Please note that since writing this blog post, Het Tuynhuys has closed down
Tuynhuys has been replaced by Lion Noir.
Never one to pass up a dining opportunity, last week I blagged an invitation to a client lunch at het Tuynhuys – a haven of light airiness betwixt the muddle of the Reguliersdwarsstraat. All angles and beams and mezzanines…
We chose between two starters – I went for the seared, thinly sliced beef with roasted red peppers, frisee salad and a parmesan crisp. It was as light as, and slightly less angular than, the restaurant itself.
Next, I chose the veal ‘sukade’ with ‘zwezerik’ – neither of which, I realised with some shame, I knew the English translations for. Still, they were delicious. And I have one of my lunch companions to thank for the definition of the latter: ‘zwezerik’ is sweetbread, which according to the Larousse Gastronomique is ‘the culinary term for the thymus gland (in the throat) and the pancreas (near the stomach) in calves, lambs and pigs, although the latter are not much used.’ So there you go.
What with the excellent petit fours and fine wine, we enjoyed a very good meal. All of us, that is, except the vegetarians. Suffice to say that two circular sheets of pasta sandwiching a pile of boiled spinach and fried mushrooms do not constitute ravioli. Even when presented with cold, plastic blue cheese, served by a waitress who doesn’t appear to know of the existence of a vegetarian menu.
As the copywriters say in my business, it’s all about knowing your audience.