On the flight coming over he really thought that given the amount of bitching he'd heard from people that the meal in Business Class wasn't all that bad. The garlic mashed potatoes were a real treat and the tenderloin was pretty good for beef at 35,000 feet.
And of course you can't expect a fella to go to the Netherlands and not have a pint - or two - of Heineken. That and a few Dutch croquettes are balm to the weary soul of the jet lagged tourist.
And what could be more traditional of Amsterdam than a pancake hot off the griddle topped with all sorts of goodies. Though Sidd had to admit that that tomato, cheese and mushroom one sort of reminded him of a few of the pizzas that Lara has cooked up (well okay not exactly cooked but lets not go there) back home in Richmond.
de belhamel, a wonderful restaurant a block from the apartment - thanks to Kevin for the recommendation - preferred that gnomes not have their pictures taken in the dining room but were more than happy to allow a quick shot of Sidd as he contemplated a glass of prosecco in their lovely Art Nouveau bar. But he was told that the half lobster and shrimp and scollop starters followed by the new Asparagus Flemish style and Rack of Dutch Lamb mains were excellent. A funky, fun and it would appear fashionable place to have a Friday night dinner.
The rain on Saturday forced Sidd - and us - into a tapas bar called, would you believe, Paella. It was a chance to practice our Spanish - not sure how big that goes over given the history of the Netherlands - and tuck into ham croquettes, meat balls, garlic shrimp, calamari and a few glasses of a light Spanish white. Just the thing for a rainy slightly chilly day.
When you see a group of Chinese people lining up for a Mandarin style restaurant it must be good. And New King was extremely crowded and extremely good on Saturday night. One nice little touch that was much appreciated - we had order several types of dumplings, a mixed pork and duck platter and broccoli and were about to order a chicken dish when the young, and Sidd noticed very pretty, waitress suggested that the plates were rather large and maybe we were ordering too much. She was right but I know of so many places where they would have simply let us go ahead - more money for them! Kevin had suggested that anything involving duck was going to be a treat and he was right. The crispy duck rolls were magnificent - tender slices of flavourful duck in a light crisp batter and a tasty orange tinged sauce. And we wonder why Sidd is smiling.
After lunch with our MJ on Sunday we headed over to a cheese shop that Sidd had notice before. You'll notice how big his eyes got when surrounded by a plethora of well-aged cheese goodness. We tried a bit on his behalf and just had buy some to nibble on once we get back to Canada.
After all that food Sidd was prepared to work it off by tackling those stairs down with his bags in hand. We however had to have some help - thanks MJ and Rene.
11 June - 1184 BC: Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned, according to calculations by Eratosthenes.
2 comments:
My Gawd, those stairs are steep!
They're not as bad as they look there, Debra - but it's a close thing.
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