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Amsterdam restaurant review: Kafé Kontrast

I’d had Kafé Kontrast on my list to try for several months, and finally made it to this casual Ceintuurbaan cafe last weekend. According to its website, it has Swedish roots but takes inspiration from Indonesia too – an intriguing combo.

Of the dishes we tried, the gravlax tartare was the only one that was recognisably Nordic (to me at least) but the rest were no less delicious. 72-hour slow cooked pork belly was meltingly tender, with creamy, comforting cannellini beans, lemon-zesty kale and an umami-rich jus. Aubergine balado was a textural delight: crunchy hazelnuts, spiky chilli, creamy feta and a Nordic nod from the rye bread croutons. All round, I loved the food – including the crispy baby potatoes with spicy mayo.

Onto the wine. I’d deliberately nixed Kafe Kontrast for a Christmas dinner with a group of girlfriends because the website says they serve natural wines and my friends aren’t fans. Stepping up to the bar, however, I realised I was familiar with all but three of the wines. Turns out Kontrast uses one of the same suppliers as the shop I work in. These are lovely wines and I’m fully behind their organic and/or biodynamic practices. But these are not natural wines. (Or at least, not under most people’s understanding of this very ill-defined category.) I had one glass of a Slovenian orange wine that probably was natural (it was also delicious, incidentally) and there may have been one or two others. But the majority were conventionally produced. As I said, the wines were great, but why confuse customers with the promise of natural wines?

That aside, we had a lovely evening. Dinner for two cost €130 including a 10% tip, which is fairly standard for Amsterdam these days. I’d recommend Kafe Kontrast, but don’t go expecting all natural wines!

all the info

Kafé Kontrast (International)
€€

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