Author: dutchgrub

Kek Sandwiches with Brood van Menno Bread

brood-vanmennoSimple organic lunch place Kek on Hoofddorpplein has upgraded their healthy sandwiches. The sandwiches are now served on bread from Rotterdam-based biological bakery Brood van Menno.

Kek opened doors in January and draws a good local crowd for lunch and dinner. They have open wireless and serve sandwiches, juices, shakes, and antipasti. The sandwiches with, for example, ham with honey-mustard or mackerel with dill-cucumber dressing just got a great upgrade: a very flavorful, organic sourdough bread!

The bread is made by Rotterdam-based bakery Brood van Menno. Menno bakes bread in the traditional French way, importing flour from France, using sourdough, and letting the bread rise for up to 24 hours before baking. Menno was trained in Rouen and started his Dutch bread business by delivering bread for restaurant Parkheuvel. Availability of the delicious bread in Amsterdam is spreading and now includes food shop Boerenjongens and farmers market Noordermarkt on Saturday morning.

Free tickets for Taste at Marqt

Concept supermarket Marqt is giving away free tickets for Taste for each shopping spree of € 25 and above.

Marqt has attracted a large number of foodies with its focus on local produce, food-loving staff and beautiful market-style interior design. But somehow the success of Marqt has been below expectation, at least partially due to high prices on certain food categories like meat and a limited selection in others like dairy.

As part of an aggressive marketing campaign, including varying daily discounts and opening on Sunday, Marqt is giving away free tickets to the Taste food festival June 25 to 28. OP=OP, as the Dutch like to say, or while supplies last… Marqt will also have a stall at the Fine Food Market at Taste.

June is Food Festival Month in Amsterdam

amsterdam-roots-festival-2009-logoJune is food festival month in Amsterdam.

Last week the Holland Food Festival and the Weekend of the Rolling Kitchens were jointly held on the Westergasfabriek. And on June 25, 26, 27 and 28 the Taste Festival will visit Amsterdam for the first time.

Another event that will be a lot of fun for foodies is the Amsterdam Roots Festival Sunday 21 June from noon to 9:30 pm in Oosterpark. The Roots Festival promotes cultural diversity and portrays Amsterdam’s global community. Seven stages will fill the air with music from local and international artists. And a world market with over 100 booths will tickle your multi-ethnic taste buds with exotic food, drink and more.

Koevoet – Great Italian Food in Typical Amsterdam Cafe

restaurant-koevoet-amsterdam-outsidePassing by Koevoet you certainly would not expect Italian food. It’s located in the heart of the Jordaan, Amsterdam’s former workers neighborhood. On the ground floor of an 1899 building, in a small cafe that used to serve beer and Jenever to the locals. With small windows, lots of dark brown furniture and walls almost completely covered by paintings and knickknack.

The Italian owners have left the interior and exterior virtually unchanged and filled it with Italian food and spirit. Really good Italian food and spirit!

The menu is small and classic – antipasti, pasta and fish and meat secondi. We had an amazing burrata for starters, a big lump of mozzarella-like cheese served on a bed of tomatoes with an oil and garlic dressing. The starter was for two but could easily feed three or four. The pasta selection is standard dishes like linguine with vongole and a large selection of delicious home-made ravioli. For mains you again choose from tried and true dishes like scaloppine or branzino.

The staff is Italian and proud of it. The welcome is very friendly and guests immediately feel at home. I loved how the knowledgeable waiter overruled my choice of ravioli, suggesting artichoke over potato with mint, a recommendation that proved spot on. The crowd was mixed – some locals, some tourists and also some that seemed to call the nearby countryside home. And they all seemed extremely pleased with the quality of the food and the high level of attention. The restaurant is quite crammed with many small tables quite close to each other. It was buzzing but in a quiet and pleasant way.

Koevoet is a hidden gem and one of very few great Italian restaurants in Amsterdam. You will be delighted if you manage to get a reservation and actually find Koevoet!

restaurant-koevoet-amsterdam-burratarestaurant-koevoet-amsterdam-ravioli