Please note that since writing this blog post, Foodism has closed down
When my colleague asked me on Friday lunchtime what my plans were for the weekend, I told him I was going to Foodism. “What? Is that some kind of cult where you all sit around chanting ‘aubergine, aubergine, aubergiiiine’?” he asked. I laughed, and then I started thinking. I am a foodie… could Foodism be my religion? People have worshipped stranger things before, and I’ve been told on several occasions that I border on obsessive. Maybe Foodism isn’t such a crazy idea…
It was with much joy, then, that I found on Foodism’s menu (for Foodism is, in fact, a restaurant on the Nassaukade) a dish called “In aubergine we trust”. Clearly I had to order it.
But before that, we tried the dates wrapped in bacon with pecorino (salty, sweet, soft, crispy – a marriage of compatible opposites) and the squid in garlic and parsley butter, which tasted of exactly that. The bread with olive tapenade an aioli was good too, and free no less!
The concept relies on sharing, so we split our mains and side dishes too. The lamb cutlets were decent quality meat, if under seasoned. The sausages were gamey (they were supposed to be) and came with slightly under cooked onions, mushrooms and small baked potatoes.
And then there was the aubergine. Now, I am crazy about aubergine. I order it more than would probably count as “moderation”. And if you cook it long enough, there’s not too much that can go wrong. The only thing right about this aubergine, however, was the melted pesto-dressed mozzarella on the top. The mighty vegetable was a hard, bitter shadow of its potential glory. I sent it back the first time. And then I sent it back the second time, too.
To the staff’s credit, the waitress took the dish off the bill immediately, and the chef came to talk to us about the problem. They handled a bad aubergine day extremely well. I was just sad it had to be a bad aubergine day in the first place.
Dinner came to an extremely reasonable €30 each, including wine and a significant tip. The service was attentive and friendly, the venue warm and inviting. I would go back – I just won’t be trusting the aubergine.
