Oesterij menu where we ate oysters.  They were located on the harbor in Yerseke. 

Our first plate of oysters where we tried three different types, one was a traditional European style oyster (flat tops), one was a Japanese style oyster (vary curvy shape - they actually grow upwards) which can be difficult to eat due to the shape of the shell, and a raked Japanese style of oyster which is groomed so the shell is flat and its easier to eat the oyster.  The European oyster was the fullest flavor of the three which lingered well after eating the oyster. 

Argo joined us and hung out under the table while we ate.  He gave me a smile thinking I would pet him! 

We finished with some baked oysters, but unfortunately I only got a black and white photo, these had a bit of onion and herbs in them and then were baked covered in cheese.  Pretty yummy, but oysters are truly best raw!

In the evening, we decided to explore the old city, Middelburg, also the capital of Zeeland.  Since we arrived pretty late in the evening, as is the case in many small European towns, it was completely dead (all shops closed, not very many people out and about).  We saw the amazing abbey from the outside in the center of town and then walked around looking for a decent place to grab a small bite to eat.  As we were walking and debating, I spotted a small restaurant called Brassiere Panneke and peaking through the window I decided it would be the perfect place for a dessert.  After finally securing a table around 9pm, we took a look at the menu and what others were eating and decided we had to try more than just dessert!  We settled on a one main dish to share and then we each selected a dessert and dessert wine, because one can never indulge too much.  We ended the night with a Italian-like espresso to keep ourselves wired for the drive back to the B&B.  The experience at this restaurant was amazing, the food is French influenced and the service was fantastic. We were so pleased with the owner who treated us the same as the others, giving us lots of details of the menu, our selections, and recommendations for wine.  While the crowd in the restaurant was older, this did not deter us from having an enjoyable experience, the food truly spoke for itself.  

We started off with a Moroccan influenced lamb stew served in a phyllo dough 'crust' and accompanied with sides of couscous, mashed potatoes with herbs (couldn't figure out what it was and the name was lost in translation), and a mash of red beets.  This also came with a side of oven-baked potatoes.  Then I had a pear tart dessert served with pear ice cream, whip cream, a raspberry sauce and a crunchy biscuit (the ladder looking thing in the photo) with a Moscato dessert wine.  My husband took a traditional (for the French anyway) cheese pate and on the recommendation of the owner had this with a port wine.  We ended the night with an espresso which was served with chocolates and plain cookies.  

These photos were unfortunately taken with my iPhone, so they are not as good as the ones from earlier in our trip.  Hopefully they get the point across and if you are ever in Middelbury, you'll look them up! 

Main course: Moroccan lamb dish

Oven baked potatoes served with main course

Dessert: the highlight of my menu.  Pear Tart

Dessert: My husband's course, cheese platter

Chocolates and biscuits served with coffee

mmmm, italian coffee - had to document it!

Day trip to Antwerp - February 2014

I think many of you who read this blog realize I live abroad with my husband and furry (dog) child and have been for almost the past 3 years.  Currently, we're living in a small city in The Netherlands that is very industrial and not very pretty.  Along with this, the food is ...well, let's just say... lacking (I hear this is a general Netherlands issue, but recently I've been told of some great seafood places by the sea so we'll be tying those out soon!).  Belgium is a mere 20 minutes drive from where we live, so we decided to head to the nearest (I think it's the nearest anyway!) metropolitan area, Antwerp for a day of sight seeing and decent restaurant-ing!

Before we left, we chose a restaurant using the viamichelin website... at first it seemed we wouldn't find anything as everyone was fully booked (we only made reservations the night before!), but after almost 10 calls we successfully secured a reservation at a french style restaurant.  Turns out that they may not actually have had room for us as my husband overheard them chatting about not enough tables and the reservation written for tomorrow... but well, we got in! Here's our review:

De Reddende Engel in Antwerp, Belgium
The food was fabulous, but the service was poor.  At one point during the evening, we realized we were the youngest people in the joint, which is a shame since the food was pretty tasty.  I'm not exactly sure if they wrote us off because they considered us too young to appreciate the food, but I found it right up our alley.  In particular, the waitress (or co-owner, couldn't really tell) didn't offer the cheese platter (I also didn't realize it cost only 3.50 euro more... what a freaking bargain!) which I just consider to be a lack of decent marketing skills.  Additionally there were 2 desserts you could have with your fixed menu, but you had to order it at the beginning.  I didn't realize this and also didn't understand her completely (also the menu was written in Dutch and French) when she tried to explain it (which was also odd because it seemed like she was in a rush even though the restaurant was mostly empty and were were the second couple of the evening!), but she never came back and asked us if we would like it.  Rather we ordered from the standard menu.

The ambiance of the place was quaint and decorated with lots of odds and ends.  From the reviews I've read online, many people consider it out of date.  I didn't find these overly oppressive, but there were a lot of knick knacks that I'm not sure were actually being used.  On the other hand, we realized towards the end of our day that Antwerp is a great antiquing area, so perhaps all their items have some significance.

Here are some food pictures for your (but mostly my) drooling pleasure.  We both picked a preset (i.e. fixed) menu.  I enjoyed mine, my husband was less pleased, but still satisfied.  It turns out popular menu item was the bouillabaisse, it's such a shame that we didn't get it, but I suspect we'll be heading back to try it.  From what we could see of other patrons, it looked fantastic with whole prawns and lots of traditional toppings to go along with it.  Oh how I love french food!

A little treat while we were trying to decide on food.  Olives and a tomato tart on a pastry like crust

Hubby's app: Scallops, asparagus with burre blanc 

My app: Fried goat cheese in a pastry crust (less flaky then the one above) with an orange-pepper sauce and salad

Hubby's 2nd course: vegetable soup in a fish stock, so delicious even though it doesn't look like much here

My main course: sea bass with a shallot cream sauce 

Matthew's main course: Duck (we don't remember what else was in this dish... must not have been that impressed!)

Dessert: we got the same thing, a chocolate-pistachio cake with pistachio ice cream