There was a good variety of food and the vehicles and stalls were put together creatively. There were juices and shakes, sausages and french fries, freshly made pizza and red wine, a few barbecues including a lobster one, cocktails and sangria, crêpes and galettes with cider, and even two bands playing!
We first had some pizza and then sat down for a while with a directly imported bottle of cider and two nutella crêpes. It was fun to watch the mixed crowd, young and old, local and tourists, stroll the festival and pick their favorite rolling kitchen.
The only issue was missing recycling containers – quite inexcusable for a food festival that is part of the sustainable Amsterdam event!
I admit that I was sceptical on my first trip to recently opened restaurant l’Ozio in de Pijp. Amsterdam is full of restaurants with stylish interior designs and low quality food. Especially in hip neighborhoods like De Pijp. And in general, Italian food in Amsterdam is sub par with boring menus and cheap ingredients. So what to expect from l’Ozio, a stylish Italian restaurant in a prime location in de Pijp?
To make a long story short, I was pleasantly surprised!
Restaurant l'Ozio Amsterdam - Dining Room
The interior design is modern and simple, made of quality materials and utilizes the available space perfectly. The walls are white. And the back half of the long dining room is lit through a skylight that covers the entire ceiling. The restaurant also serves as exhibition space with new shows every few months. The current exhibition by Armida Gandini is interesting. Much better than the usual restaurant art. Probably worthy of an exhibition in a gallery.
Everything went smoothly with the reservation and we were welcomed in a very friendly way. So surely the food would have to be expensive and disappointing…
Far from it! The dinner menu is varied with a distinctly northern Italian character. Starters include a fried cheese with pancetta as well as mountain speck with ricotta and tartufo. We enjoyed the antipasti platter of parma ham, bresaola, pancetta and salume. And the mains were even better! We went with crespelle artisanal style with a sherry sauce and a mozzarella in carozza – mozzarella on bread, deep fried. The wine list was equally inspiring with a focus on the northern Italian Alto Adige and Piemont regions. We settled on a Lagrein, one of several unusual grape varieties on offer. The wine was good, dry with rich fruit flavors.
Service was friendly and knowledgeable throughout the entire evening. And the bill at less than € 100,= for two including starters, mains, wine and coffee was quite tolerable. I’ll definitely be back!
Restaurant l'Ozio Amsterdam - Art Exhibition
Restaurant l’Ozio is located on Ferdinand Bolstraat, by Heinekenplein, next to where 18-Twintig used to be.
I admit that I was sceptical on my first trip to recently opened restaurant l’Ozio in de Pijp. Amsterdam is full of restaurants with stylish interior designs and low quality food. Especially in hip neighborhoods like De Pijp. And in general, Italian food in Amsterdam is sub par with boring menus and cheap ingredients. So what to expect from l’Ozio, a stylish Italian restaurant in a prime location in de Pijp?
To make a long story short, I was pleasantly surprised!
Restaurant l'Ozio Amsterdam - Dining Room
The interior design is modern and simple, made of quality materials and utilizes the available space perfectly. The walls are white. And the back half of the long dining room is lit through a skylight that covers the entire ceiling. The restaurant also serves as exhibition space with new shows every few months. The current exhibition by Armida Gandini is interesting. Much better than the usual restaurant art. Probably worthy of an exhibition in a gallery.
Everything went smoothly with the reservation and we were welcomed in a very friendly way. So surely the food would have to be expensive and disappointing…
Far from it! The dinner menu is varied with a distinctly northern Italian character. Starters include a fried cheese with pancetta as well as mountain speck with ricotta and tartufo. We enjoyed the antipasti platter of parma ham, bresaola, pancetta and salume. And the mains were even better! We went with crespelle artisanal style with a sherry sauce and a mozzarella in carozza – mozzarella on bread, deep fried. The wine list was equally inspiring with a focus on the northern Italian Alto Adige and Piemont regions. We settled on a Lagrein, one of several unusual grape varieties on offer. The wine was good, dry with rich fruit flavors.
Service was friendly and knowledgeable throughout the entire evening. And the bill at less than € 100,= for two including starters, mains, wine and coffee was quite tolerable. I’ll definitely be back!
Restaurant l'Ozio Amsterdam - Art Exhibition
Restaurant l’Ozio is located on Ferdinand Bolstraat, by Heinekenplein, next to where 18-Twintig used to be.
Dutch wine magazine WijnPers is currently having a competition where you can vote for your favorite wine shop.
My favorite wine shop is Ton Overmars on Hoofddorpplein in Amsterdam. Ton has been in business for many, many years and knows more than anybody about wine. His staff is giving great recommendations, always giving best advice even if that means less business for the store. Ton has many special wines that he imports directly. And all those great wines are available for very competitive prices.
If you have a moment, please cast your vote for Ton. I just did! All it takes is an email address.
Simple 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.
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.
Simple organic lunch place