With so many nice eating places shut by in Amsterdam, we don’t enterprise to different elements of the Netherlands as usually for high quality eating — besides after all for our annual go to to the Librije. That is additionally as a result of if we’re going to keep in a lodge after dinner, we would as effectively go to a 3 star restaurant overseas (because the Librije is presently the one restaurant within the Netherlands with three stars). In response to Michelin, a 3 star restaurant is well worth the journey. Yearly for our wedding ceremony anniversary I shock Kees, and we’ve been to locations like Copenhagen, Stockholm, Wolfsburg, Girona, or Naples. However this 12 months I assumed we’d keep shut and go someplace with loads of water and boats for Kees to get pleasure from. And so Rotterdam was our shock vacation spot, the second largest metropolis of the Netherlands, however our first journey to go to Rotterdam collectively although it is just an hour away.
I had booked us a desk at restaurant Fred of chef Fred Mustert, which has held two Michelin stars since 2014. The common tasting menu is 210 euros for five programs, however upgraded with an extra course and cheese as an alternative of dessert, we ended up at 285 euros. The common wine pairing is 97.50 euros and there’s a ‘status’ pairing for 250 euros. There are three wine lists: white, pink, and Burgundy. Since there was such a wide array of Burgundy and a white Burgundy would go effectively with the primary programs of the tasting menu, we determined to choose a pleasant bottle and thus ended up with a customized pairing that got here out at nearly the identical worth because the status pairing.
However first we had a glass of champagne from the champagne cart, a Bruno Paillard Première Cuvée Rosé. It’s largely manufactured from Pinot Noir with a little bit of Chardonnay, with reserve wines from 25 vintages, and aged for 3 years on the lees.
The primary amuse bouche was a croissant filled with previous Rotterdam cheese.
The second and third amuse bouche had been Dutch shrimp with watermelon and smoked eel with a cucumber dressing.
The ultimate amuse bouche was very good and enormous sufficient to be thought-about a primary course of the tasting menu: lobster and uncooked tuna with a dressing.
Selecting a pleasant bottle of Burgundy isn’t any straightforward job, as even when you realize the overall traits of the appellations and vintages like I do. You really want to know the producers as effectively to know what to anticipate. I not too long ago ordered a bottle of Meursault in a restaurant that ended up being extra like a Chablis (austere and chalky) than the buttery wealthy Meursault I used to be anticipating, and so you actually need the sommelier that will help you navigate the wine checklist. Effectively, sommelier Daniël Gravesteijn did an excellent job. He knew sufficient of the traits of the various Burgundian wines on the checklist to assist me pick the Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru 2016 by François Carillon that did meet my expectations. It was properly aged, balanced, and sufficiently wealthy and sophisticated. (It did develop within the glass and should you occur to have a bottle mendacity round, I’d recommendation to open it quickly as I don’t assume it can profit from further cellaring.)
The primary course of the menu was uncooked scallops with foie gras, apple, and avocado. Very elegant in taste, with the apple barely overpowering the scallop. Good pairing with the Chassagne.
Subsequent was hamachi tartare with Oscietra caviar, crème fraîche, and an ‘olive’. You may’t go incorrect with hamachi and caviar (once more an excellent pairing with the Chassagne), however we each thought the sweetish ‘olive’ may have been missed (and messed with the wine).
We had mentioned the pairing with the sommelier and he urged we pair one thing else with the third course. We determined to have half glasses of the common pairing for this dish, a white Rioja, and the premium pairing, a Pícaro del Aguila Viñas Viejas Clarete 2022 from Ribera del Duero (Spain). The latter is a discipline mix of many alternative pink and white grape varieties, with Tempranillo and Albillo crucial ones. All of the grape varieties are cofermented collectively and aged for 16 months in oak barrels. It’s referred to as “Clarete” (claret) reasonably than rosé and it has a darker colour than the favored rosé from Provence. The wine had nice physique, aroma, steadiness, and complexity.
We had the 2 wines aspect by aspect, so it was similar to a wine dinner at residence in that respect.
The clarete was an ideal pairing for the langoustine with “Amela” tomato and basil. The dish had a scrumptious full tomato taste and it was excellent recommendation to not attempt to pair this with the Chassagne. In reality, the pairing with the white Rioja from the common wine pairing didn’t actually work both. With a wonderfully cooked langoustine, the fantastic tomato taste, and the scrumptious pairing, this was our favourite dish of the night.
We completed the Chassagne with the subsequent dish, which was a fantastic pairing due to the beurre blanc sauce. It was sea bass topped with a slice of turnip, which was in flip topped with stripes of lardo and smoked beef, served with white asparagus, and younger backyard peas. The fish was fairly agency (nearly overcooked), so the beurre blanc was actually wanted to compensate for that. It was a pleasant dish, the peas and asparagus had been good. However it might have been even higher with the ocean bass much less cooked, with out the turnip, and with a bigger quantity of lardo and smoked beef to have the ability to embrace them with each chunk of fish.
We continued with a 2017 Brunello di Montalcino by Le Chiuse, a really good Brunello (Sangiovese, Tuscany, Italy) aged for 3 years in massive oak barrels. Brunello might be very tannic when it’s nonetheless younger, however this was able to drink and really pleasant.
It was an excellent pairing for the Australian Wagyu with a beef and Mirin jus and shallots. The jus was a bit skinny (each in consistency and in taste) and the meat was not very tender and never as flavorful as Wagyu might be.
Subsequent was the cheese cart, with a wide array of cheeses.
There was additionally a cart of wines for the cheese, from which we chosen the Amarone and adjusted our cheese choice accordingly.
We’re choosy with regards to pairing wine and cheese, however we managed to choose some cheeses that labored effectively with the Amarone.
It made sense to have cheese as an alternative of dessert, as a result of espresso or tea was accompanied by a pleasant set of friandises. It was a pleasant contact that the bonbons got here in a field to take residence (which we did). The madeleines had been wonderful.
In response to the restaurant’s web site, chef Fred says “My kitchen relies on acids. Citrus fruit particularly makes dishes straightforward to digest.” We didn’t actually discover this. As an alternative, a lot of the dishes appeared to have candy reasonably than acid parts (mirin within the jus with the Wagyu, the olive on the caviar, watermelon with the shrimp amuse, a candy cracker with the eel amuse, and so forth.) Every little thing was good, however I desire the meals on the two Michelin star eating places in Amsterdam at the same (Ciel Bleu) or decrease (Spectrum, Vinkeles, 212) worth level.
Our star of the night was sommelier Daniël Gravesteijn. He didn’t solely give us wonderful recommendation, however he was additionally very attentive. Despite the fact that the restaurant was fairly busy and he appeared to be dealing with the wine in any respect the tables, we by no means needed to look forward to something associated to wine. For instance, he observed from the opposite finish of the restaurant that my stage of Chassagne was operating low whereas we had been having the ocean bass, and refilled it earlier than I may even fear about it. He additionally requested in regards to the temperature of the Chassagne and chilled it a couple of levels upon my request. (Restaurant supervisor Alex Rosier, who can also be the opposite sommelier, was not current. Mirjam Mustert, co-owner and spouse of the chef, was current, however in a really modest and pleasant manner. We didn’t see the chef within the eating room; I don’t know if he was current within the kitchen.)
