Nieuwe doelenstraat 2-8, 1012 CP Amsterdam, tel.: +31 (0)20-5311777, web
As a treat I took my girlfriend to Le Relais in Hotel de L’Europe. Awarded again with a Bib Gourmond in 1996 Le Relais is the Brasserie of the Hotel. They served well known typical Dutch dishes with a chic twist. So we started of In Freddy’s Bar with a selection of amuses and a champaign cocktail. Unfortunately i forget which one I had, but just as my previous visit they are all well tendered. We had a quick glimpse on the menu and I decided on the hotchpotch with star anise, smoked lobster in a vervain sauce (apologies for the bad picture). This € 28,50 main course preceded by a North Sea fish soup with safron (€15,50). My girlfriend went with the codfish croquettes with piccalilli sauce (€11) as a starter and took the awesome hotchpoth of mussles with smoked eel and fried garden sorre (€24,50). All four dishes presented fashionable but I have to pay my respect for the beautiful presentation of the two hothpotch meals. Were other restaurants simply can’t satisfy my senses, here we got presented an elegant balanced plate. As a desert I went for a cheese-plate (€6,75). How predictable some people would say! But what a great way to finish a meal!
