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pax_athenaSo I guess this was the third time I introduced someone to the amazing world of Michelin star restaurants. Which is fun, given how I've been to some only five times (this one included) myself. There was ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
advdiaboli, there was F. (who promptly suggested to repeat the experience soon-ish) and now J. (yes, another J., I did not mention this particular one in any previous post yet!), my Amsterdam-based restaurant-buddy. Well yes, I am the kind of person who has restaurant-buddies now. What does this make me?
Anyway I: actually, it were four people, but ♥ does not count, because you are supposed to enrich your partner's life.
Anyway II: all three people above loved it. J. and I plan our next adventure for sometimes late summer and F. and I have decided on a Michelin-recommended (albeit not Michelin-starred) place in Prague that I need to make a reservation for soon. And - spoiler! - I will definitely be bringing ♥ to Vermeer not just because of the food but also because of the amazing wine-pairings. And they *do* half-pours. But one thing after the next, I'll get there.
We made our reservation for 6:30 - and oh, was I happy that we did. Because we did not finish eating until 11:30. It gets dark super late - so you get most photos in good light, even!
They started by asking us whether we want to start with a drink - they are supposed to have great cocktails. Yet I am lightweight when it comes to alcohol and definitely did not want to spend the last courses in a drunken haze, so no cocktails for us. I would like to say "next time", but I also loved, loved, loved the wines and wound not want to miss a single wine pairing.
Amuse-bouche I: rhubarb ice cream and rhubarb, coated in sugar and pepper and something else. I thought I am not a fan of rhubarb. I may have to re-think this. This rhubarb stick blew my mind.
The non-menu. Of course we went for all six courses. Plus the cheese platter. Plus the morel dish. Plus the coffee with little sweets. It was pretty amazing to be there with someone who had the same approach to the whole game as I do: if we are here already and spending the time and money, we can go all the way.
We also asked for the wine pairing. I know 6 wines are far too much for me, so I was prepared to ask for a selection of three wines. But we've been offered half-pours! I'm not sure whether it only worked because it has been the two of us asking for the same and if it was more expensive than a single "full pour" (I should have checked on the check, but at that point of the evening I was far too happy and tipsy to do so), but it seriously did not matter. The wines turned and "A" dinner into an "A++" experience!
Really nice bread served with really nice butter - which came on a big marble piece that keeps it cold. They gave us a long explanation about why this butter is special and how, to emphasize how creamy it is even when cold, they do keep it extra cool on the table.
Amuse-bouche II: Red cabbage and quail's egg and smoked yoghurt.
Course I: I am usually so not a fan of fermented fish (even looking at people eating herring makes me queasy). But I liked this one! It was not slimy at all, closer to sashimi than to what I would have normally expected (and yes, I know, I also liked the fermented shark, so who knows what happened to my taste buds, but the shark was actually also not slimy, so perhaps it's more about structure then taste ...).
The little beaker came with olive broth that was just mindblowing. It could have been a dish of it's own, even being "just" a broth with nothing in it.
That was also the first round when we got a taste of the sommelier, who was absolutely amazing. I really wish they gave a list of the wines to take home (they did not and even for the menu I had to ask - they were super nice and fun about it, though, and actually even offered to get it signed which did not happen because the chef just left), but oh well. Anyway, he explained the wine and why the wine with this food and all that in a friendly, humorous way that made fun of himself and made you feel how much he loved the wine and the combination of the wine with the food.
The wine itself was something from Portugal - very smooth, very quiet, a perfect surface for the strong tastes of the dish.
More bread.
Scallop - opening it was a bit of an adventure but this was very much on purpose. And food that is that playful endears me to a restaurant a lot.
Unfortunately, this was the one that did not wow me taste-wise. J. loved it.
The wine was something from the French ocean coast, one where in the aftertaste, you could feel that slight saltiness of the seawinds. Absolutely amazing.
Amuse-bouche III (is it still amuse-bouch if it's in the middle of the meal? I don't think it is, but I don't know what else to call it!): carrot broth with fresh peas and mint filled ravioli. I love fresh peas - remember the ones from the Sergi Aroli in Madrid? Of course you don't, but I do, because they wowed me so much, even before I read the NYT article about those particular special Spanish peas. So loved this one. I was also brought out by the chef himself (I had to get out my phone and google to make sure it was indeed him).
Squid and cauliflower. I love both but I never thought they could work together. But wow, they did!
And J. - who spent some four years living in Spain - said how she usually disliked squid, but how she loved it here. I would have happily eaten a second and third portion of this (but then again, I would have had to miss on some of the following dishes because I was full by the end of it and I would not have wanted that).
The wine was again a Portugese one - when the sommelier started talking about the Jerez grapes, I immediately remembered that amazing Sherry I brought to Boston - a very sweet one (Pedro Jimenez) that tasted all of raisins and coffee. And yes, here he was talking about how the grape is not much known outside of Portugal but is essential there because of sherry! The wine was like nothing I ever tried before (which does not need to tell you much, I know nothing about wine and tried very few in my life) - and I could taste all the notes that would be later there in the sherry, different, but clearly there. That was very much a "wow" moment for me.
(And this was the only pairing that did not work for me. Dish = wow. Wine = wow. But they did not come together. J. liked them together - so once again, this was more about me. Perhaps I was thinking too much of the sherry with its sweetness when drinking the wine; which was, of course, not sweet at all.)
Morels! This is the first time I had some! With ramson and beet foam, yellow beets and nori. Yum!
Beets and mushrooms are an interesting combo, one that I definitely need to try myself in some way. Although I doubt it will be morels for me.
(The wine was good but red and I just fail to truly care for red wines.)
Amuse-bouche IV: a Michelin-star take on potato soup (aka: the quintessential Dutch food) with fried onions. And yes, it was very much worth the Michelin star.
That beef! That leek! That crunchy thing below the leek where I did not properly catch what it was but that gave every bite that special bit of texture that made me go all "wow". Also sour sorrel! I forgot how much I love it (I used to find some in random places as a kid and eat it - I am always amazed that others did never forage as kids, trying things like green apricots or exchanging the childhood knowledge of which grape tribes - the youngest ones but only on certain vines - taste best).
The wine was, of course, red, with cherry undertones, from the same area as the cows (so the sommelier said). It did complement the food wonderfully, but still, well, red wine ...
And isn't that steak knife just pretty?
We were then asked whether we want a cheese platter before dessert - of course we wanted it! I was so excited for it that I actually forgot to take a photo D: Shame on me! So you get a pretending-to-be-artsy photo of the cutlery for the cheese platter.
But the choice of cheeses was just excellent, all Dutch, all absolutely different, all interesting. The drink was not a wine but something with apple (I don't think it was calvados, but I may have been in general just too happy to follow in detail at this point).
Dessert! That came with an amazing Rieslaner that perfectly complemented the strawberries. And I do not say it only because I love dessert wines. And who knew that celery ice cream could be so good? I usually do not like celery at all but it played perfectly with the sweetness and the fruitiness of the rest of it.
We've then been convinced to order coffee (for J.) and tea (for me, I really wanted to sleep at some point) with the promise of more sweet stuff to accompany them. The cherrie-chocolate-cake thingie and the cookie were good but the macaroon was just mindblowing.
And (of course, you may say) it all was followed by one last dessert on the house: coffee chocolates.
And then J. got a second cup of coffee, just because (on the house, we were almost the last people in at this point and we've told the sommelier what a great work they did by this point). It had a smilie face on it :D
Tl;dr: it was amazing, highly recommended. Also, I clearly need to write about foodish adventure shortly after I've made them, this way you get a lot more text and unfiltered gushing about the food and the wine (although: is this really a good thing? Hm?).
advdiaboli, there was F. (who promptly suggested to repeat the experience soon-ish) and now J. (yes, another J., I did not mention this particular one in any previous post yet!), my Amsterdam-based restaurant-buddy. Well yes, I am the kind of person who has restaurant-buddies now. What does this make me?Anyway I: actually, it were four people, but ♥ does not count, because you are supposed to enrich your partner's life.
Anyway II: all three people above loved it. J. and I plan our next adventure for sometimes late summer and F. and I have decided on a Michelin-recommended (albeit not Michelin-starred) place in Prague that I need to make a reservation for soon. And - spoiler! - I will definitely be bringing ♥ to Vermeer not just because of the food but also because of the amazing wine-pairings. And they *do* half-pours. But one thing after the next, I'll get there.
We made our reservation for 6:30 - and oh, was I happy that we did. Because we did not finish eating until 11:30. It gets dark super late - so you get most photos in good light, even!
They started by asking us whether we want to start with a drink - they are supposed to have great cocktails. Yet I am lightweight when it comes to alcohol and definitely did not want to spend the last courses in a drunken haze, so no cocktails for us. I would like to say "next time", but I also loved, loved, loved the wines and wound not want to miss a single wine pairing.
Amuse-bouche I: rhubarb ice cream and rhubarb, coated in sugar and pepper and something else. I thought I am not a fan of rhubarb. I may have to re-think this. This rhubarb stick blew my mind.
The non-menu. Of course we went for all six courses. Plus the cheese platter. Plus the morel dish. Plus the coffee with little sweets. It was pretty amazing to be there with someone who had the same approach to the whole game as I do: if we are here already and spending the time and money, we can go all the way.
We also asked for the wine pairing. I know 6 wines are far too much for me, so I was prepared to ask for a selection of three wines. But we've been offered half-pours! I'm not sure whether it only worked because it has been the two of us asking for the same and if it was more expensive than a single "full pour" (I should have checked on the check, but at that point of the evening I was far too happy and tipsy to do so), but it seriously did not matter. The wines turned and "A" dinner into an "A++" experience!
Really nice bread served with really nice butter - which came on a big marble piece that keeps it cold. They gave us a long explanation about why this butter is special and how, to emphasize how creamy it is even when cold, they do keep it extra cool on the table.
Amuse-bouche II: Red cabbage and quail's egg and smoked yoghurt.
Course I: I am usually so not a fan of fermented fish (even looking at people eating herring makes me queasy). But I liked this one! It was not slimy at all, closer to sashimi than to what I would have normally expected (and yes, I know, I also liked the fermented shark, so who knows what happened to my taste buds, but the shark was actually also not slimy, so perhaps it's more about structure then taste ...).
The little beaker came with olive broth that was just mindblowing. It could have been a dish of it's own, even being "just" a broth with nothing in it.
That was also the first round when we got a taste of the sommelier, who was absolutely amazing. I really wish they gave a list of the wines to take home (they did not and even for the menu I had to ask - they were super nice and fun about it, though, and actually even offered to get it signed which did not happen because the chef just left), but oh well. Anyway, he explained the wine and why the wine with this food and all that in a friendly, humorous way that made fun of himself and made you feel how much he loved the wine and the combination of the wine with the food.
The wine itself was something from Portugal - very smooth, very quiet, a perfect surface for the strong tastes of the dish.
More bread.
Scallop - opening it was a bit of an adventure but this was very much on purpose. And food that is that playful endears me to a restaurant a lot.
Unfortunately, this was the one that did not wow me taste-wise. J. loved it.
The wine was something from the French ocean coast, one where in the aftertaste, you could feel that slight saltiness of the seawinds. Absolutely amazing.
Amuse-bouche III (is it still amuse-bouch if it's in the middle of the meal? I don't think it is, but I don't know what else to call it!): carrot broth with fresh peas and mint filled ravioli. I love fresh peas - remember the ones from the Sergi Aroli in Madrid? Of course you don't, but I do, because they wowed me so much, even before I read the NYT article about those particular special Spanish peas. So loved this one. I was also brought out by the chef himself (I had to get out my phone and google to make sure it was indeed him).
Squid and cauliflower. I love both but I never thought they could work together. But wow, they did!
And J. - who spent some four years living in Spain - said how she usually disliked squid, but how she loved it here. I would have happily eaten a second and third portion of this (but then again, I would have had to miss on some of the following dishes because I was full by the end of it and I would not have wanted that).
The wine was again a Portugese one - when the sommelier started talking about the Jerez grapes, I immediately remembered that amazing Sherry I brought to Boston - a very sweet one (Pedro Jimenez) that tasted all of raisins and coffee. And yes, here he was talking about how the grape is not much known outside of Portugal but is essential there because of sherry! The wine was like nothing I ever tried before (which does not need to tell you much, I know nothing about wine and tried very few in my life) - and I could taste all the notes that would be later there in the sherry, different, but clearly there. That was very much a "wow" moment for me.
(And this was the only pairing that did not work for me. Dish = wow. Wine = wow. But they did not come together. J. liked them together - so once again, this was more about me. Perhaps I was thinking too much of the sherry with its sweetness when drinking the wine; which was, of course, not sweet at all.)
Morels! This is the first time I had some! With ramson and beet foam, yellow beets and nori. Yum!
Beets and mushrooms are an interesting combo, one that I definitely need to try myself in some way. Although I doubt it will be morels for me.
(The wine was good but red and I just fail to truly care for red wines.)
Amuse-bouche IV: a Michelin-star take on potato soup (aka: the quintessential Dutch food) with fried onions. And yes, it was very much worth the Michelin star.
That beef! That leek! That crunchy thing below the leek where I did not properly catch what it was but that gave every bite that special bit of texture that made me go all "wow". Also sour sorrel! I forgot how much I love it (I used to find some in random places as a kid and eat it - I am always amazed that others did never forage as kids, trying things like green apricots or exchanging the childhood knowledge of which grape tribes - the youngest ones but only on certain vines - taste best).
The wine was, of course, red, with cherry undertones, from the same area as the cows (so the sommelier said). It did complement the food wonderfully, but still, well, red wine ...
And isn't that steak knife just pretty?
We were then asked whether we want a cheese platter before dessert - of course we wanted it! I was so excited for it that I actually forgot to take a photo D: Shame on me! So you get a pretending-to-be-artsy photo of the cutlery for the cheese platter.
But the choice of cheeses was just excellent, all Dutch, all absolutely different, all interesting. The drink was not a wine but something with apple (I don't think it was calvados, but I may have been in general just too happy to follow in detail at this point).
Dessert! That came with an amazing Rieslaner that perfectly complemented the strawberries. And I do not say it only because I love dessert wines. And who knew that celery ice cream could be so good? I usually do not like celery at all but it played perfectly with the sweetness and the fruitiness of the rest of it.
We've then been convinced to order coffee (for J.) and tea (for me, I really wanted to sleep at some point) with the promise of more sweet stuff to accompany them. The cherrie-chocolate-cake thingie and the cookie were good but the macaroon was just mindblowing.
And (of course, you may say) it all was followed by one last dessert on the house: coffee chocolates.
And then J. got a second cup of coffee, just because (on the house, we were almost the last people in at this point and we've told the sommelier what a great work they did by this point). It had a smilie face on it :D
Tl;dr: it was amazing, highly recommended. Also, I clearly need to write about foodish adventure shortly after I've made them, this way you get a lot more text and unfiltered gushing about the food and the wine (although: is this really a good thing? Hm?).
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