Please note that since writing this blog post, Cafe Edel has closed down
Please note that since writing this blog post, G-Spot has closed down
I once read some blogging book that told me not to write too much or cover more than one topic in each post. Yes. Well. I’m aware I don’t always exactly adhere to that rule. But four terrace restaurants seemed a little too many, even for me… so here are the other two:
We celebrated my friend Nicola’s birthday at Café Edel, in the height of the heat wave. The huge canal-side terrace allows room for – wait for it – tables of over eight people! Almost unheard of in Amsterdam cafes. While waiting staff were sometimes a little hard to come by, the food was above eetcafe standard. The liver pate had a hint of truffle, though it was lucky we ordered it since the mains took a while. The gambas with gnocchi had an excellent depth of flavour but lacked texture – they were altogether too soggy and samey. Something green and crunchy was called for. The Osso Bucco promised to be served with polenta but came with butter beans. I like butter beans, but I happened to have eaten them for lunch so I wasn’t best pleased. Nothing wrong with a menu alteration – just let us know.
My latest terrace experience was at the controversially named G-Spot (which, with Dutch pronunciation and grammar, means ‘spotted’ rather than an erogenous zone). It sits on the corner of Leidsegracht and Prinsengracht – conveniently close to my Leidseplein office but without the thronging crowds and accordion players. G-Spot has been recently taken over (or maybe just acquired a new chef – I’m not sure) so we went to check out its new Asian fusion menu. After waiting 20 minutes to place our order (to be fair, they did later apologise for the wait), we chose the Dim Sum (two varieties of pork and prawn-filled goodness), Gyoza (somewhat similar), seared tuna with pak choi (well seasoned and sauced) and lamb curry (a bit of a non-sequitur with the rest of our meal but really our own fault). The wine was an interesting (and I mean interesting – not some British euphemism) Chilean Gewurtztraminer that we loved. I’d love to give G-Spot a better rating but the service – as always – let it down.
