Holland is home to many nice coastal towns. Some very popular and some are still undiscovered by mass-tourism. One of the popular destinations is Noordwijk aan Zee with the adjacent town of Noordwijk. Like any place, these towns are home to many good and not so good restaurants, ranging from the Michelin star awarded “Latour” in the 5-star hotel “Huis ter Duin” to a simple sandwich shop and everything in between. One of the places in between is “Onder de linde” which is based in a nice and quiet residential area in Noordwijk. Located in a nice and old(-looking) building, the restaurant is bigger than it looks from the outside because of the narrow but deep layout of the building. In front of the building are some nice trees from which it most likely derived its name. Being a former Michelin star restaurant, the restaurant is without a doubt much more on the “Latour”-side than the sandwich shop side.
Inside the restaurant looks simple but very well maintained. The only thing I noticed is that the bar area looks a bit messy. The tables are large enough with plenty of space between them. On the night we were there, there were two waiters, who are also ready for you to take your coat as you enter. They were dressed in (spotless) white shirts and neat black jeans. The shoes were not exactly Gucci but their shoes had thick rubber soles that somehow really fitted the waiters and atmosphere. Where it really was a fine dining place, it was all but stiff, cold and arrogant. The place had an almost homely feel to it; Not several people in suits brining you the food, but regular jeans with a nicely ironed shirt. No fancy words or accents, but explanations of the dish in regular Dutch (or probably English for foreigners). People who don’t normally go to fine dining restaurants would enjoy this as much as regular fine diners.
The restaurant serves several set menus and a-la-carte dining. With the menus the choices are a Bib Gourmand menu or a 4, 5 or 6-course surprise menu and dietary requirements or wishes are no problem. For us it was the 5-course surprise menu this evening. This menu comes with a few amuses and kick-offs in the form of a mustard marshmallow accompanied by a piece of toast, some hummus and sour cream. What a way to start off the evening: Hummus to me is not that exciting, but it was well-seasoned and topped with the sour cream. Nice, but not spectacular. However, the marshmallow was perfectly light and airy with some slight sharpness from the mustard and a burst of mustard from the crunchy coating of mustard seeds. Very interesting little marshmallow that I could have eaten a few more of.
What followed was a dish that is, let’s say, a bit unusual: A carrot bouillon with a ‘foam’ of sour herring (locally known as ‘rolmops’). Where I understand what they were trying to do here, it turned out to be the least favourite dish of the evening. The bouillon was really nice and sweet with a nice carrot flavour, but the almost merengue-like consistency of the sour herring ‘foam’ made that a little unpleasant to eat.
Tartar is usually made of beef or tuna, but next on the list was a tartar of veal. It was topped with the most delicious foam of asparagus, crunchy potato and fried capers. What to say here? It was just delicious with the nice and light foam with just enough flavour to not overpower the veal underneath. Perhaps a little less foam would do, but when it doesn’t really affect the balance of the dish… Temperature of the veal was nice (as I hate very cold meat in a dish like this). Very nice little dish and perfect when it comes to size.
When I think of caramel, the first thing that comes to mind is a dessert. However, when you make it salty caramel stuffed with shrimp, avocado and apple, you have a very nice dish for starter. This is what the chef here has done. The nice creaminess of the avocado purée combined with the acidity of the apple and the salty-sweetness of the caramel is just amazing. When I looked at the dish as it was presented, it looked like a very heavy dish but some it did not feel like a very rich dish. Probably because of the combination of the apple with the avocado. Shrimp that were in there were nice but as a vegetarian dish (perhaps with some bigger chunks of apple) this would have been equally nice.
I am not a big fan of eating organ meat. Forget to tell the waiter and you run the ‘risk’ of getting what you prefer not to eat. At this restaurant, I forgot to tell them so next came a veal sweetbread with a ravioli stuffed with flat iron steak of veal and a Madeira sauce. The sweetbread was nicely caramelized on the edges and well cooked. I tried it but this just isn’t my thing; It is a little too weak and mushy for me. The ravioli and the sauce were fantastic. A nice and soft ravioli with a decadent and rich Madeira sauce. Really well cooked and nicely presented dish.
Mistakes are made where people work. However, when preparing a dish in a restaurant, you would expect that a lot of practice has gone into the dish before it is being served to customers. As the next course was presented, I noticed a nicely plated dish and explanations given by the waiter really got me excited. A rough/rustic sort of ragout or mousse of chicken with carrot and barley. First bites matched the excitement and expectations: Carrots and gravy were as nice as the chicken itself. However, as we took more bites, the chicken rolls (although not raw) turned out to be stone cold in the middle. Something that is in a (fine dining) restaurant an absolute no-no. Later we found out that on another table (and there were not that many tables in use) there was also an issue with the preparation of a chicken dish. Our waiter removed the plates immediately when we alerted him and soon the replacement dish was brought to out table. A bit surprising was the fact that it was a totally different dish, but that was no less tasty.
The replacement dish was fried veal tongue with broad-beans hazelnut for a bit of crunch, a foam of Jerusalem artichoke and a mushroom sauce. Having to eat an animal’s tongue might put-off some people, but we decided to have a go at it. A beautifully cooked piece of meat. Nicely moist and tender with a caramelized crust. The foam was nice, but nothing out-of-the-ordinary in contrast to the mushroom sauce. As much as I liked the sauce, I would not have put more on the plate. Now everything was there is the right proportions. None of the ingredients had really outspoken flavours, yet they combined well. A very well-balanced and delicious dish quickly make you forget about the dish it was replacing.
So far, the dishes this evening have mostly been beef/veal (not counting the disqualified chicken). This was the moment for a different type of meat; Lamb it is. In The Netherlands it was still (white) asparagus season so that was the vegetable it came with. Lamb can have a very outspoken flavour, which is the reason I don’t always like it. I am now starting to see why this restaurant used to have a Michelin star. It is starting to get boring, but the lamb was really well cooked. The dish could have done with one more asparagus and a bit more of the spinach puree, but I guess it would have made the dish look very different. The ossobucco sauce was nice and complemented the flavours of the meat and spinach.
As the evening draws to an end, it is now time for pre-desert. I could have eaten a bucket of these things. The most delicious lemon ice cream on top of the most wonderful sticky, silky smooth and not too sweet Italian meringue. Lemon ice cream that tastes like it should; of real lemon and not lemon-flavoured washing-up liquid.
By now the evening really is almost over, as the last course is being served. A beautiful combination of flavours, with yoghurt ice cream, compote of rhubarb and elderflower mousse. It was a well-balanced combination of sweet and sour. The somewhat sour ice cream and the somewhat sweet mousse, with in between the rhubarb compote. A great closure of a nice meal.
Even though there is a ‘shortage’ of fine dining restaurants in the town of Noordwijk and I had somewhat mixed feelings walking away from the restaurant, I would recommend this place to everyone. Reasons definitely being the friendliness of the staff and the food. Even though they screwed-up one dish, they deserve the “Bib Gourmand” classification of Michelin: Making a mistake means you’re human, fixing it promptly is what matters. The waiter did quickly fix it and brought us a nice replacement dish. When people came into the restaurant wearing (neat) jeans and polo shirts, they were just as welcome as people in suits. I am convinced that everyone is welcome in this fine dining place and that creates a really nice atmosphere. Our menu came to approx. EUR 50 (excluding drinks), which makes this also from a financial point of view and attractive restaurant. One thing is for sure, you’ll get great value for money.
Restaurant location: View on Google Maps
Restaurant website: http://www.onderdelinde.com