Amsterdam
I had a quick getaway to Amsterdam the other week, for 3 days the hunt was on to take my gastronomy habits abroad. I asked my friends on Twitter for sound advice on foods to try whilst there. The response was great, one telling me to go to “Amsterdam Pancakes” and another to try “Burger bar”. Luckily I was meeting a friend on Saturday for a ravenous Japanese buffet at Kyoto Café.
We arrived in Amsterdam, late in the evening, tired from being awake at the crack of dawn, and all the travelling between airports we couldn’t wait to chuck our luggage back at the hotel. As soon as we got to Amsterdam central we started to explore the area, I suggested we try to look for “Amsterdam Pancakes” after we had something to eat.
Madre Maria
Being lazy we ended up to the nearest restaurant we could find, Madre Maria had a deal for steak, chips and salad for €9. The steak was roughly 200g in size, with juices flowing from the top of the meat. Although it wasn’t exactly first rated top-notch meat it was ok, a little too overcooked for me. The accompanying sides were very generous, a bed of colourful vegetables with a light dashing of dressing. The chips were disappointing undercooked, and tasting like it’s been soaked in washing up liquid?!
After dinner, we went on a crazy hunt for “Amsterdam pancakes” after a long few hours of being lost, seeing canals after canals we finally arrived to find it closed. ARGH!
Central Amsterdam
Heading back to Central Amsterdam on the tram we realized we took the wrong road and it was only a 20 min walk from where we were. Most restaurants were closing and we went to the place we spotted first with the nice dessert display.
We were still on the Pancake craving and ordered a pancake each, I went for a plain one with icing sugar. The style of the pancake was in between the traditional crepe and American pancake. Bubbly, a little salty, nothing too spectacular.
Vending food machines in Amsterdam
On our way back we spotted food in vending machines, we managed to try the cheese soufflé it was DELISH! The food was crispy golden brown on the outside with a mild age cheese melting as you savour each bit.
The hotel breakfast buffet was decent, the restaurant was filled with aromas, enticing arrays of different foods arranged neatly in the corner. I was spoilt for choices, the freshly baked flaky croissants straight out of the oven was my favourite thing to reach for in the mornings. The cook in the hotel was trying to fill my plate up with food and handling me pots of yoghurt and all sorts. I had to kindly tell him I won’t be able to finish it. Milk over in Amsterdam is very rich, creamy, almost like evaporated milk here in the UK but ten times nicer. I loaded the stuff in my tea, every morning.
Poffertjes pancakes
We stumbled across a dessert house, the array of scrumptious, mouth-watering cakes on display was screaming “EAT ME” the cafe was run by Turkish owners and I was intrigued to try Turkish tea, it came in the cutest glass cup, it reminded me of Moroccan tea minus the mint.
mouth-watering cakes on display were screaming “EAT ME”
Staring at the choices of cakes, I finally choose the pistachio one, decorated beautifully with chocolate whipped cream and shavings and pistachio nuts all around. It was very pleasing to the eye and gained the spotlight for food porn captures. Overall the cake was not overly sweetened, the sponge was slightly stale from being in out for a while but I did enjoy my treat.
Mini high tea at a 5* hotel, my friend Wendy made a special 2 hour trip in town just to see me and my friends I was certainly hyped up for the Japanese buffet meal. We had a lot of time to kill and ended up at a hotel to have some tea. Although it cost €6.50 it came with sweet treats, such as macaroons, chocolate the tea was the finest premium blend by Revolution. I was pleasantly surprised when the waiter came out and opened a chest of tea.
http://www.revolutiontea.co.uk
Kyoto Cafe
The most memorable and favourite meal from the trip had to be Kyoto cafe. For the deluxe package of €28 unlimited buffet there was a wide selection of mouthwatering food on offer, including desserts. OMG!!! We was like ravens attacking the food in front of us, spider rolls, sashimi, juicy tender steaks, light crispy tempura, raw oysters, creamy bakes cheese scallops, dumplings the list goes on. I let the photo’s do all the speaking! When it came down to desserts the waiter joked that we could have up to ten scoops of ice cream if I wanted to. The green flavour was disappointing but I <3 the sesame and red bean flavour!
€28 unlimited buffet
On my last day, Amsterdam Pancakes was on the list to go to, there was a half an hour wait when we arrived there was all sorts of pancakes on offer, American, Dutch, mixed breakfast style etc. I pinpointed my choice to a chocolate and banana crepe. The chocolate was very bitter like pure coco, but the banana and the rest was fantastic. I much preferred my friend’s American style version.
