Amsterdam Foodie

Restaurant: Pain Quotidien (Lunch cafe)    
Cornelis Troostplein 4, 675 0506 website (De Pijp)

We’ve never seen so much snow in Amsterdam. Well, someone probably has, but not those of us who’ve lived here for approximately the last half decade. And we’re extraordinarily badly adapted to it: children push toboggans along in the absence of any hills to slide down (why do they even sell toboggans in the Netherlands?); commuters in heels skid through slush on the-opposite-of-mountain bikes; and the public transport suddenly goes all British and useless.

Still, a foodie with a brunch appointment is not to be defeated by a little dusting of the cold white stuff. And so it was that yesterday morning I set out for the new Pain Quotidien (recommended by my French friend, who ought to know about these things) in de Pijp. The tram was not looking good, but then again the Phoenix – with its dodgy tyre tread and even dodgier brakes – was looking frankly dangerous. Even clad in salopettes and a ski jacket (clearly essential for fast movement in an entirely flat country) it took me 45 minutes to get there, so it needed to justify the journey.

Beginnings didn’t bode well. Our waitress didn’t appear to know what the brunch menu was, and my first cappuccino ended up in the lap of my friend opposite. The brunch menu ‘to share’ seemed not to have been designed for sharing at all: there was one of almost everything, except the bread, of which there was enough to feed an entire Alpine ski team.

Having complicatedly cut everything in half and decanted various cereals, fruits and juices into extra receptacles, however, what we ate was actually good. The bread reminded me of what bread without additives is supposed to taste like; the granola with berries and yoghurt was unfailingly natural; and the croissants were unmistakeably French. I wasn’t so keen on the cheese and ‘charcuterie’ (which was not very exciting to the point of resembling a Dutch office canteen), but the juice and coffee (second time round) were great.

Brunch costs around 25 euros for two, though hungry people who aren’t prone to sharing could probably order one for themselves. I could blame the weather for the waiting staff’s befuddled execution, but that doesn’t change the fact that the brunch format is fundamentally flawed in its claims to share-ability.

I’d go back, but I’d order for one.