When hearing the name of this restaurant, many people would assume it is based in the center of Amsterdam. Not quite, although Loenen Aan De Vecht is not that far from Amsterdam. Here chef André Gerrits with his wife run the most relaxed Michelin start restaurant that I have visited in a while.
Arriving at the restaurant by car means you’ll most likely be searching for a parking space, but ask inside and they will tell you that around the corner (sort of) there is free parking. Inside the nice old building, many of the design features suit the style of the building. To my opinion, the only exception is the logo of the restaurant that is on the front of the building. The interior really is one of the nicest I have seen so far. Comfortable seats around properly sized tables. Next to our table was a beautiful wine cabinet, designed to blend into the restaurant’s interior rather than a stand-alone mass-produced bunch of shelves. Dark wooden ceilings with on the walls nice art pieces. Lamps hang from the ceiling and provide sufficient light without being overly present. As you enter, you may notice the stars that lead up to a ‘separate’ dining area with nice book shelves, giving private diners a homely feeling. Tables are spaced far enough so that you will not have to worry about other people listening in on your conversation. On this night, there was a family with young children and at no point in the evening were we disturbed by noise from that table. Tables were nicely laid with an embroidered napkin.
Just before the amuses were brought to the table, chef André came to the table to welcome us into hide pride and joy, wishing us a pleasant evening. Amuses were presented in a creative way and were de-li-cious. In particular, I would like to mention a steamed egg-yolk with a foam of apple, apple syrup, chives and croutons. This was presented in a little hen house . Next to this, we had some Antillian pasty with tuna, as well as a tortilla with ceviche of sea-bass. Wow, what a start of the evening. Brings me right back to Roux at Parliament Square a few months back, where we also had such a great start of the evening.
With the first bite of the starter, I knew that the amuses were not a fluke. The dish was an aspic of lobster (sort of terrine) with wild watercress, almond, a hollandaise of chorizo and marinated grapes. A perfect combination of flavours, although the lobster was a tiny bit on the cold side. Nevertheless, the lobster had plenty of flavour, the hollandaise was something I was a little unsure of, but it was delicious and added just that little bit extra to a classic sauce. The grapes added a nice little bit of sweetness and freshness. A really refined and surprising dish with interesting flavours.
A slightly more traditional dish was up next; tartar of tuna with Szechuan pepper and paprika (a.k.a. peppers). On the side some deep fried corn for some crunch. Where tartar can be a pretty safe bet, they once again gave it their own twist with something special. The Szechuan pepper gave it a nice kick and there were just enough pieces of paprika to not wipe out the tuna. The normal set menu had a bouillabaisse for this course, but since I don’t eat most shellfish, they gave me this as a replacement. More than happy to clean the plate.
The tartar was followed by what, in terms of presentation, is one of my favourite dishes in months: Plaice. The fish came with pickled morels, crème of green peas, broad beans and it was finished off by a sauce of morels. The bright colours really stand out on the white plate. Lovely greens with the beautiful rich and dark brown sauce and in between the perfectly caramelized plaice. The creme is perfectly smooth, the sauce is really nice with the earthy flavours. Combine this with the fish and you’ll notice the dish is perfectly balanced. The flavours of each ingredient comes through and go really well together.
A tasting of lamb was the first of the real meat dishes. In a previous post, I have written already that I am not a big fan of lamb. In that post, I also mentioned that I have eaten it and that it was actually pretty nice. What I now know is that the lamb in one of the previous posts did taste a bit of beef. Here at ‘t Amsterdammertje it really did have that specific lamb flavour. The cooking of the lamb was perfect, as you may expect with a restaurant like this. To the lamb, the chef(s) added some nice and unusual flavours, like carrot puree, orange, cummin(seed) and cinnamon. Unusual does not mean unpleasant or anything, but in this case the opposite. Once you get past the surprise of the first bite, it really is delicious. Lamb is succulent and somehow remind me a bit of winter because of the hint of cinnamon. However, the slight sweet citrussy flavours of the orange in the sauce quickly bring me back to summer. All these flavours really go well together and are just perfect with the lamb.
Dessert was called Flowers From Loenen. It consists of a cremeux of flowers from their own vegetable garden. It came with a cake of orange flower with strawberry and an ice cream of sorrel. The hero of the dish really was the flowers. The sweetness was offset a bit by the freshness and almost spinach-like flavour of the sorrel ice cream. Again an unusual but very well executed plate of deliciousness.
According to Manners Magazine (article in Dutch) this restaurant is affordable and classy. Even though it was a little more expensive than most of the other dinners on this site, I can only agree with Manners Magazine. This does not mean it was expensive or anything. For approx. EUR 100 (which includes drinks) you will have a great evening with great food, very friendly and professional staff and a great restaurant. The restaurant is a fantastic choice for all types of dinners (except a children’s birthday parties), whether business with important clients or a family dinner for grandparent’s wedding anniversary. When we were there, everyone was welcome and the staff was exceptionally nice to everyone, including young children. This so far has been one of the few restaurants that I can actually see myself going back too any time soon….. If you are in the Amsterdam area, this place is worth the trip to Loenen aan de Vecht.
Restaurant location: View on Google Maps
Restaurant website: http://www.restaurantamsterdammertje.nl