With so many nice eating places shut by in Amsterdam, we don’t enterprise to different components of the Netherlands as usually for positive 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 resort after dinner, we would as nicely go to a 3 star restaurant overseas (because the Librije is at present the one restaurant within the Netherlands with three stars). In response to Michelin, a 3 star restaurant is definitely worth the journey. Yearly for our marriage ceremony anniversary I shock Kees, and we’ve been to locations like Copenhagen, Stockholm, Wolfsburg, Girona, or Naples. However this yr I assumed we’d keep shut and go someplace with a variety 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 though it’s only 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 a further course and cheese as a substitute 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 big selection of Burgundy and a white Burgundy would go nicely with the primary programs of the tasting menu, we determined to select a pleasant bottle and thus ended up with a customized pairing that got here out at virtually the identical value because the status pairing.
However first we had a glass of champagne from the champagne cart, a Bruno Paillard Première Cuvée Rosé. It’s principally 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The primary amuse bouche was a croissant filled with outdated Rotterdam cheese.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 huge sufficient to be thought of a primary course of the tasting menu: lobster and uncooked tuna with a dressing.
Selecting a pleasant bottle of Burgundy is not any simple process, as even when the final traits of the appellations and vintages like I do. You really want to know the producers as nicely to know what to anticipate. I just lately 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 really want the sommelier that will help you navigate the wine checklist. Nicely, 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 complicated. (It did develop within the glass and if you happen to occur to have a bottle mendacity round, I might recommendation to open it quickly as I don’t suppose it would profit from extra 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 possibly can’t go fallacious with hamachi and caviar (once more a very good 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 steered 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 subject 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) relatively than rosé and it has a darker shade than the favored rosé from Provence. The wine had nice physique, aroma, stability, and complexity.
We had the 2 wines facet by facet, so it was identical to a wine dinner at house 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 superbly 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 an incredible 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 (virtually overcooked), so the beurre blanc was actually wanted to compensate for that. It was a pleasant dish, the peas and asparagus had been excellent. However it will 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 embody 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 giant oak barrels. Brunello may be very tannic when it’s nonetheless younger, however this was able to drink and really pleasurable.
It was a very good 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 may be.
Subsequent was the cheese cart, with a big selection 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 in the case of pairing wine and cheese, however we managed to select some cheeses that labored nicely with the Amarone.
It made sense to have cheese as a substitute 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 house (which we did). The madeleines had been wonderful.
In response to the restaurant’s web site, chef Fred says “My kitchen is predicated on acids. Citrus fruit specifically makes dishes simple to digest.” We didn’t actually discover this. As an alternative, many of the dishes appeared to have candy relatively 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 many others.) Every little thing was good, however I want the meals on the two Michelin star eating places in Amsterdam at an identical (Ciel Bleu) or decrease (Spectrum, Vinkeles, 212) value level.
Our star of the night was sommelier Daniël Gravesteijn. He didn’t solely give us wonderful recommendation, however he was additionally very attentive. Regardless that the restaurant was fairly busy and he gave the impression to be dealing with the wine in any respect the tables, we by no means needed to watch for something associated to wine. For instance, he observed from the opposite finish of the restaurant that my degree 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 just a few levels upon my request. (Restaurant supervisor Alex Rosier, who I consider can also be head sommelier, was not current. Mirjam Mustert, co-owner and spouse of the chef, was current, however in a really modest and pleasant method. We didn’t see the chef within the eating room; I don’t know if he was current within the kitchen.)
