There aren’t many places in the Red-Light District that locals go to eat or drink on a regular basis. The open-mouthed tourists, the vegetal stench of the coffee shops, and the likelihood of getting ripped off act as something of a deterrent. But I was recently doing some research for an article I’m writing (more on that when it’s actually published) and a friend suggested I check out Mata Hari.
Part café, part bar, part restaurant, Mata Hari has a canal-side terrace with no passing traffic, a disproportionately large number of sofas, and a well-stocked split-level bar. What’s not to like?
Well, for a start, they don’t do cocktails. Not that we ought to hold that against them, but it looks like the kind of place that should do cocktails – know what I mean? Nor do they have a drinks menu. They have a wine list, sure, but sometimes I need a little more inspiration than that…
They do, of course, have a food menu – and quite interesting it looked too. We tried a sort of lamb carpaccio affair with apricots, black-eyed beans and rocket. A little sweet, a little peppery – I liked it. We also tried octopus with avocado and a sauce that started with an “s” but tasted much like gazpacho. Tangy from the garlic and red onion, smooth from the olive oil. I liked that too.
After a strong start, the main courses were rather a letdown. My friend’s medium-rare rib eye steak came out well done and had to be sent back. It was served with roasted andijvie (don’t ask me what the English translation is), which was frankly odd. The texture was somewhere between fried seaweed and the soggy green mush you get in the bottom of the spinach bag when you’ve kept it too long. There are lettuces you can cook, and lettuces you can’t. This fell into the latter category.
I had pork chops – again, a little overcooked, although nowhere near as much as the steak – with lentils, fennel, a semi-spicy red sauce and yet more rocket. I like rocket – but not with everything. It was all just a bit meh.
Dinner came to a little under €50 each, although we’d had a couple of drinks before we started eating which probably bumped up our bill. Making the most of the warm weather, we were sitting at an outside table, but I’d like to go back on a cooler day and relax on one of the sofas with a glass of red… that is, after making it past the red-lit tourist traps.
