DIMMED LIGHTS DISTRICT - "The Duchess" and "Vermeer", Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
A great variety in styles, both in cooking and design, awaits a picky travelling connoisseurs. Absence of any typicality appears to be typical for the modern day Amsterdam.
Spuistraat 172, 1012 VT Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Z-star: ***** (5/5)
Michelin: *
http://the-duchess.com/
Chef: Jeffrey Graf
Incredibly good cooked classics are served in the stylish interior of the neo-gothic bank hall. Service is well-trained, quick and responsive. All the dishes on the menu are supposed to be shared. No tasting menu. No avant-guard. However, foie gras donuts with fig jam promise lightness and main curses like salted baked whole sea bass and grilled lamb cutlets and figs suggest Mediterranean frivolity. But all these are served with a touch of snobbery. Add to this creatively composed wine and bar list and you feel high-class. Best option for a relaxed evening with loved-ones and friends, without concerns and restrictions but also without disappointments. The only thing I missed were light-weight Zalto glasses.
Vermeer
Hotel NH Collection Barbizon Palace,
Prins Hendrikkade 59-72, 1021 AD Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Z-star: ***** (5/5)
Michelin: *
https://www.restaurantvermeer.nl/en/
Chef: Chris Naylor
Wine: Pannobile 2015, Claus Preisinger, Burgenland, Bio
Save Vermeer for a special occasion. Here you have an artist in the kitchen, so, like in every museum, it's not about you. It's about what you get. It's about your imagination moving you to Scotland an Guernsey. A sunset on a northern island: salty air and wind-burned lips; woolen sweater and smokey whiskey; you admire magnificent yellow bands of sunset, warm colors that do not warm, just like in the filled with light but cold Vermeer's rooms. You're invited to the fire: grains of salt on the generous portion of butter and crispy skin of pheasant. Seems simple, but for you, a city dweller, who accidentally got hear, it tastes unfamiliar, but curiosity makes you move further. Otherwise, what else makes one to travel?! Sweetbread and beetroot, mackerel and apples: contrasts in harmony. Tastes have never been so rich before. The journey made you richer. The last worries are calmed with five forms of chocolate, one for each of the senses. Inner peace is found here on the edge of the cold ocean. Last sip of wine before going to bed, the wine is biological, of course.
Michelin: *
https://www.restaurantvermeer.nl/en/
Chef: Chris Naylor
Wine: Pannobile 2015, Claus Preisinger, Burgenland, Bio
Save Vermeer for a special occasion. Here you have an artist in the kitchen, so, like in every museum, it's not about you. It's about what you get. It's about your imagination moving you to Scotland an Guernsey. A sunset on a northern island: salty air and wind-burned lips; woolen sweater and smokey whiskey; you admire magnificent yellow bands of sunset, warm colors that do not warm, just like in the filled with light but cold Vermeer's rooms. You're invited to the fire: grains of salt on the generous portion of butter and crispy skin of pheasant. Seems simple, but for you, a city dweller, who accidentally got hear, it tastes unfamiliar, but curiosity makes you move further. Otherwise, what else makes one to travel?! Sweetbread and beetroot, mackerel and apples: contrasts in harmony. Tastes have never been so rich before. The journey made you richer. The last worries are calmed with five forms of chocolate, one for each of the senses. Inner peace is found here on the edge of the cold ocean. Last sip of wine before going to bed, the wine is biological, of course.
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