Restaurant BAK: the perfect treat for a book celebration
It probably hasn’t escaped your notice that I’m in the process of publishing a cookbook*… and when I say “I” and “in the process” these are euphemisms for lots of people who have all been helping me out (mainly for free) for months and months and months now… and quite frankly it’s about time I thanked them. In – of course – the only way I know how: by feeding them.
So last Saturday night, I took my designer, my photographer and my editor out to Restaurant BAK for a celebratory dinner. And jolly nice it was too. Plus, one of the bonuses of going out for dinner with a photographer is that (to state the bleedin’ obvious) they take photos that are a gazillion times better than mine – no crappy iPhone snaps in today’s review, you’ll be pleased to know!
So, instead of blathering on about how the restaurant is housed in the top floor of a converted warehouse that’s also home to a theatre, or about how the BAK brigade started it as a pop-up that’s now gone permanent, or even about how the cute-but-difficult-to-understand waiter kept winking at me, I’ll step aside and let Jan-Kees’s handiwork do the talking instead…
After kicking off with a fruity aperitif (try the pear-Champagne concoction, or the medicinal-sounding chamomile, honey and gin cocktail), our “menu of the week” started with carrots. Yes, carrots. And who knew carrots could be such a shining star of their own little show? These came in four varieties with a citrus oil and crème fraîche dressing, puffed grains of wheat and a light dusting of coffee – grated straight from the bean. Light and joyful on the one hand, earthy and autumnal on the other.
Next came a dish of poached duck egg, baby potatoes, cauliflower (both poached florets and purée), radishes and watercress. Its constituent parts were all well and good, but they didn’t add up to a whole dish – it lacked some element of salt or acid to lift it all up together.
The main was partridge – the claw left on the leg didn’t make for a very pretty picture, but boy did that bird make for good eating! The others had theirs with the dreaded mushrooms, but mine was served with blanched spinach, celeriac purée, sauerkraut and a creamy reduction. It all felt very seasonal – which is just as well since I overheard the waiter giving the whole local/seasonal/organic spiel at least three times. (He clearly meant it!)
Our four courses came to an end with dessert: a square of chocolate “nemesis” with a berry coulis, sweet popcorn, and ice cream that tasted of green tea. (I’m not sure it actually was green tea, however – I missed the description from the Winking Waiter.)
We could have had three courses or we could have had five, but since I was paying I decided to compromise and go with the four. It was a good amount of food, and only set me back €200 (before tip) for the four of us, including a couple of decent bottles of wine.
In short, BAK is a great choice for a low-key celebration. And an even better one when you get to take your own personal food photographer along with you…
*I won’t go into the details of the cookbook again here, but suffice to say: you can find more info about Vicky Hampton’s Working Lunch and order your copy here! So please do!
