Tag: netherlands

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Lunch at the Casa

I was in Amsterdam for a conference and was staying at the Hotel Casa which is close to Amstelstation.

After some meetings I was in the mood for some lunch, I chose the beef steak open sandwich, with caramelised onion, cheddar and pico de Gallo.

beef steak open sandwich

I certainly needed a knife and fork to eat this, The steak had an interesting flavour. It does appear to be a Dutch thing to add cheese to steak in their sandwiches. I enjoyed the pico de Gallo which added a nice element of freshness to the food. There was a generous portion of steak on the bread.

I thought it was just okay, nothing special. I think the flavour of the steak let the sandwich down.

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Merguez sausages with onions

I was staying at the Casa Hotel in Amsterdam and I looked over the menu. I decided I would have the merguez sausages with onions. I do like merguez sausages and have cooked them myself many times.

The plate arrived and there were two merguez sausages on a bed of cooked onions and pepper.

Merguez Sausages with onions

The merguez sausages were similar to ones I have had before, most similar to the ones I bought in France recently when I was there on holiday.

Overall a nice dish of food and so much better than the calamari that I ordered at the same time.

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Well they were terrible

I sometimes have the expectation that food in hotels abroad should be better than I find from UK hotels. It’s probably an unrealistic expectation and I really shouldn’t be making that assumption. Likewise, not all hotels are the same, so as with the UK there are probably hotels which are better on the continent and there are more than likely hotels with are not very good.

I was staying at the Casa Hotel in Amsterdam and I looked over the menu. I decided I would have the calamari. 

I anticipated that this might be freshly cooked squid at best, or similar to the crispy squid I had at Novotel at worst. However, it was neither of these, it was heavily battered squid rings.

calamari

These were, well to be frank, they were terrible. The batter was too thick, you couldn’t taste the squid. I really didn’t enjoy them and didn’t finish the bowl.

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Pretty Coffee

I was in Amsterdam for a conference and was staying at the Hotel Casa which is close to Amstelstation.

I hadn’t been able to book breakfast with my hotel booking and I wasn’t willing to pay €17.50 for a buffet breakfast, which if my other Dutch experiences were anything to go by it wasn’t going to be that good value for money. So, after getting washed and dressed I headed out to the nearby Jumbo supermarket. I got four croissant for €1, some orange juice, and I got some more Illy espresso capsules for the hotel room coffee machine, all for €7.31. Bargain!

On one of the following days, my plan was to head to the supermarket to get some croissant and an orange juice. However, it was pouring with rain. So, I went to the hotel café for a flat white and croissant.

They did make a very pretty coffee.

flat white coffee

Either I left it too long as I ate my croissant, or they didn’t pre-heat the cup, as the coffee wasn’t very hot when I came to drink it. Difficult to really judge how good or bad the coffee was, as it wasn’t at the right temperature. They did give me a biscuit though, which I didn’t really want as it was first thing in the morning. So, not really sure about my overall verdict, okay it was pretty.

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Dinner at ARCA

Amsterdam canal in the evening

I was back in Amsterdam for some meetings. We went out for dinner and we headed off to ARCA. Portuguese chef Henrique Sá Pessoa who has two Michelin stars in Lisbon, opened ARCA Amsterdam in 2021 on Martelaarsgracht, close to Amsterdam Central Station.

Inside was elegant decor and some odd looking sculptures. As we congregated we had a drink in the bar. Once we were all there we were shown to our table. The place was full and busy.

There was a really interesting menu, and to be honest I probably could have ordered anything (or everything) off the menu. 

For my starter I had the carpaccio de lírio. This was yellowtail carpaccio, Portuguese ‘caponata’ and pickled pearl onion.

carpaccio de lírio.

Now I did think this was going to be yellowfin tuna, but yellowtail is a different kind of fish. This was a fusion dish of Japanese style yellowtail slices with a Portuguese twist with the caponata. I had heard of caponata, but couldn’t remember exactly what it was. This version was aubergine, pepper, tomato, and onion. This was a delicious plate of food. The thin slices of fish were tasty and the caponata added sharpness and flavour.

For my main course I had the presa Ibérica. This was Iberian pork presa, “Bolhão Pato” purée, and seasonal clams.

presa Ibérica

I chose the pork as I have a fondness for Iberian pork. 

The Presa Ibérica (Iberico dam) is one of the most prized cuts in restaurants. It is also known as the “caviar” of the pig. It is in the front of the animal, between the spine and the shoulder. It is a muscle that the animal exercises a lot yet the infiltrated fat makes it very juicy.

Alongside the pork was some lovely smooth potato purée. The dish was dressed with green beans, puffed rice, clams, and a tasty sauce.

The pork was cooked perfectly, there was a lovely char on the outside of the portion of pork, the pork was tender and full of flavour. I really enjoyed every mouthful and cleared my plate.

Two of our party went with the polvo à lagareiro, this was roasted octopus, mashed sweet potato, and piquillo peppers.

polvo à lagareiro,

This looked amazing and was assured it was delicious.

Overall this was a fantastic meal and I really enjoyed it. The service was excellent, friendly and efficient.

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Sirloin Ciabatta

arena

I was back in Amsterdam for some work stuff. This time I was staying at the Hampton by Hilton near the Johan Cruyff Arena, home to Ajax FC. The hotel did not have a restaurant,  but there was a wide range and variety of places close by. I didn’t go to far and went to the place next door, the Brasserie Hoekenrode. They had a menu of grilled entrees and sandwiches. The previous evening I had some nice lamb chops.

After leaving the offices where I had been working, I headed to my hotel. The bars and pubs were very busy for the football game happening later at the Johan Cruyff Arena. I did check how busy the restaurant was next door, it was packed. 

Went back to my hotel room and decided I would wait until after kick off before heading out to get something to eat. 

When I arrived at Brasserie Hoekenrode it was virtually empty, though some fans were in watching the match on the big screen.

I had a sirloin steak ciabatta, which came with cheese salad and a portion of fries.

Sirloin Ciabatta

This was certainly an interesting dish. Not sure it would be something I would order again. The steak was nice, but I really don’t think the cheese added anything to the sandwich. The fries were nice, but the salad was nothing special. 

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Lamb Chops

Railway Station

I was back in Amsterdam for some work stuff. This time I was staying at the Hampton by Hilton near the Johan Cruyff Arena, home to Ajax FC. The hotel did not have a restaurant, but there was a wide range and variety of places close by. I didn’t go too far and went to the place next door, the Brasserie Hoekenrode.

They had a menu of grilled entrees and sandwiches. I went with the lamb chops. The plate arrived with five lamb cutlets, a portion of fries, mayo, salad and garlic butter. 

plate of lamb chops, fries and salad with a glass of beer in the background

The lamb was cooked well and was nice and tender. I was sightly annoyed with the garlic butter, I had anticipated it being melted, but it was still cold from the fridge. I should have gone with a different sauce.

Overall it was a nice plate of food, nothing special, but still quite tasty.

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A Walking Conference Dinner

In my current work I have attended a number of conferences across the years, around the UK and internationally as well. Virtually all the time you are sitting at a table being served three courses and coffee. There have been some exceptions, some of these are better some are worse. I remember one conference dinner in Leeds where we had to get up from our tables and head to the servery to pick up our food, in the “day” it was a canteen, but it didn’t feel very much like a formal conference dinner. Earlier this year I was at a conference in Brighton and for the conference dinner we had fish and chips in a box on the pier, which doesn’t exactly sound like a conference dinner, but it was awesome. Another nice conference dinner was when we had our dinner under the wings of the BOAC Comet at RAF Cosford. I can’t recall what we ate, but the atmosphere was very different and special. Back in 2006 I was in Helsinki for a conference, and I was expecting that the conference dinner would involve some local cuisine, well the reality was that we ended up in an Italian restaurant for the conference dinner, though the food was excellent, it wasn’t really very Finnish. The best conference dinner I remember was in Athlone in Ireland, where the dinner was in a restaurant and we could choose from the menu. I thought this was incredible, as most conference dinners had a fixed menu. I didn’t fancy anything sweet for dessert, so I cheekily asked if they could do me cheese and biscuits, and they did. It was a lovely meal. 

So, attending a conference in Delft in the Netherlands, I was intrigued by the notion of a walking conference dinner, which is a Dutch thing. The meal was at the Vakwerkhuis which has a garden, as well as a range of interesting rooms. The concept was quite simple waiters would bring the food out and you could eat standing up, sitting down, or even walking around (not really advisable that last one). This was a lovely way of engaging with fellow delegates at a conference dinner, you wouldn’t be stuck on one table for all three courses. It certainly helped the food was excellent as well.

The first dish I had was an aubergine dish, I think it was the vegetarian alternative. Regardless it was rather tasty.

A little later the second dish arrived, and this was  burrata with pickled tomato, wild peach, and crispy Parmesan. This was another tasty dish. Burrata and tomato is something I do, however here I did enjoy the addition of the peach and crispy Parmesan. There was a nice freshness to the dish.

The main course was entrecôte steak with corn cream, green asparagus, and chimichurri. I did wonder how they would serve the steak, but it came sliced. The steak was delicious, tender and full of flavour. The accompaniments worked well in enhancing the dish.

The final plate was the dessert, and this was a passion fruit mousse with chocolate crumble and coffee ice cream. It was nice, but I thought it was a little too busy.

I liked the format of the conference and the food was delicious.

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Not so fast food…

You would think that if I was in the Netherlands that really I should be eating Dutch food. The challenge I sometimes have when I am travelling abroad for work, is finding places to eat, but also finding places to eat that are within budget. Not that I sometimes mind paying more for excellent food, sometimes I do mind.

The last time I was in the Netherlands was in October 2022 when I visited Amsterdam for a conference. This time I was attending a conference in Delft.

I had been at the conference for the day and after a late finish I headed back to my hotel. I had been to the Italian restaurant, Pavarotti, before for pasta. I decided I would order a pizza to go. As it was late, I was thinking this would be quicker and then I would take it back to my hotel room. I ordered a mushroom pizza and sat down to wait…

And I waited…

Then, I waited some more…

It was over fifty minutes before my pizza was ready. They did throw in some free ice cream, but fifty minutes….

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Andalusian Beef

The last time I was in the Netherlands was in October 2022 when I visited Amsterdam for a conference. Having spent a few days in Delft at a conference, and meetings in Utrecht I took the train back to Schiphol Airport where I had booked a hotel, the CitizenM, which is literally next door to the airport.

I wasn’t that impressed with the menu, but there weren’t many places to eat around the hotel. I went with the Andalusian Beef. This was described as slow cooked beef in a carrot and white bean stew. Served with oven baked potatoes and beef chorizo. Topped with our signature black olive crumble and parsley.

Andalusian Beef

The dish arrived and let’s just say I was not impressed. The stew was quite bland, and there wasn’t very much beef in there. The oven baked potatoes were cooked, but I wouldn’t have said they were cooked in the oven. The “signature black olive crumble” was not very good, it was driven black olive and some stale bread pieces. Not sure I would be boasting about that.

I ate it, but I was quite disappointed.