King Koti in Chennai

Today A and I met up quickly to buy lunch before returning to our respective offices. We've both been really busy (can you tell from the lack of posting?) so we didn't take a full lunch hour, but it was still nice to hang out for 5 minutes or so (even though the weather was much cooler and breezier than I was expecting).


I haven't been to the Biryani Cart in quite some time, mostly because the line at lunch is so long and I hate waiting on line for lunch. I would rather spend the time walking to someplace further away. Also, the Biryani Cart is steps from my office, which would be convenient for a lot of people, but I try to get some exercise in during lunch. Lastly, I like the biryani at Trini Paki Boys better than the Biryani Cart (and their line is shorter!).


There was no line today (late lunch) so I decided to go for the Kati rolls (2 rolls for $6). They have a bunch of options, but I went with the Chennai roll (chicken in sweet chili sauce) and the King Koti roll (chicken tikka). The Chennai is in the front in the photo, and the more tightly wrapped one in the back is the King Koti.

At first, I liked the King Koti better than the Chennai. The flavors were good, although in some ways it tasted like a regular chicken pita wrap that you can get at most of the street meat carts (although with chapati instead of a pita, which I love). The chicken in the Chennai just didn't taste as good. However, when I got to the middle of the Chennai, where the sweet chili sauce was concentrated, I started to see why so many people like that roll. The sweet chili sauce is different from what you can get at the other street meat carts and quite good. (It did, however, remind me of Sansei and I instantly missed Maui.) In the end, I decided that I liked them both in different ways. Mostly, I just wanted to snack on more chapati, even though I was full. Maybe next time I'll take the risk and try the spicy buradi (with "very spicy mint habanero sauce")!

Boon Sik Zip

En route to picking up luggage at Macy's, we found ourselves back at Food Gallery 32. Since the last time we went there, they've changed things up. You no longer order for all the different stands at the front of the food court, and most of the stalls now have their own registers. We were there for a snack and not lunch, so we decided to pick one thing and chose Boon Sik Zip.


Boon Sik Zip is characterized by many as the Korean snack stand part of the food court. They have a few primary categories on their menu - kimbap (like Korean sushi), dduk-bok-ki (spicy rice cake stew, including variations with ramen), and fried stuff (they have corn dogs). For something light, we chose bulgogi kimbap.

I expected something like your normal 6 or 8 piece sushi roll, but with slightly bigger roll pieces, and what we got was even larger than what I anticipated. Perfect to split for a snack. It also came with a small cup of soup.


I don't have a lot of experience with kimbap, but what we got from Boon Sik Zip was packed with ingredients on both ends with not too much filler:


A better look at the contents of the kimbap:


Inside, there was bulgogi (of course), carrots, ham, egg, pickled radish and spinach. We really liked this because the flavor was good and it was the perfect amount of food when we split it. We're curious about their dduk-bok-ki and other kimbap, so we would definitely try Boon Sik Zip again!

Back to Brouwerij 't IJ

This will be a bit of a short post. Unfortunately we can't seem to find most of the pictures that we took of our second trip to Brouwerij 't IJ. However, you can see our first trip here.

We rushed to the bar close to closing time much like our first trip, but we were determined to make it after such a positive experience the evening before. As we approached the bar, we could see the big gray rainclouds brooding on the horizon. We entered, bought our first round and a snack, and we settled in to the room. It was much busier this night so we were forced to go to one of the back corners to sit and enjoy our time.

M got a Trippel, and I started with a Columbus which is their spicy amber ale. For the snack, we got a plate of their ossenworst. Ossenworst is basically steak tartare in sausage form. I was very pleased with this since we didn't really know what to expect before we ordered, but M was slightly less pleased. Not being a big red meat eater, this wasn't quite her style of food. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The balance of spice and meat combined to be very flavorful, and since I like my meat closer to rare, the texture was perfect. M, for what it was, acknowledges that it was good, but she still wasn't that into it.

M's Trippel and the Ossenworst

We originally thought to stay just for one drink with our snack. However, as soon as we were about halfway through our first beers, those ugly gray rain clouds opened up in a BIG way. Since it was pouring outside, we had no other choice but to stay at the bar and drink more beer. Well, I drank more beer, I'm not sure M had another. Regardless, it was another fun evening at the brewery.

Sad About Bapcha

When I get a Korean food craving at lunch, the closest reliable place has always been the Bapcha cart. It's a few blocks from me, they're really quick and not too expensive, and the dak galbi box (spicy chicken) has always been really good. They also have a sister noodle cart which sits next to the original cart and serves all sorts of Korean noodle soup.

My go-to dish has always been the dak galbi. Usually it's chicken served with vegetables over white rice, with a small side salad and some jap chae (although you can't see it here). The spice is primarily from a gochujang sauce (that red chili pepper paste)

Dak galbi box the last time I went to Bapcha
I haven't been to Bapcha in a bit (a few months, actually) but found myself wanting some dak galbi today. I headed over to the cart and was all excited to open my styrofoam box but I found this:

Today's lunch
It looks pretty different from the version I got the last time I went there (and every other time I've been there - it always looked like the first picture). But it wasn't just the look; it was also the food which was disappointing. Maybe the chefs or owners changed (but I didn't think they did)? Maybe it was just a bad day? I've been there quite a few times for the dak galbi and it's been great, but today it just ... wasn't.

First, the salad was gone. Although a mixed green salad isn't exactly essential Korean food, it provided a light refreshing contrast to the rice and meat. I was disappointed to see that it was gone, but if that were the only difference, it wouldn't be much cause for complaint.

Second, the jap chae had broccoli! I realize this isn't an issue for most people, but I can't eat broccoli. Normally I would ask before trying a new dish if I thought there was a possibility of broccoli but (a) I have never had jap chae with broccoli and (b) I have had the jap chae from Bapcha before and it never had broccoli. I didn't want to just skip and throw out the jap chae uneaten because I like jap chae a lot. But it took forever going through it to pull out all of those little green pieces. I know I missed the tiny ones, but it was nearly impossible to catch them all.

Third, not only did the jap chae have broccoli, but it was super watery. (This also made some of the broccoli float in all the extra water under the rice, but that's still the broccoli problem.) I don't think I've ever had jap chae this watery and slippery before, and it made it very difficult to eat.

Fourth, the dak galbi itself just wasn't as flavorful or good. The cuts of meat weren't as good as I remembered, the vegetables (mostly green peppers and red onions) were sharper and the spicy flavor wasn't very strong. You can even see in the picture that it is significantly less red. In general, it just tasted better last time in every way. Even the rice here wasn't as good, but maybe that's because it was affected by the watery jap chae.

This lunch made three less than satisfying meals in a row (the salad from yesterday, the Chinese food dinner I ordered with flavorless chow fun and this one). I was happy that dinner brought homemade shrimp and peas that A made, because I really needed to eat something good. Hopefully tomorrow's lunch is good and makes up for all the recent disappointment!

Boostii-q

The past two times I went to Freshii, I got the same thing - the warrior chicken bowl - which I generally liked. Today I decided to get something different and got a salad from the special "Freshii 15" menu. That menu has different combinations which are supposed to be good for your health. Considering I'm trying to slim down, eat less and eat better (not easy to do when you're ordering delivery every day at the office), I was all for trying something like this.


I decided on the "boostii-q" (although when filling out the clipboard with my order, it took awhile because I just couldn't remember how to spell it). After weeding out all the dishes containing broccoli (which I can't eat), my eyes immediately zoomed in on jack cheese and cilantro, and the decision was made.


The boostii-q contains, according to the menu, "freshii mix" and romaine, bbq chicken, jack and cheddar cheese, avocado, sweet corn, cucumbers, diced tomatoes, cilantro, lemon juice and a "dash" of sriracha. Sounds good, right?

On first glance, it looked like any other salad from any generic midtown deli (although I'm sure the ingredient quality is better than some of them). Most of the "toppings" were concentrated near the bottom of the bowl, leaving lots of mixed greens on top.


A better look at some of the ingredients:


I wasn't a huge fan of the salad. I liked the warrior chicken bowl much better. I think my biggest problem with it was that all I tasted was the sriracha and lemon juice combination, which was very strong. It gave the salad a nice amount of spice, but it completely overpowered all of the vegetable ingredients (and the cheese). Every so often I tasted a little celery and you could still taste some of the chicken, but everything else in the bowl just tasted like sriracha lemon juice. I don't even know if the cilantro made it into the bowl and when I saw corn and cucumbers in the description, I had to consult the picture to see whether or not they had been there. I like good dressings but I would still like to taste the vegetables in my salad.

Next time (whenever that is; I planned to go to Freshii over a month ago and only made it over today), I think I will go for a wrap or one of the rice bowls. Even though they contain rice instead of salad greens, they felt healthier and were tastier. (I think this salad has something like 21g of fat, so while the calorie count is good, I'm not sure how it's really that healthy.) I'm glad I tried the salad, because it satisfied my curiosity (for some reason when they kept talking about mixing your salad in plastic bags, I thought they just gave it to you in a bag without a bowl) but I think I'll stick to the rice bowls.

Falafel Curry?

Even with all of the lunch choices in my work area, I still seem to always go back to the same few places. It's not that I don't like variety, but I just find that having reliable, good lunch spots is really nice. If I'm busy I can just run out and grab something that I know will be filling and taste really good. This brings me back to Roll and Go. I wrote about them once back in November near when they opened. So far to this point I'd only ever tried their chicken shwarma wrap.

One day while walking past the restaurant with M we saw a sign for their special falafel curry. Now, I like curry of all persuasions. Thai, Indian, Japanese, it doesn't matter. I just like curry, and curry over rice is the best. I was definitely intrigued by this offering. From the picture it looked like it was curry over rice with falafel balls on top. Seemed simple enough, and I figured the next time I went I would try it out. Next time happened to be last Friday (4/8).

Falafel piled on rice and curry
Along with the 7 falafel balls, the dish also comes with some of their grilled/seasoned cauliflower and topped with sliced green peppers and scallions.

Better view of the curry
Overall I was disappointed with this meal. The curry itself did not have much flavor, and had I not seen the person adding the cauliflower, I wouldn't have known it was there. The falafel was okay. It had a nice crispness to the outside, but again, the flavor wasn't all there. Perhaps I'm just spoiled by having a Maoz and a Crisp so close by as well. I find that they have excellent falafel at those two places. Still, the scallions added nice flavor, and the green peppers put a nice, fresh crispness to the dish. Still, I think from now on I'll stick to the chicken shwarma wraps until I give the fresh made sushi a shot.

Pile of Chicken

Isn't this cute?  The puppy wants some of my chicken from my (partially eaten) rice bowl!  (No, unlike last time, I did not forget to take a picture of the food before eating. I just forgot to take a picture of the food plus the dog before eating.)

 

Can you guess where I ordered from?  Hint: It's not Turkish but it's geographically not too far from there.

Mercimek Kofte

I have been eating a lot of Turkish food lately when I'm stuck at the office late. I seem to go through these phases where I consistently order from restaurants serving a certain cuisine. There were weeks where almost everything I ordered was Thai. Now it's Turkish. But Turkish food is healthy and delicious, so no complaints from me!

This time, I ordered from a new(ish) place near the office called Antalia (on 45th between 5th and 6th). It's really similar to Akdeniz, my neighborhood go-to Turkish place, in so many ways, from the company they use for receipts to their estimated delivery time on Seamless to their distance from the office. When it comes to the food, there is a lot of overlap, but I've been enjoying trying some of the differences.

Mercimek kofte. I saw this on the Antalia menu and didn't remember seeing this on the Akdeniz menu. The title included in parentheses "red lentil patties." I pictured veggie patties or something like the Thai fish cake, even though it was on the cold appetizer list. I thought maybe it was cooked/fried and then just served cool. Antalia describes mercimek kofte as "boiled lentils combined with hot pepper salsa (mild), scallions and parsley served with romaine lettuce." Despite the hot/mild confusion (although I guess it kind of makes sense - it's "hot" but not too hot), it sounded good to me.


I was so pleasantly surprised by these and they were my favorite part of my dinner! Instead of chewier patties like I was expecting, it was like eating mashed potatoes with excellent seasoning. The texture of the lentils was so smooth that it was like mashed potatoes (which I love). Add in the scallions and the parsley to the spices and I was thrilled with my choice.

The appetizer comes with several "patties" on top of a bed of romaine lettuce. Sometimes in appetizers I ignore the lettuce, but I ate all of it here. The crunch of the romaine lettuce was the perfect complement to the smooth softness of the lentils. It reminded me of wrapping up the potato salad at Kodama, a Japanese place in our neighborhood, in the lettuce when we got to the bottom of the plate. Crunchy outside with soft deliciousness inside. That textural combination just works. (Either that or my brain interprets it as a lettuce taco.)


I would definitely get this again. I'm never that excited about staying late to work (who is?), but at least I know I can get delicious Turkish food!

Frens Haringhandel

Herring is a classic Dutch snack. When you walk around Amsterdam, you encounter a lot of stands like this:

A at Frens Haringhandel
This one is in Koningsplein near the tram stop we often went to and the local Albert Heijn. Every time we saw it, we thought that maybe we should try the herring since we were in Amsterdam and herring is a Dutch thing. On our penultimate day, we finally ventured in for a post-pancake afternoon snack.

Frens Haringhandel has different types of fish, but we were there for the herring. I guess traditionally the way to eat herring was to hold it by the tail and eat the rest of the fish. We decided to go for the sandwich instead but I did like seeing the banners in the window:

Even the herring is patriotic
The sandwich comes with one piece of herring (no tail, no head, but otherwise whole) with pickles and onions on a soft bun. The herring itself isn't raw - it's pickled or salted or something prior to being served.

Herring plus pickles plus onions equals awesome
I was really pleasantly surprised by the sandwich. I kept hearing people talk about it so apprehensively (not in the city, but online in our research) and I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. I was expecting a tough fishy bite and then to hand it back to A, but at least I could say that I tried it. But that wasn't the case at all. The fish was pretty soft and tender, and it wasn't that fishy at all. The onions and pickles on top gave the sandwich a nice crunch and were really complementary.

A wasn't sure what to expect. He didn't know if it would be fishy, salty or sour. Texturally, A thought it was a little slimy (but expected that when he saw it), but the pickles and onions added a nice texture. He also thought that the bread, since it wasn't toasted, was soft and chewy, which was nice to pair up with the soft herring. If the bread were harder or tougher, it wouldn't have worked as well with the herring. Overall, he really liked it.

Here's what it looked like once we got halfway through the sandwich:

Pretty Amsterdam houses in the background of our sandwich
See how soft and flaky the fish looks? I was so surprised by it but it was really good.

Since Frens Haringhandel is located in the middle of a plaza, they don't really have any of their own seating, so we stood in the plaza eating by a canal. We didn't mind. We could have sat on the benches but unfortunately it had recently rained, so we just stood for a little bit.

With my half of the sandwich in the plaza
Sometimes I find myself thinking about these herring sandwiches - how refreshing they were, the unexpected flavor, and how fresh it all tasted - and I find myself wanting one. Sadly, this is something we definitely can't get at home. Next time we're in Amsterdam we will definitely be seeking out some more herring!

Oops

I can't remember the last time I forgot to take a picture of a dish before diving in. There have been occasions where I've been so hungry because lunch was so late that I decided to forgo the picture-taking (and it was something ordinary like chicken nuggets), or times when it would be inappropriate given the situation so I refrained. But, sitting in my office with no one around, I can't remember the last time I just forgot to take a picture. Oops.


Skewered ground chicken from Akdeniz, partially devoured
I had been planning to take a picture but I think I got distracted when, in my klutziness, I accidentally spilled olive oil from my salad all over myself. After cleaning that up, I just started eating, forgetting the picture.

As a compliment to Akdeniz though, I love this dish, so I was probably also just eager to start eating it. It's two long pieces of ground chicken, with peppers and spices mixed in, on top of rice pilaf, with sides of onions, red cabbage and some other veggies. Highly recommended.

Kimchi Taco Truck

Today the Kimchi Taco truck was in midtown. It was the first time I actually had the time to go, so I jumped at the chance to make it. They were scheduled to be at that spot until 2:30. I showed up around 2:25. (I'm trying to eat lunch earlier, but when you get a work call from Russia, you kind of have to take it!)


The first thing I noticed was the crowd. There was no line but a whole bunch of people waiting for food. I can only imagine what the line had been like earlier, considering they were completely out of beef and some other items:


The time between ordering and getting my food was pretty quick, maybe 5 minutes. I also liked how they have a computerized system in the truck for orders and print out real receipts. I always forget to record my spending at food trucks because there are no receipts, so that was nice.

I got a side order of the kimchi arancini, which are basically rice balls with parmesan, mozzarella, kimchi juice, korean red pepper paste and panko.


These were really good! Split in half, you can see the melted cheese:


I really liked these, but the price comes out to about $1 per rice ball, so it's not that cheap. But they're good. The chips & beans and nachos also seem to be popular; maybe I'll try those next time!

For the bulk of my lunch, I went with the three taco platter (for $7):


I decided, like we did last week with our Big D's lunch, to go with 3 different tacos - this time, the pork, the chicken, and the falafel. I think my least favorite was the braised pork. I found it a little on the chewier side, but I generally don't really eat much pork because I don't like the texture that much, so it's entirely possible that this is how it should be. (There I go again, evaluating meats I don't usually eat.) The pulled chicken was good, as was the tofu edamame falafel. I think the falafel might have been my favorite, which was pleasantly surprising. I tried it just to see what it would be like, but ended up really liking it. Each taco consists of 2 tortillas, the meat/falafel filling, Asian pico de gallo, kimchi and green onions.

I was trying to decide between the tacos and the kim-cheesesteak (chicken with provolone). Clearly, my taco obsession won out. The tacos were good, but I am so intrigued by the kim-cheesesteak that I think next time I have to get that. And the kimchi infused refried beans. Another item that I want to try. Hopefully the days when I have more time for lunch coincide with the days the truck is in my area - I want to go back to try more!

Cheesecake Brownie

One of the custard flavors I was really excited to try this month was cheesecake brownie. I don't even like cheesecake that much (I find it too rich so I usually don't eat it) but I do love brownies.


The cheesecake brownie custard had little pieces of brownie in it, but they were mostly near the top and I was hoping for more brownie. It was still good though. The first few spoons reminded me of cake batter ice cream from Coldstone but the last few tasted more like cheesecake. A thought it had a pretty good cheesecake flavor. We would get this again.

Cheesecake Brownie
A's rating: 8/10
M's rating: 8.5/10

More Tacos

The Kimchi Taco Truck. With a name like that, do you really think I wouldn't go on the first day I actually had time and the opportunity to go? Review to come.

The Usual

Do you always order the same thing when you go to a particular place to eat?

 

I usually don't (except for my C1 sandwich at Lenny's) and like to try different things.  Sure, I have my favorites or my preferred items, but I also like trying new things.

 

I seem to have settled into a "usual" order at Wendy's these days.  Ever since they introduced the pick 2, I've been doing a half salad plus something else.  The first time I tried the baja salad with the chicken wrap, but lately every time I've gone to Wendy's I've gotten the order in the picture.  Half spicy chicken caesar salad + chili + 5 piece nuggets (the nuggets are not part of the pick 2).  They have other stuff but I keep ordering the same thing (except for the day I wasn't that hungry and just got nuggets and chili).

 

Of course, if they were to bring back the wild mountain chicken sandwich, that would change (hint hint HINT). Or the southwest chicken caesar salad.  My two favorite things EVER at Wendy's.  I'm not sure I can hint anymore how much I want them back. I talk about it all the time.

 

Maybe next time I'll get something different.  Or not...

Everyone Loves Pancakes in Amsterdam

I already mentioned how much we loved Pancakes! Amsterdam, but what about the food? I think the fact that we decided partway through our pancakes that we would just go to Brugge a little later the following day and try to come back when they opened for brunch speaks for itself.

We started out with some drinks - appelsap (apple juice) for me and orange juice for A.


I liked the little bottle of apple juice. A really liked his orange juice because it was fresh squeezed. I agree - it was good.

For pancakes, they have a long list of options. You can get a regular Dutch pancake and add in whichever toppings you choose - from bacon to apples to ham to ginger to camembert cheese, and many more. The menu also has some pre-arranged combinations, which we decided to do, since they were probably "proven" combinations. At the time we were there, they also had Korean pajun options, American pancakes with maple syrup and a French pie option. But if we're going to eat pancakes in Amsterdam, we were definitely going to eat pancakes the Dutch way!

On the table, they advertised a special:


A decided to get the special. Eggplant, mushrooms, tomato tapenade? What's not to like?

Here's A with his pancake:


And a closer look at the pancake itself:


This was really, really good. As I mentioned, we decided while eating our pancakes that we wanted to come back the next day, so they had to be good. This also just missed the cut to be in A's top 10 food memories of 2010. A liked the tomato tapenade because it was sweet and tangy at the same time, and probably his favorite part. The eggplant was also perfectly cooked for the pancake - a bit of crispness to pair with the chewiness of the pancake itself. The mixed textures within the pancake paired well.

I ordered off the menu and got the veggie pancake. This may look familiar because I've written about it before.


And a closer look at the veggie pancake, which came with mushrooms, spinach, onions, tomatoes and pine nuts:


I liked this pancake enough to put it in my top food memories of 2010, so clearly, I really liked it. I loved the combination of pancake and vegetables. Savory pancakes are awesome.

The pancakes look huge but they're really not that overwhelming. The pancake may be big but it's also really thin, and it's loaded with whatever toppings you choose to add. I actually like Dutch pancakes better than the big fluffy American pancakes, but maybe that's because they're also really into savory pancakes, and I choose savory over sweet. We highly recommend going to a pancake house if you're in Amsterdam. They're perfect for brunch, lunch, dinner or snack. Everyone loves pancakes!

Big D's Grub Truck Take 2

M found Big D's Grub Truck, a new food truck in NYC, back in early March, and she posted this review. She talked so highly of it the first time that, when the opportunity came up for the both of us to enjoy it together we couldn't turn it down.

We were lucky that we were able to meet up as this allowed us to try all four of their different meats. I got the Bulgogi Grinder and a side of fries. The fries come with the option of being covered with Old Bay Seasoning or Sazon which was described as "the Spanish Old Bay Seasoning". Never having had Sazon before, it was the easy choice to take.

Fries with Sazon
The fries were okay. Their truck motto for sides is GBD: "Golden, Brown, and Delicious" and these fries were certainly golden and brown. M and I both found the fries on the greasy side, and the Sazon, while similar to Old Bay, didn't really add enough to take away from the greasiness.

Closed view of the Bulgogi grinder
Open view of the Bulgogi grinder
The grinder was excellent. I found the bulgogi a little under-flavored compared to bulgogi you can get in a Korean BBQ restaurant, but it was still good. The combination of the kimchi puree, crunchy vegetables, and creamy sauce paired very well with the beef to create a bold set of flavors and textures. The bread is also phenomenal. Too often baguettes for sandwiches are too crusty and hard. The bread at Big D's has a good crisp to it, but the insides are kept warm and chewy.

M was on the quest for tacos so she got the 3 taco special. She chose one ginger chicken, one spicy chicken, and one spicy pork taco and paired them with a side of the dumplings with soy-garlic sauce. Originally M only wanted 2 tacos, but the condition for her to get the third taco was if I helped her eat them. Was that really a necessary question? Seriously...

Side order of dumplings
Again, we agreed that the side order was the weaker part of the ordered meal. The dumpling itself was fine, but it was nothing special. The skin was a bit thicker than we like as well. The soy-garlic sauce also seemed to be missing garlic flavor as it really just tasted like soy sauce.

M's taco trio
l. to r.: Spicy Pork, Spicy Chicken, Ginger Chicken
The tacos were very tasty. M started with the ginger chicken, and it has a nice subtle ginger flavor that doesn't dominate and overpower the rest of the taco. The spicy chicken was next, and it was delicious. It's easy to see why this is their specialty. The chicken itself isn't overly spicy, but it has a good flavor and contains the right amount of kick. Last was the spicy pork. The diced pork was very tender and marinated beautifully. As with the chicken, the spice was evident but did not dominate the flavor of the taco.

My overall impression was that the sides are okay but not necessary. The real stars of the meal are the meats regardless of whether you put them in a taco or get them in a grinder. The flavors and spices are set and controlled masterfully, and the accompaniments balance the meats perfectly.

Ravioli Can Be Interesting

Today was another in-house catered lunch.  I think this time it was from Cafe Metro, which is the standard generic midtown deli/cafe.  My expectations were low.

 

The tuna salad wrap was boring and mediocre. I have definitely had better tuna salad (Dishes, for example) and in sandwich form (catering from last week, for example).  One big meh. I also left the bottoms of the wrap because it was just unnecessary not-tasty food.

 

The ravioli salad was different at least. It was just your basic cheese ravioli in cold salad form, so it wasn't really that exciting, but it was way more interesting than the tuna salad wrap.  Why do places make such uninspired food?

Pancakes! Amsterdam

It's been awhile but back to our Holland recaps! Hopefully we will finish the recaps for this trip before we go on our next big trip! This post has been a long time coming.

Holland is known for their pancakes. There are poffertjes, the mini pancakes, but also the bigger Dutch pancakes. They're different from the pancakes we have in the States because they're thinner and often have more savory toppings (although you can get sweet ones too). There are restaurants in Holland that are entirely devoted to pancakes. Not surprisingly, one of our "must do" things in Holland was to go to a pancake house.

Pancakes! Amsterdam was recommended (don't remember who recommended it) for an excellent pancake experience and we headed over for lunch. They close on the early side (to us) for dinner so we hadn't made it until our next to last day in Amsterdam.


The restaurant is really cute and located on a small street. We loved the design. It was basically like being in someone's house with the size of the restaurant and its layout.

We sat on the upper level, which was a small room overlooking the ground level. We were able to watch them making drinks and other items, and bringing the pancakes up from the lower level where they were made.


Here we are, waiting for our pancakes. If you look closely, you can see A at the top of the stairs. I was anxious the entire time that he was too close to the top of the stairs and would fall down, but he's less of a klutz than I am. If you look behind me, you can see some of the room.


Considering I love the grocery store, I obviously loved looking at all the bottles and accompaniments on the table. There were different types of sugars and syrups.


We also loved the designs on the tables, all about pancakes and making pancakes. We also loved that they had free postcards! While waiting for our pancakes, I wrote out some postcards. Dutch efficiency!


Another shot of the table design with the colored pencils they gave to use on the postcards:


It's clear we are giving Pancakes! Amsterdam a glowing review. We loved it there and I haven't even written about the pancakes yet! It was a cozy little spot, very casual, very relaxed and the service was great. Next up - the pancakes!