Uliveto-Best Sandwich near the Pijp. Maybe?

Just a quick post to say the best sandwich so far around Sid Lee Amsterdam is the Vitello Tonnato on white at Uliveto. Oh my goodness. In your face!

In de Keuken *****

Before I start to review In de Keuken, I want to summarise from the get -go that this restaurant is truly an amazing place to dine and eat great, creative and inspirational food. It's my new favourite place in town.

In de Keuken is situated on the Utrechtestraat, you could cycle by it and not notice as it's squeezed in between to wider buildings.  In de Keuken I'm guessing is called so, because it feels like you are in the kitchen with your fellow diners surrounded by ingredients and cookbooks. On this particular evening the restaurant was packed and with a reservation at 8.45pm we were the last guests.

On arrival we were promptly greeted by the sommelier and advised us to try a refreshing pink prosecco, which was followed by a variety of amuse bouche, all the little amuse gave us all the signal that the food to follow would be something to look forward too. The highlight being mackerel with nectarine and almonds, oh plus the bloody mary with caviar.

As  there were six of us we were advised to either go for the 4 course surprise menu or the 6 course. We all (bar Miss 8 months pregnant) went for the 6 course menu.  To make things simple we also opted for the wine arrangement so that we could try a different, suggested wine with each course. I am going to take you through each dish, and hope to make you salivate. I hope I remember every thing as well as the chef who took us through each dish when it arrived.

For starters my fellow non pregnant diners mmm'd their way through oysters ( I opted out of this as I have an aversion to oysters after turning green then falling sick to a dodgy one in Auckland not so long ago), then it was on to swordfish with a soup of ginger, lemongrass and coconut. To get the full sense of what you were eating the chef also came out and magic'd smoke in a small jar with liquid nitrogen to release the smell of all of the soup's ingredients. Novelty factor, but it really did awaken your taste and smell buds.

Third course was tortellini with parmesan cream and truffle with an onion soup. Oh my.

Then on to my favourite course (if I had to choose) of Angus beef with chanterelles. The beef was so tender, the knife slipped right through with ease. I was beginning to get full but still wanted to finish the dish.

Then on to the first dessert. An experiment, with apple and cucumber (it works) sorbet- you'll notice it has already vanished from the photo, blue cheese and an odd combination of walnut and pistaccio. The only thing across the whole menu (oh and the oysters) that didn't really go down too well for me.

By now I was getting full, but one last course. The final dessert was visually a work of art. A couple of home made sorbets, a cream with white chocolate wafers and strawberries.

Almost finished. Then came a scoop of cream that had been scientifically experimented on in the kitchen wit liquid nitrogen.

And then came the coffee and petit fours. It was now around half past midnight and we were the last table there. Time to leave, time to plan not to eat for the rest of the weekend.

The only thing I have to comment on is that a lot of the dishes were served bordering on luke warm yet the serving plates were hot. This is a minor comment though as it has been a long time since food has made me so happy. The food takes dining in Amsterdam to another level of creativity and I'll now be on the hunt to find other restaurants that meet that standard.

http://www.indekeuken.com/
Utrechtestraat 114

PS: I should also update you on the list of wines at some point that we tasted with each course. This will be coming shortly.

Mambo- Italian sandwiches **

As promised, like a little kitten ( I just acquired 2 kittens so sorry for the analogy) I am venturing a little further each lunchtime to try out different places. Today I popped into Mambo on Eerste Van der Helststraat, just over the Albert Cuyp Markt and just past Chocolate. Are you there yet?

Mambo is an Italian sandwich place with a large terrace where you can watch the bustle of the Pijp, or go inside and you will find lots of kitsch, vintage and curios. Little lamp shades, vases with roses, random dolls and mismatched chairs. It may look a little cramped near the entrance, but will  find additional seating if you walk behind the serving counter and up the precarious stairway. Cosy!

Mambo has a selection of good sandwiches at a reasonable price and is a great cosy place to catch up with a friend, refuelling before tackling the market. I heard a rumour it maybe open in the evening for dinner, but I'm not sure I'll have to check it out.


Mambo
Eerste Van der Helststraat 66
020-6791295

Anyone for Brinner? Lovefood returns.......****

On a Tuesday evening (aren't the nights drawing in already?) I headed to Brasserie Vlaming for 'Brinner'.  'Mr Lovefood'  Jason Hartley had a tester night for the return of Lovefood Brunch on Sunday. Jason had added a few additional dishes to the Lovefood repertoire. It was only when we arrived that we were told that all food was complimentary in return for our thoughts.

We were advised to all try different dishes so that we could mix and share. There were four of us...awesome. Miss 'I am going to miss you as you move back to NYC' ordered the Croque Madame, Miss Aussie Editor went for 'The Full Mikey', Miss 'I like to enjoy my leisure time' went for the Pancakes with ginormous blueberries, maple syrup and cream.  I went for the Eggs Benedict.

As always the food matched all my other experiences of Lovefood. Brunch here is to such a high standard for a so called 'Brunch' menu the only thing that needs tweaking is perhaps the service.

Lovefood will now be in a new location, back in the centrum on the Prinsengracht 193 at Brasserie Vlaming. Brasserie Vlaming is perfect for the colder days, cosy interior and a good open kitchen so you can spy on the Jason and his crew.

http://www.eetcafevlaming.nl/Brass/brasserie.html

 The Lovefood Brunch pop up brunch returns on Sunday September 5th 11:00 – 15:00 at a NEW VENUE. http://lovefoodblog.wordpress.com/  Please if you haven't been before try it.