Author: dutchgrub

La Oliva Amsterdam – No, Really, Don’t Bother

About a year ago I stumbled upon La Oliva, a then brand new tapas and pintxos bar in the Jordaan. I tried it out and posted about my disappointment. La Oliva is perfectly located on a pretty corner smack in the middle of the Jordaan. And the restaurant looks great with its stylish decor and display of cured hams, wine bottles and pintxos. Unfortunately the food is average and high-priced and the service pretentious.

Over the last few months I had heard several positive reviews of La Oliva and some dutchgrub readers left comments saying that the food was delicious and the service nice and helpful. So I decided to try again and did a few days ago when I was in the area.

Unfortunately I must say that I was right. I wanted to like La Oliva, because it looks great and Amsterdam needs a good tapas bar. But I didn’t because it’s all about appearance and not about food.

la oliva amsterdam - pintxos

The pintxos were lukewarm and stale, especially the tortilla. And the ingredients were of inferior quality, which really ruined the Serrano ham appetizer. And to add insult to injury, the little tart with tomato sauce actually seemed to be deep freezer quality. Then we had some tapas and a dish from the main menu, which were small and rather bland. The wine was ok but very expensive at € 40,= for an average bottle of tempranillo.

All in all we paid more than € 150,= between the three of us for average food and wine and left as disappointed as the first time. So, no, don’t bother about La Oliva. Really.

Lunch at La Rive Amsterdam

La Rive is one of seven restaurants with a Michelin star in Amsterdam. It’s located in the classy Amstel hotel and was rumored to but didn’t receive its second star in November 2009.

I had lunch at La Rive as part of Dining with the Stars, the Michelin star only edition of the Amsterdam restaurant week. The deal was a prix fixe lunch for € 40,=.

The overall experience at La Rive is impressive. The Amstel hotel is very classy with its marble entrance hall and doormen in tuxedos. The restaurant is just as exclusive with old school wooden furniture with golden rims, paintings of the Dutch masters of the golden ages on the walls and table cloths starched to the max. I often find that Michelin star dining experiences are overly formal and spoil much of the fun and this kind of expensive but middle of the road decor is part of the reason.

restaurant la rive amsterdam - decor

I was positively surprised by the service. First of all it was as professional and present as you would expect from a Michelin star restaurant. There are more people looking after your well being than you can imagine – receptionist, host, floor manager, waiter, bus boy, sommelier and probably a few others I forgot about. And everything is taken care of constantly – your glass topped off as soon as you take a sip, your napkin replaced as soon as you leave the table and your satisfaction with the food checked and double checked. While this is to be expected, I also found the service very friendly and with a good sense of humor, which nicely loosed up the formal atmosphere!

The food was absolutely amazing. I was most impressed by the consistency of the elaborate dishes. It’s really unbelievable how each and every of these complex compositions looks and tastes exactly the same!

restaurant la rive amsterdam - amuses

As is often the case, the amuses were the highlight! So unexpected and just a little crazy. And so fun to try and experience the daring flavors and textures.

The menu was set although La Rive was happy to serve a vegetarian version or accommodate any other dietary requirements. For the carnivorous foodie there was an excellent Wagyu tartar for starters, garnished with mushrooms and paté. Next was cod with ox tail and red cabbage. I thought this worked really well as the ox tail and cabbage supported the cod really well and subtly contrasted its flavors rather than being overpowering. The main was roasted duck with Jabugo ham.

We were a little underwhelmed by the dessert, a mixed platter with mille-feuille, praline, and anise sorbet. It seemed slightly ordinary and was missing something to tie it together.

Overall the lunch was incredibly well executed. The quality of the ingredients was superb, the consistency of the dishes amazing and the service and decor impeccable. As with other Michelin restaurants, we did feel like we were missing the fun. Maybe we need to grow up, but for now we would be happy with a more daring and innovative menu and a more personal and less formal ambiance.

More Sake in Amsterdam

Two weeks ago I wrote about two great sake resources I discovered in Amsterdam. Places with a selection of different quality sakes, where you can get advice and pick up a good bottle of sake according to your own preferences. Turns out there is more good sake available in Amsterdam!

The first source came up in the comments of the previous post: Restaurant Yamazato in the Okura hotel has an extensive sake list (pdf), including an organic junmai ginjo and several daiginjo. The Okura is also planning to offer sake tasting workshops as part of its Taste of Okura cooking classes, although no dates have been announced yet.

And I got even more excited when I discovered that my favorite wine shop, Ton Overmars, had started carrying a selection of sakes! I went there last weekend to pick up some bottles of Tempus Two and immediately spotted the new sake section above the port and cognac. Ton now has 15 kinds of sake available, complete with classification and some descriptions.

choko sake at ton overmars amsterdamWhat was even better was that Ton spotted me checking out the sake and was nice enough to not only help me make a selection but let me taste five kinds right on the spot! Apparently I had just missed one of his memorable tasting evenings in the neighborhood church. And luckily there were some bottles of sake left open and ready to be tried.

I settled for a bottle of Sake Nabeshima Chõko,which is an unpasteurized junmai with a complex aroma and a very smooth structure from aging. Ton also has the Kizan I got some time ago at the Pure Markt, as well as some specialties like a reddish colored sake, a bottle with active yeasts and a 31 year vintage sake!

If you are into sake, you should definitely check out Ton Overmars on Hoofddorpplein in Amsterdam!

Vegetarian Christmas Menu at De Witte Uyl

de witte uyl amsterdamRestaurant De Witte Uyl Amsterdam is one of dutchgrub’s favorite restaurants in Amsterdam and has a yearly Christmas special.

De Witte Uyl is one of the more popular restaurants in town for vegetarians. They always have several vegetarian options on their menu and recently started catering more and more to vegetarian guests.

This year, owners Annemieke and Han decided to try something new and are offering a fully vegetarian Christmas menu next to the regular one. Like the regular menu, the vegetarian one has 6 courses. There is a carpaccio of beets, wok fried Jerusalem artichoke, chestnut tarte tatin, mushroom ravioli and a goat cheese soufflé. For dessert there will be yuzu ice cream with meringue, although you might want to persuade them to trade that for the amazing chocolate board.

The menu is available December 25 and 26 for € 75,=. I usually stay away from wine arrangements, but given the excellent wine list and great pairing skills of Annemieke you might want to consider spending an additional € 39,= for the surprise arrangement. The evening starts with an apéritif at 18:45.

For reservations, get in touch by email at [email protected].

Stars, Points, Thumbs and Toques for Amsterdam

Those are some of the ratings that critics award to restaurants and there recently has been a barrage of updates to the influential restaurant guides of Michelin, Gault Millaut, Lekker and SpecialBite.

There seems to be a lot of consistency and agreement when it comes to reviewing Amsterdam restaurants. Chic and formal French restaurants like La Rive, Ciel Bleu and Ron Blaauw top all lists.

specialbiteSpecialBite is the only publication that dares to be different. Their list of 11 ‘very special’ restaurants in Amsterdam (Dutch) includes a number of more innovative and cooler places. Marius, which is also one of dutchgrub’s Best Amsterdam Restaurants is on the list. As well as Le Restaurant, which stands out from the Michelin stars by being small and located in De Pijp, and Blauw aan de Wal, which serves a fusion menu right by the red light district.