When in Amsterdam for a fine-dining experience, The White Room, Vinkeles or Bord’eau are probably the most likely names you will be given. Recently, we have visited Wolf Atelier, which we considered a real hidden treasure.  Having found that one, we went looking for more and we have found another one: Senses Restaurant.

What got us interested in this restaurant was their claim of creative and unconventional food. We have seen some images of their dishes we noticed a very nice presentation of the food, so we decided to visit. When entering the restaurant, we noticed the restaurant seats only 30 people or so. We also noticed that chef/owner Lars actually is in the kitchen, something that is not always the case. The walls of the restaurant are pretty dark, but there is sufficient light coming through the windows for this not to be an issue. Nice photos on the wall and good-looking and comfortable (although slightly damaged here and there) chairs. Tables are not too big, but definitely not too small, and are well-spaced to not be bothered by your neighbour. Open kitchen in the back of the open space lets you see the chefs at work.

For lunch, the choice was between 2, 3 or 4 courses so four courses it was….  The whole thing kicked off with the almost customary amuses: First it was a “filet American sandwich” (raw beef with a sauce, as real Dutch thing), cucumber pearl and a taco with foie gras and pomegranate.  Especially the cucumber pearl was amazing: a nice almost crunchy outside with a liquid/gel inside packed with flavour. This first amuse was soon followed by some North Sea crab with passionfruit and a green curry gel. Again, this was amazing and really raised our expectation of what was still to come. The slight acidity with the somewhat sweet crab was simply delicious.

Now the “show” really was starting. Expectations from the amuse were already met by the first course: Ceviche of sea bream with puffed quinoa and some fermented cucumber. The presentation was very nicely done; bright colours with a decent (read: large) portion of delicious and (if it were a steak we would say) tender fish. The delicate flavours of the fish were really complemented by the fermented cucumber, which was slightly pickled, and the crunchy quinoa crust. This is the kind of dish we go out to dinner/lunch for!

Up next was the first meat dish: Pork cheek with a cannoli, chicory, Pata Negra and PX jus. The dish definitely was in the same league as the first dish. Wow, what a deliciously tender and moist piece of meat this was. Where the waiter had given us a knife, the meat was so tender, we did not need the knife as we could cut the meat with our spoon (and we have tried). Once again, the presentation was just beautiful and the flavours were all there. Where we are normally not a big fan of chicory, combined with the sauce and other ingredients it was just right.

The last dish before dessert was a back angus blade steak. This was not just your plain steak thrown on the grill served with some red wine sauce, but it had some unusual yet delicious flavours. It came with some flatbread stuffed with a stew of the shank with some Arabic spices and hummus. The sauce was made of Ras el Hanout (a Moroccan spice mix). The spiral was a creme of carrot (usually combined with eggplant, but because of allergies this was left out). We love the flavours of Ras el Hanout but never would have combined it with steak. The chef here did and wow, what a delicious combination of flavours this was.

Just before dessert, there was a small pre-dessert: Rhubarb mousse with a rhubarb compote. Lovely little bite that had just enough acidity to make use “forget” the richness of the dishes before.

The dessert itself combined some very nice ingredients: Lambada strawberries, cremeaux of strawberry a parfait of verbena and vanilla creme patissier. The strawberries were lovely and sweet, which combines really well with the richness of the creme patissier and then you have the verbena to bring some balance to the dish with some acidity. It was not a big dessert, but it was a good one. If we have to raise a point for improvement, it would be that the dessert could have been slightly bigger.

Senses is one of those restaurants that you would like to visit when in Amsterdam. The food is delicious and very nicely presented. All of this for a very reasonable price. Where this really is considered a fine dining restaurant, it does not require you to wear a suit and tie. Just proper jeans without any holes in them would be enough to receive a warm welcome. For the lunch we had, we paid approx. EUR 45 (excluding drinks) and did leave a nice tip as this was well-deserved…..

Restaurant location: View on Google Maps
Restaurant website: https://www.sensesrestaurant.nl