Please note that since writing this blog post, Braque has closed down
The Amsterdam Foodie appears not to have been much in Amsterdam lately… The last few weekends have been spent in Berlin, Leeuwarden and Eindhoven respectively, and only yesterday did I finally get a chance to take some guests out in Amsterdam again.
We went to Braque, a French bistro-type place in de Pijp with art deco stained glass (or it is art nouveau? I never know), low-hanging table lights, ceiling fans and (most fascinating) what appeared to be a huge red shag-pile carpet on the ceiling. We were tired and hungry after a heavy weekend of go-karting and partying, so we were in need of some good solid French sustenance…
My starter was vitello tonnato (ok, not very French), which was topped with what crunched like fried capers. Very good, although some more of the crusty bread we’d polished off while waiting for it would’ve been welcome. My friend went for scallops with Parma ham and truffle mash, which were fresh and delicious.
Vitello tonnato
Next, we all went for beef. Mine was an entrecôte that was under-salted and over-peppered. The latter was the result of a sauce that was essentially gravy laced with whole peppercorns straight out of the pepper mill – not the softer, fresh peppercorns you’d expect in a sauce. It came with rösti (I’ve been spoilt eating rösti a lot in the Alps, and this definitely wasn’t as rustically accomplished as I’m used to) and bok choi (or was it pak choi? I never know the difference between those either) which was also under-salted. The dish was not unpleasant – it could just have been a lot better without a whole lot more effort.
Entrecote with rösti and bok choi
Dessert was was painstakingly slow in coming, but when it did it was in the form of a coffee parfait with tiny almond biscuits and a small shot of amaretto; for someone who’s not keen on marzipan-type flavours, I found it surprisingly good.
Dinner came to just under €50 each, including a bottle of very good Tempranillo/Cabernet from Finca Renardes in Spain.
Mocha parfait with bitterkoekjes and amaretto
Whenever I eat out with the intention to review the restaurant afterwards, I always ask my dining companions what score out of five they’d give the experience. They invariably say three and a half, which is endlessly frustrating since my database doesn’t do half marks. For the speed of the service and the mistakes in the main course, I’m inclined to plump for the lower option. Leaving town so much lately reminds me what Amsterdam is so often missing.
