dutchgrub

Madelief Amsterdam – Old-Fashioned Love for Food and Wine

Dutch-Belgian couple Madelief and Jean Michel, the owners, describe Madelief as the slowest restaurant in the Netherlands. They want you to take the time to savor the flavors and enjoy your company. And they do their utmost to make you feel at home for an evening of traditional French dishes and wine.

You might actually need some patience locating Madelief, off the beaten path in a residential street near Vondelpark, and marked only by a small table with a lantern and a chalkboard in the window with the daily specials. The inside is decorated sparsely, with bare brick walls, simple chairs and tables, visible cabling and the sliding mechanism of the bathroom door equipped with a big old jar filled with salt as counterweight. While simple, the decor is welcoming due to a lot of personal touches and eye for detail like your name written on a small chalkboard to hold your reservation. Everything puts you in the mood for slow food, although the chairs felt somewhat uncomfortable at the end of a long dinner.

Having found our table, we were generously welcomed with an aperitif of pear cider and an amuse of very flavorful local North Sea shrimp. The menu is small and distinctly French. And the host was happy to help us navigate between paté and fois gras and suggest the right wines, of which a few special ones were not on the list.

By now we had nicely settled down into slow food mode. And the starters of scallops with a wonderfully creamy saffron risotto and paté with quail and onion confit were well worth the wait. The many distinct flavors came together perfectly. The mains were equally satisfying. A well prepared monkfish with a smooth buttery sauce and, the highlight, quail filled with fois gras and an intense truffle sauce. Only for professionals, the menu had stated, and Madelief certainly had managed to get amazing flavors going in this dish. We loved the food, but would caution vegetarians and people with a distaste for fois gras against Madelief.

Madelief is not for everyone, and that’s exactly how the hosts intend it to be. But if you are a foodie who enjoys traditional cooking and loves to take their time savoring their flavors, you must venture out to Zocherstraat and pay Madelief and Jean Michel a visit. Ask them for recommendations and let them guide you through a slow paced evening of wining and dining.

Madelief (no website)
Zocherstraat 10
1054 LX Amsterdam
Tel.: +31 (0)20 6122000
Public Transport: Tram 1 to Overtoomsesluis
Cuisine: French
Neighbourhood: West
Vibe: Slow
Price: €70 per person

Lunch in Style in the Center of Amsterdam

City trips can be tiring. You want to explore all the sites and end up walking around town more than planned. And you will frequently find yourself surrounded by many other tourists who are after the same attractions.

A great option to get some rest is to have lunch at one of the more upscale restaurants in the center of Amsterdam. Lunch at these places is much less formal and expensive than dinner, but still let’s you take in the atmosphere and sample the food.

Two great options for an Amsterdam lunch in style are the Dylan Hotel, home of one Michelin star Vinkeles, and De Belhamel, which has a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

De Belhamel is situated stunningly on Brouwersgracht right where Herengracht ends. From the dining room or the terrace you have an unobstructed view of the length of Herengracht. The lunch menu features fancy sandwiches, a ciabatta with vitello tonato for example, various salads and pasta. We quite enjoyed the spaghetti with pancetta and rucola. While the food and service are ambitious, the vibe is quite informal as the space is small and the personnel friendly.

The Dylan Hotel is another oasis of tranquility where you can enjoy lunch in a classy environment. Right next to the Michelin star kitchen of restaurant Vinkeles, you sit down in style in the lounge. The tables are set beautifully and the service is very attentive. The menu is a nice mix of simpler and haute cuisine dishes. There are a club sandwich with fries and a hamburger with cheddar cheese, but also dried fruit bread with melted tallegio or Gillardeau oysters. Our favorite was a sourdough bread with cream cheese and iberico ham.

Hopefully having lunch in style will help you recharge and enjoy the buzz of the city the rest of the day!

www.belhamel.nl
Brouwersgracht 60
1013 GX Amsterdam
Tel.: +31 (0)20 6221095
Public Transport: Tram 1, 2, 5, 13 or 17 to Martelaarsgracht
Cuisine: French
Neighbourhood: Canals
Vibe: Elegant
Price: €15 to €25 per person (lunch)

www.dylanamsterdam.com
Keizersgracht 384
1016 GB Amsterdam
Tel.: +31 (0)20 5302010
Public Transport: Tram 1, 2, or 5 to Spui
Cuisine: French
Neighbourhood: Canals
Vibe: Elegant
Price: €15 to €25 per person (lunch)

Bringo – Finally Good Delivery Food in Amsterdam

It used to be that in Amsterdam you could have food delivered to your home or have good food – but not both. The only delivery options were greasy pizzas, bland Asian food or other snack bar style fast food.

That’s changed now, in a rather innovative way, thanks to Bringo, an “advanced delivery service”. Bringo is a logistics company, specializing in providing delivery for shops and restaurants.

Several of dutchgrub’s favorite restaurants have already contracted Bringo to do deliveries for them. For example you can now have great Mexican food from Tomatillo or the excellent BurgerBar burgers delivered right to your doorstep.

The orders are usually placed through the thuisbezorgd.nl or justeat.nl food order portals. Check the Bringo site for available restaurants and ordering details.

New List: Trendiest Amsterdam Restaurants

Our lists of the Best Amsterdam Restaurants or the Best Brunch or Best Pizza are very popular. And while we’ve been wanting to post a list of cool restaurants for a while we’ve been reluctant as this blog is about the best food and not the most exciting design or hippest crowd.

Luckily there are a number of restaurants that have it all. They stand out for being trendy – drawing the in crowd and looking stylish. But they also serve great food. And they have made the first version of dutchgrub’s Trendiest Amsterdam Restaurants list. Be sure to check it out and read about Bistrot Neuf, De Kas and Hotel De Goudfazant.

Kaap Kot – Peacefulness and Views in the City

Note: Unfortunately Kaap Kot has closed doors as of January 2012.

The other day we were asked for a recommendation for New Year’s Eve on Twitter. A special yet cozy place in the city. This immediately made me think of Kaap Kop, which unfortunately is closed for NYE, but is definitely one of those rare places that are located right in the city and still manage to have a very calm and remote feel to them.

The concept of Kaap Kot is to temporarily occupy a space that the city planners have designated for future development. This has given Kaap Kot access to vast locations with amazing views and peacefulness as the surrounding areas are mostly unoccupied. It has also led the owners to use a simple but cool metal building structure that can be quickly disassembled and reassembled in a different location.

After a few years on IJdijk, south of the IJ, just west of A10 exit S114, Kaap Kot is currently located on Korte Ouderkerkerdijk. The location is amazing, sitting on the banks of the Amstel, by what rowers know as the grote bocht – or great bend – a very wide part of the river, opposite the Amstel train station and Rembrandt tower. You get a great view of the business center while sitting quietly surrounded by docks and a rowing club.

Kaap kot is great for summer lunches out on their terrace, but also for winter dinners when it provides refuge and coziness. The decor is simple and the menu Mediterranean. For lunch Kaap Kot serves fancy sandwiches, salads, soup and some pasta dishes. For dinner there are also some simple fish and meat dishes with salad and french fries.

www.kaapkot.nl
Korte Ouderkerkerdijk 30
1096 AC Amsterdam
Tel.: +31 (0)20 463 71 58
Public Transport: Metro to Spaklerweg
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Neighbourhood: Watergraafsmeer
Vibe: Water
Price: €25 to €40 per person

Bistrot Neuf – New Hot Spot with Classic French Menu

Right upon entering, bistrot neuf grabs you with a charming mix of buzz and bottles. There is a very present energy as you enter from busy Haarlemmerstraat, passing by the open kitchen located by the entrance, squeezing past other guests and personnel in the densely furnished dining room. At the same time, there’s a great sense of old fashioned love for food and wine as you find yourself surrounded by endless racks of wine bottles, bare brick walls in earthy colors and the specials of the day written on the blackboard.

bistrot neuf amsterdam - inside

bistrot neuf is all about wine: the restaurant works together closely with wine store Chabrol next door, has a substantial list of close to 100 different wines, of which more than 80 are available by the glass, and makes a specific wine suggestion for each dish on the menu. We decided on sharing a bottle and found the waiter very knowledgeable about all wines and comfortable at making non-standard suggestions. We ended up with a surprisingly multi-faceted Côtes du Rhône that required frequent refills.

In true French brasserie spirit, bistrot neuf works with a fixed price choice menu, which is a great deal at € 29,- for a starter, main and dessert. And the menu is classic French too with starters like onion soup and snails Bourgogne style, mains like Boeuf Bourguignon and Cassoulet, and all time favorites Crème brûlée and Mousse au chocolat for dessert. We loved the homemade pâté with cornichons, which was coarse and fresh. The mussels for main were also great, making us slurp up every last bit. The duck was cooked just right but lacking flavor.

bistrot neuf amsterdam - pate bistrot neuf amsterdam - mussels bistrot neuf amsterdam - duck

Service was a little on and off. Our table wasn’t ready when we got there, but it was quickly arranged. We got great advice for the wine, but had to wait quite a while to get menus. Overall staff seemed competent and friendly but also somewhat hurried and at their limit to keep everything running smoothly.

bistrot neuf has quickly become one of the places to be. It has established itself as one of Amsterdam’s hot spots in less than half a year and getting a reservation has already gotten harder. So go there soon and enjoy the wine and liveliness.

www.bistrotneuf.nl
Haarlemmerstraat 9
1013 EH Amsterdam
Tel.: +31 (0)20 400 32 10
Open every day 12pm to 11pm
Public Transport: Tram 1, 2, 5, 13, or 17 to Martelaarsgracht
Cuisine: French
Neighbourhood: Jordaan
Vibe: Busy
Price: €35 to €55 per person

A slightly modified version of this article also appeared in the November edition of Amsterdam Magazine – Beyond Windmills, Wooden Shoes and Weed.