Meat West and Graceland BAR-B-Q: Whoever said meat was men’s food?
Please note that since writing this blog post, Graceland BAR-B-Q has closed down
Please note that since writing this blog post, Meat West has closed down
One of the many trends that has taken Amsterdam by storm in the past year or so is meat. Barbecued meat, to be precise, and preferably from a Big Green Egg. We saw Julius Bar & Grill and Bar Brouw arrive and (in the case of the latter) multiply. We’ve seen burger joints aplenty, from Burgermeester to The Butcher. And now the Oud-West seems to be the latest hotbed of meaty, smoky, manly activity.
But is meat really so manly? We’re taught that barbecues are a man’s domain (much to my puzzlement – surely cooking on a barbecue follows the same principles as cooking in a kitchen, and the best chef in the house should do the job whether male or female?). I’m also frequently told that my cookbook must be aimed towards women, because it involves a lot of fresh vegetables (as though men are entirely ignorant of a balanced diet! Come on – let’s give them more credit than that!). And yet my recent outings to newly opened BBQ restaurants in Amsterdam have been with groups of five or six women. Men’s food it clearly is not.
Meat West
I didn’t bother writing a post about de Foodhallen – Amsterdam’s latest and greatest strike of culinary genius in the Oud-West. Every blogger under the sun seems to have covered it already – not just Amsterdam bloggers, not just food bloggers, but literally every blogger who has visited Amsterdam since de Hallen opened. And with good reason: the “covered market” sells everything from Iberico ham to Vietnamese banh mi, alongside some pricey but decent wines. Frankly, I love it. But I have nothing to add to the conversation.
However, in the same converted tram warehouse as the market itself are three restaurants: Remise 47, Halte 3 and Meat West. So I dropped by the latter a few weeks ago to see whether it was worth the hype. We had a booking at 8.30, but it must have taken us until at least 9 or 9.15 (I wish I’d timed it) to get seated and get a drink and a menu in front of us. The restaurant was terribly busy, we were told – as though they couldn’t have predicted that on a Friday night at de Hallen? It may sound harsh, but I don’t want to hear it.
Bavette steak from Meat West
Thankfully, things improved fast. Amusingly given the title of this post, the menu offered a “Lady steak” of 160 grams – presumably for those with lighter appetites. As a feminist, I couldn’t order it on principle. Instead, I went for the 200-gram Bavette steak – a muscular cut cooked perfectly and sliced with the grain for optimum tenderness. The Bearnaise sauce it came with was a triumph of butter vs. lightness and richness vs. acidity. And I loved my chips and side salad, too.
For dessert, we couldn’t resist the Toblerone tart, which tasted of salted caramel and came with crumbles of biscuity goodness and a boozy ice cream. By the end of the meal, we’d forgiven the patchy service at the start and got chatting with the manager, who was friendly and open to feedback. I’ll go back in a few months once they’ve got their reservations book and their staffing rota under control.
Salted-caramel Toblerone tart, Meat West
Graceland BBQ
Meanwhile, just next to the Food Center on the Jan van Galenstraat, is something completely different: Graceland resembles the dive bars in the Deep South of which I have fond recollections from my Great American Road Trip three years ago. The music is country rock, the wall art references Texas, and the name (I presume) refers to Memphis, Tennessee. With those credentials it surely should do BBQ rather well.
Despite the differences in décor, it does have one thing in common with Meat West: once again, I waited 45 minutes for a drink. And here, I actually timed it. You could argue that cocktails aren’t Graceland’s core business (although if that’s the case, why serve them?) but a glass of Merlot took just as long. Still, the Mint Julep, when it arrived, was delicious – despite being inexplicably served in a jam jar instead of a Julep cup (I guess you can’t take the hipster out of Amsterdam, no matter how far Deep South you go).
Mint Julep and Whisky Sour at Graceland
As for the meat, we opted for a broad selection: half a rack of pork ribs, pulled pork and beef brisket. I realise I’ve been spoilt in very many ways, but the ribs weren’t a patch on Bulelani BBQ, and the brisket was a dry, flaky shadow of the Texan brisket I ate in Lockhart. The pulled pork was at least the right texture, but the flavour was nothing to write home about – I drenched mine in BBQ sauce to perk it up. (Admittedly, the sauce was fantastic.)
The sides, on the other hand, were a huge improvement: the corn bread was moist and crumbly – a texture that I know from experience is hard to achieve. The coleslaw was not too creamy and instead had a sinus-clearing kick from what tasted like horseradish. It came with giant pickles, too, which gave welcome contrast.
Ribs, cornbread, pulled pork and brisket at Graceland
But woman cannot live off cornbread alone, and frankly the meat wasn’t up to scratch – especially for a place that’s so clearly emulating the BBQ joints of Texas and its neighbours. The good news is: there’s still space for competition in the barbecued meat sector of Amsterdam’s restaurant scene – and there are plenty of women (and men!) who will welcome it.
