On a day called Restaurant Day – in which hundreds of amateur chefs are taking to the kitchen and hundreds of non-restaurant venues are opening their doors to the hungry public – it would seem like an opportune moment to write about the culinary phenomenon known as “pop-ups”. Pop-ups have taken Amsterdam by storm in the past year or so, offering “here today, gone tomorrow” exclusivity to guests, plus an opportunity for creative entrepreneurs to showcase their talent. I seem to have at least one a week on my calendar, all of which are food related, but there must be dozens more that either I can’t make or fall off my radar because they’re not about food.
Today there were no less than three to choose from, and I opted for bluesy speakeasy Wink Wink the Blues Away by the Dikke Lepel ladies at a converted garage on Bloemstraat. For €6, I got a plate of nachos heaped with pulled pork, red slaw, black beans and more salsas and sauces than I could shake a lepel at.
Two weeks ago, I was at Café Vief for the Winter Warm-Up: Cosmic Chili edition, by Hilary Eats. €35 netted me three courses of heart-and-toe warming loveliness including the main event: the chili from heaven. One was with smoky minced lamb and chipotle; the other a Mexican-Asian flavour involving white beans, chicken and tonnes of fragrant coriander. The cornbread was possibly the best I’ve ever eaten.