dinner – Unfolded

sophiavandenhoek August 13, 2016

La Grenouillere by Alexandre Gauthier, France

A warm summer day in France, golden hour and La Grenouillere. We truly stepped into a fairy tale at this old auberge located by a stream just outside the village of Montreuil.

sophiavandenhoek February 8, 2016

Restaurant Breda, Amsterdam

Amsterdam, The Netherlands No Reply

It’s the kind of place that makes you wish that you, personally, and the nation, generally, had a deeply rooted lunch culture. Of course that’s only if you don’t already and also if by ‘lunch culture’ you mean more than a broodje kaas, which, even if not one to be admired, is as deep rooted a culture as any. Appropriate or deliberate, then, that the restaurant’s name is Breda, a town in the ‘Bourgondisch’, bistro-friendly, lunch-loving half of the Netherlands.

But this and the fact that everyone running the place originally comes from there, is probably Restaurant Breda in Amsterdam’s strongest link to Breda, Breda. Not that one cares. Not when one is sitting on a beautiful green couch with one’s wine glass reflecting outside’s high grey skies and you consider, finally out of the wind, what a marvellous thing it is to have a proper lunch. A proper lunch on a Friday afternoon in a proper, high as those grey skies-ceilinged, dining room. One that is elegant (the light fixtures are stunning) without being fussy (you might be out for lunch but this is still Amsterdam) and built around a long bar (important).

Our reservation was for 1 p.m. but with last night’s not nearly as chic dinner feeling only hours away, we chose for the 3-course menu (€29.50) over the 4 (€36.50) or 5-course (€42.50) options. And that, and the name of the wine in your glass (unfortunately vin naturel only comes by the bottle) is all you are to choose; the object being to settle yourself back down on that couch and enjoy watching the chef, whose other restaurant, Guts & Glory, bases its menus on one animal at a time, exercise his skill and new-found freedom in cooking with all kinds of beasts (fin, feather, shell) at once.

Before there was a beast, however, there was a vegetable broth made from the kitchen’s leftovers; from the taste of it, much celery or its relatives. But this also may have come from the swirl of lovage oil on top, a herb that can punch well above its weight as a substitute to celery or parsley in the taste department (the French call it céleri bâtard). Alongside this came a savoury sort of poppy-seeded profiterole filled with a mushroom creme and a very light, golden brown potato soufflé. All together very salty and very sumptuous.

Next came an amuse bouche of good, fresh, fat mussels in a velvety smoked butter sauce with parsley oil, all of which got almost all over when we tried prying them from their shells, this being a dish to share and thus also one bowl to drip over. But we managed and besides, all the plates and bowls were beautiful.

Then came fish: raw slivers of can’t-taste-it-fresh sea bass on a pool of oyster crème, slices of cucumber, minutely chopped horseradish for pep and sprigs of feathery dill to garnish. This was to be our favourite dish for how the different flavours, each of them very pronounced on their own, balanced one another out.

The next course arrived with the warning we must watch out for the bullets – those in the wild duck, two thick cuts of which came besides pureed turnip and a rich, blood-sausage sauce, and under a small portion of spiced red cabbage. The cabbage might have made the whole affair a little too Christmas for the 29th of January, but was necessary to stand up to the duck, a red-blooded beast; quite how red and how beastly always surprises me… considering it’s a duck.

No bullets in the next little treat either, nor, as my family says when you can eat a lot of something easily, ‘no bones’. No, none to be found in the cotton-puff of white chocolate mousse with beetroot puree and Macaron. Nor were there any bones or otherwise in the vanilla ice cream, a royal-sized scoop of which was slathered in honey-brown caramel, pieces of soft apple and toasted macadamia nuts, and crowned with the next level ingredient for those wanting to up their salted-caramel game: a crisp of chicken skin. Chocolate makers take note.

Written by Hannah Fuellenkemper, also published on hannahfk.blogspot.nl

Restaurant Breda

Singel 210

Amsterdam

sophiavandenhoek July 10, 2015

One day in Amsterdam

Amsterdam, The Netherlands No Reply

Breakfast at Vinnies Deli,Lunch at Scandinavian Embassy,Dinner at Choux,

More pictures will follow soon!

sophiavandenhoek March 26, 2015

The Butcher’s Daughter, New York

New York, U.S.A 1 Reply

The Butcher’s Daughter, a casual, very vegan-friendly cafe in Nolita that will dazzle any vegetable lover. When I stumbled upon it I got attracted by the visually appealing, stylish appearance which shows a quite feminine and colorful take on old butcher shops. But instead of serving meat they’re more like a ‘vegetable slaughterhouse’ (like they call it on their website). The smashed avocado toast with curry and mustard seeds I had was packed with flavor despite it’s simplicity. The highlighted vegetables attract the young and healthy, giving the café a casual and hip atmosphere. It’s been quite a while since my visit when I took these pictures but I don’t think a lot has changed, believing the internet reviews it still seems successful. Next to breakfast, brunch and lunch you can now have dinner there as well. And the lucky ones living nearby can enjoy their home delivery.

The Butcher’s Daughter

19 Kenmare St. New York

sophiavandenhoek March 3, 2015

Cutler & Co, Melbourne

Australia, Melbourne 1 Reply

One of the best surprises in Melbourne: Cutler & Co. After a long, hot and sweaty day of wandering through Melbourne we accidentally walked by Cutler & Co. The good looking restaurant caught our eye. At that time our experience in Melbourne already learned us all the places in Australia that look good actually serve good food as well so we stepped in. Wearing shorts, flip flops and messy hair immediately made us feel a bit uncomfortable when we saw the beautiful interior but the friendly staff at the door made us feel welcome anyway. Unfortunately they were fully booked that evening but we got ourselves a table for the next one. Without doing any more research we dressed up the next evening to eat at Cutler & Co, not knowing the restaurant was voted nr 7 in the top 10 best Australian restaurants by Gourmet Traveller. The restaurant is classy but unpretentious. You’ll find a mix of diners ranging from young couples to business meetings and family-get-togethers. The enthusiastic, friendly and well informed service team knew how to precisely introduce the dishes without overdoing it and kept us focussed on the degustation menu with paired juices en excellent wines. Cutler & Co, Melbourne | un-fold-ed.com We started off with a delicious Ortiz anchovy pastry, followed by the tuna tartar with slightly smoked kohlrabi, fromage blanc, bottarga and lavas. This might have been the highlight of my meal although the following course with pickled mussels, bean salad and almond, fennel cream was very, very impressive as well. Cutler & Co, Melbourne | un-fold-ed.com And of course the rest of the meal is also worth mentioning. Like the Flounder with blackened leek, pickled onion and Brown Butter. The smoked duck breast, salsify and prunes. The dry aged lamb saddle, confit belly, garlic sauce and fermented carrot. Dessert was no letdown either. In fact, the buttermilk ice-cream with melon, cucumber, verbana jelly and thickened melon juice was in our top 3 dishes at Cutler & Co. as well! Happily surprised by how good the food was I did some research afterwards and found out Chef Andrew McConnell is a veteran of the Melbourne restaurant scene an has won just about every award going during his career. His restaurant group also includes Cummulus Inc, Supernormal, Moon Under Water/ Builders Arms Hotel and Luxembourg. I visited Builders Arms Hotel and I’ve put the rest on the list for my next visit to Australia! 55–57 Gertrude St. Fitzroy 3065, Melbourne

sophiavandenhoek December 3, 2014

In de Wulf, Dranouter

Belgium, Dranouter 2 Replies

It’s been more than a week already since my visit to Michelin starred restaurant In de Wulf and I still have no idea where to start. The 18 course menu? The beautiful location in the southern part of Belgium? Late night snacking with all of the staff? The breakfast the next day? Or the warm personality of Kobe Desramaults that shines through in everything? Which I already noticed visiting The Superette a few weeks ago.

Though you might not expect to read this much on a photography blog, I would recommend the foodies to stay tuned.

Kobe wants to take the whole process of cooking from beginning to end into his own hands by collaborating with local breeders and farmers and by foraging intensively. There are a lot of fields, dunes, and forests around Dranouter (where In de Wulf is located) where he and his entire team collect herbs, sea buckthorn, seaweed, mushrooms, poppies, meadow sweat, flowers… you name it. Because of this, and because of working seasonally, the menu changes daily.

So much happened in the 24 hours I spend there and I will share all of it with you but it’s too much for one post so I’ll start where I started: lunch. Entering the restaurant with a warm welcoming we were offered a tour through the kitchen right away before we got to our table.

In de Wulf, Dranouter | un-fold-ed.com We started our lunch with beet with a crumble of rye and lemon verbena followed by a crispy pork skin cracker with aioli, dusted with mustard powder . A very good start but it got even better with the arrival of the whelk clams with bay leaves vinaigrette, accompanied by a tartar of mussels from the North Sea. The smoked mackerel that arrived after that was in my opinion the best looking dish with smoke still coming out of the curry plant. But all the following dishes were very beautiful presented, well balanced and very tasteful as well. A poached egg yolk with radish flowers, Judas’s ear mushrooms with celeriac butter juice (!), asian style squid, smoked oyster on pine branches, raw scallop from Duinkerk with raw chestnut and fermented leak juice, smoked potato with a buttermilk potato espuma and a roasted root vegetable salad with topinambur and carrot. The 6 months riped and short roasted milk cow with red onion looked (and tasted) so delicious I even forgot to make a picture. Or maybe that was because I was quite impressed by mr. Desramaults serving this dish himself. They saved the best for last: the boudin noir (blood sausage) with a beetroot sauce and caramelized baby onions. Next to that a crispy pork head snack served on a pig’s skull. Normally I’m not a big fan of blood sausage and eating pig brains didn’t sound too appealing to me at first but in the end this was the best dish I had that day.

After this we had an extra course, specially made for us by Kobe himself in his wood oven outside but I’ll share pictures of this later.

We ended our meal with 3 desserts. The first one with beetroot, rose hip and yoghurt was my favorite, though I’m normally a bigger fan of heavy chocolate desserts. The second one was a new interpretation of the carrot cake with caramelized white chocolate and fermented carrot. The last one a mousse and a granita of apple.

The drip coffee was served with beignets, a meadow sweat cheese tart, a chocolate bar filled with caramel and a jelly of sea buckthorn with a verbena powder. This lunch accompanied by good wines and home-made juices was almost perfect but I told you it was a 24 hour lasting experience so keep posted for more on In de Wulf!

In de Wulf

Wulvestraat 1

Heuvelland (Dranouter), Belgium

sophiavandenhoek November 8, 2014

Nanashi, Paris

France, Paris 5 Replies

I love rich, heavy, filling food. The French kitchen is one of my favorites but after spending a while in France I sometimes have enough of the cheese, butter and cream. That’s when I go to Nanashi, the perfect place to find a hint of Japan in Paris. The bento box in Japan can be compared to the bread bin we know in Holland but way healthier and always good looking with Japanese perfection. The ones they serve at Nanashi are carefully prepared and well balanced with lots of vegetables and cereals instead of white rice. Next to the bento boxes they serve other light and healthy dishes. The spring rolls with chicken are my personal favorite but don’t miss the black sesame panna cotta with maple sirup for dessert!

There are more Nanashi locations in Paris but these photos were shot at the one in the Marais.

57 rue Charlot, 75003 Paris

Open for lunch and dinner

nanashi.fr

sophiavandenhoek November 4, 2014

Superette, Ghent

Belgium, Ghent 3 Replies

Ghent, only a ninety minute drive for me and still last year was the first time I visited this beautiful city with it’s cosy streets and relaxed atmosphere. De Vitrine and In de Wulf are still on my to do list but I decided to start with Kobe’s newest place ‘Superette’ for brunch. Kobe Desramaults started this wood fired bakery last May and together with his souschef Rose Greene and bread expert Sarah Lemke and they instantly made this place a must visit when you go to Ghent. The menu changes regularly but I was lucky to get myself a pastrami sandwich (yes, fetish! See my recent Katz’s post) with sauerkraut and Keiemtaler cheese and it was mind-blowing! The pumpkin cake with quinces and burrata made a good dessert for me. What else was perfect were the take-out cannelés from the bakery. Same thing for the bread, the croissants, the spelt frangipane, the monkey bread, chocolate cookies, the kouign amman pastries with chocolate, the butter.. Yes, I liked Superette. My next visit to Ghent will definitely include visiting De Vitrine.

Besides to breakfast and lunch Superette also serves dinner. You can find the menu on their website.

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