Please note that since writing this blog post, Canal House has closed down
Saturday night we felt like getting a bit poshed up. Frocks and shirts and suchlike. Cocktails and a canal view seemed only fitting…
Canal House (which does what it says on the tin: it’s a beautiful converted town house in prime position on the Keizersgracht) has a rather lovely bar and front lounge, just made for swanning around feeling richer and more important than one really is (and using pronouns like ‘one’)… I started with a cucumber mint martini, which was fresh and stronger than it sounded, and followed up with a generous glass (as in, about a quarter of a bottle) of prosecco. Dinner was off to a good start…
It got better still when my starter arrived: duck liver terrine that tasted so much like foie gras I think they made a mistake on the menu. I wasn’t complaining. It came with a classic accompaniment of brioche, prune compote and a tongue-tingling smatter of rock salt. De-lish.
There was one bum note in my main course, which was supposed to be halibut with shrimp and spinach risotto, and a red wine reduction. It looked like just that, but all I could taste was the parmesan in the rice, which was so overpowering it turned the whole dish into a teenage boy’s sock drawer. Luckily, my dining buddy was willing to swap (perhaps his nose was less sensitive to it, having once been a teenage boy himself?), so I tucked into his corn-fed chicken and honey-glazed carrots with aplomb (as you do, when wearing a posh frock).
After cocktails, prosecco and a bottle of Valpolicella, we were a little too drunk to appreciate dessert, so we shared a portion of honey ice cream and a sorbet that tasted of cinnamon and something that could have been mango or could have been peach. I was too tipsy to tell the difference by this point.
Not that that stopped me supping an after-dinner cocktail to round off the meal. Needless to say, I can’t remember what was in that either, but it came in a martini glass and featured lashings of lime so all was good with the world.
The damage was around €80 each, which wasn’t insignificant but then again at least 50% of the bill must have been the booze. And it was thoroughly worth it. Even the service was posh.
