Restaurant De Kas: Amsterdam

V and I decided to cheap out on the hotel so we could afford the 50 EUR 5-course prix fixe at De Kas. Housed in the former municipal greenhouse of Amsterdam, the restaurant prides itself on serving farm-fresh, seasonal ingredients harvested from their own growing spaces. The restaurant is a good hour's walk from the city center and is located in a beautiful park with many varieties of water fowl. I was particularly taken with the loons. We arrived early enough to walk around the park (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!) and took the tram (#9, 1.60 EUR) back to the center after dinner.

You will not find rich sauces here: the ingredients are the stars. Everything was perfectly seasoned to bring out simple essences. Beets came drizzled with olive oil, sea salt and dill. They were earthy, nutty and perfectly cooked (I obviously have a thing for beets). If you do not like vegetables, this is not the place for you. The perfectly cooked scholle (a flat whitefish) filet was served with tiny camomile flowers, shaved fennel, succulent tomatoes, and basil leaves. A side of couscous mixed with various lettuces and spiked with a buttermilk dressing was light and airy. In terms of drinks, we decided to drink by the glass. We started with their elegant house aperitif - a glass of champagne and two fragrant lemon balm leaves. Looking around, we realized almost every table ordered it and we understand why. For wine, we opted for glasses of the Primitivo. Dessert was a dream: creme fraiche ice cream and strawberry cheesecake. We wanted seconds.










Kamerlingh Onneslaan 3, 1097 DE, Amsterdam.
+31 (0)20 462 45 62.

Eating in London: Giaconda Dining Room

The Giaconda Dining Room: a reasonably priced restaurant in one of the most expensive cities in the world that serves simple, delicious food with a focus on high quality ingredients. Unless you were in the market for a guitar (the area surrounding the resto is filled with guitar shops), it's the kind of unassuming place that you would walk by without noticing.

I almost had a mental breakdown at dinner trying to decide what to order. And this despite the fact that I had been studying the menu online for over a week. To start with, I had the deceptively simple beet and goat cheese mousse salad. For the main course, V and I ordered the rack of lamb for two served with an amazing veggie tian and gnocchi that was surprisingly light, fluffy and accented with just enough nutmeg to give it some kick. Everybody got the clean plate award and sadly, no room was saved for dessert.




Giaconda Dining Room
9 Denmark St
London, WC2H 8LS, United Kingdom
+44 20 72403334

Eating in Paris: La Panfoulia

Because sometimes you just want a plate of veggies, nice service and bread procured by the best waiter in Paris.


La Panfoulia (Great location in the Marais!!)
7, Rue Ste Croix la Bretonnerie
75004 Paris, France
+33 1 42 74 61 68

Eating in Paris: Bistro Paul Bert

I was lucky to discover Bistro Paul Bert in 2002 because a friend of mine lived right above it. Since then, it has received a ton of press which has put the place on the map of obligatory Parisian bistros for Americans visiting Paris. But the good news is that despite all the attention it has gotten, it's still delicious and perhaps even better than it was when I first ate there. An added bonus to getting so many American patrons is that they renovated the bathroom and took out the dreaded turkish toilet!

It's a solid bistro menu with a very reasonably priced wine list; the desserts are to die for. The last two times I've eaten there, I bypassed the regular menu and ordered whatever delicious beef was available. One time, this was the 'cote de boeuf' for 2 people along with fries and a perfect green salad. On my most recent trip, the 'cote de boeuf' was gone, replaced by a 'filet de boeuf, sauce au poive,' accompanied by the fries and the green salad for 32 euros: a bargain. The only way they will cook the filet for you is "saignant" (rare) or "bleu." They will give you unending shit if you try to order it "a point" (medium) or, god forbid, "bien cuit" (well done, or as they would say "mal cuit"). The beef is exceptionally flavorful and the silky sauce contained just enough black pepper to bring out the nuttiness of the meat. The fries were unspeakably delicious, probably fried in some kind of animal-fat infused oil. There is no photo available of them because we ate them too fast. The panna cotta with coulis of red fruits was wonderful as was the Ile flottante.



Bistro Paul Bert
18, rue Paul Bert, 11e, Paris, 75011
01-43-72-24-01