Strictly come eating
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Anyone who watches the British-born annual celebrity dance-off, Strictly Come Dancing (aka Dancing with the Stars in Holland) will know what the judges mean when they give a dancer a score of nine, despite technical excellence. Sometimes the technique, the footwork, the arms, are all there – but the dance doesn’t give you shivers, it doesn’t transport you, it just doesn’t have the wow factor.
Well it’s no different with food. Some of the restaurants to which I give a score of four have very good food, the service is more than acceptable, but they just don’t leave me with that after-glow that a really great restaurant somehow inspires. Zuid Zeeland was a case in point: I was lucky enough to be taken there by my company for our Christmas lunch. The food was of one of the highest standards I’ve encountered in Amsterdam, the service attentive, and yet I’m only writing about it now – on the 27th January – because it just didn’t inspire me. Hence I’m not really going to write about it at all. The food can speak for itself. Try it; despite the four, it deserves another chance.
Amuse bouche: Slow-cooked oxtail with a parsnip cream
Starter: Lobster with cous cous and harissa
Main: Rare beef and black pudding with sauerkraut, cepes, brussel sprouts and beef jus
Dessert: Caramelised pineapple and dark chocolate and caramel fondant
