Dry January? Go out for brunch.

Anyone attempting a dry January this year? Or Veganuary – this month’s answer to Stoptober? Me neither. Let’s face it: dry, meatless, miserable Monday is tough enough as it is. But 12 days straight of festive eating and drinking to a calorific point of oblivion does call for some reining in of appetite – for heaven’s sake, just don’t call it a detox.  

So if, like me, you’re attempting to conserve a few drinking calories this month, you might be considering a break from dining out. After all, the lure of a pre-dinner G&T aperitif or that glass of red wine with your steak is surely too much for even the Dalai Lama to resist. So why not go out for breakfast instead? Amsterdam’s brunch restaurants are ever growing, and although the quality of brunch food isn’t going up at quite the same rate, at least your chances of finding decent Eggs Benedict are increasing.

Speaking of which, let’s talk about Dragons Delight. I can only assume that the cafe (which I keep accidentally calling Dragon’s Den) is run by a well-networked expat, because I was somehow invited to at least three events there by international friends before I even had a chance to visit the website – let alone book a table to eat. The name is a little confusing – not only because of its proximity to the name of the British answer to Shark Tank, but also because everyone I’ve mentioned it to thinks it’s an Asian restaurant. Surely a potential disappointment for both those looking for Asian food and those looking for breakfast?

Naming logic aside, I secured a table at Dragons Delight with Scary French Lady (who is back from Paris for good – hurrah!), her husband and the Honey Badger. We started with coffee (good) and ordered a selection of international breakfast-y stuff to follow. Things took a while, and none of our dishes came out at the same time, but when they did they were mostly decent too.

The Eggs Benedict were served on toasted muffins (which sounds obvious, but clearly isn’t from all the bad experiences I’ve had), the Hollandaise was the right balance of creamy and acidic, and the rest of the ingredients were generous. My only complaint was that everything was luke warm at best. The “Princess in the Tower” (American-style pancakes with fruit and syrup) certainly looked the part and went down a treat with SFL’s husband. I also ordered a Scotch egg (one of the few things I miss from the UK) for us all to share. It was dry, with far too much breadcrumb crust and far too little sausage meat and egg filling.

Happily, however, brunch came to only €10 each – in Amsterdam terms, that struck me as fairly good value for money, despite the mistakes. And as far as I can make out from their menu, Dragons Delight doesn’t (yet) have an alcohol license – so you won’t even have to resist that Bloody Mary this Saturday.

Looking for other restaurants serving brunch in Amsterdam? Try one of these:

• Omelettes at Omelegg
• Huevos Rancheros at Worst Wijncafe (Sundays only)
• Corn fritters at Little Collins
• French bread, croissants and other continental breakfast fare at Gebroeders Niemeijer