Amsterdam Trip Report - dining at Vermeer, playing at Holland Casino

[StevieG]

Long Story Short

Had a really good 5 course meal at Vermeer. After drinking more than enough there, I had another on the way to Holland Casino. Somehow I managed to break even at €10/20 limit hold 'em despite awful rake and my drink situation. Managed to get back to my hotel room, eventually.

[StevieG]

Long Story Long

Just dinner, skip it if you don't care.

Dinner at Vermeer

Finished up work for the week in the Netherlands and decided to treat myself to a night out in Amsterdam (I was working about 40 km away or so).

I have eaten at Christophe before (link to trip report), but I wanted to try someplace else this time. Vermeer is in the Hotel Barbizon, right next to Central Station, so that's where I went (link to Web site with annoying Flash intro and navigation).

The inside of the restaurant has a classic dining room feel. Thick white table cloth, upholstered wood chairs, silver candelabras, small interconnecting rooms, marble floors, a fireplace, and Delft blue porcelain tiles around the mantel and at the base of the walls.

In addition to the a la carte menu, they offered a 4-, 5-, and 7- course tasting menu. I took the middle road of the 5-course menu for €75 and wine pairings for €50.

Amuse Bouche

They brought me two amuse bouche plates to warm things up.

The first was a quinelle of cod, slow cooked in milk, then dressed with olive oil and garnished with a sheese-crisp button. The fish was delightfully creamy and light, great way to start.

The second amuse was an oyster with grapefruit sorbet and a small strip of preserved grapefruit zest. This had a much stronger taste of the sea, but the grapefruit mellowed it out a bit, as did the first wine, a petite arvien from Italy's Piedmont region (I though it was very similar to a pinot grigio, and tasty, but nothing special).



First Course

First course is smoked salmon topped with bits of slivered almond, slices of radish, and baby radish greens. Served with baby carrots in cumin, and a poached egg yolk topped by a paper thin slice of lemon, candied.



I had already eaten some of the fish and carrots before snapping that shot.

The radish slices were two sets of one each from three different shaped radishes with different colored skin. They were gorgeous and the peppery taste livened up the smoked salmon. Quick aside, it's funny that this week radish is the secret ingredient for OOT Iron Chef, and when ricotta was the ingredient, I got to try it in dishes at Tableau in LV.

The carrots were good, too, but the really neat thing I thought was the poached egg yolk (yolk alone, really cool to see on the plate) and the candied slice of lemon. It was paper thin, and delicious, and went well with the salmon and the egg. I also dipped smoked salmon in the egg yolk and liked that, too.

Second Course

The sommelier brought the next glass of wine, Chateau Montus pacherenc du Vic-Bihl sec. It was dry, had a deep yellow color that is really orange, and a taste so sharp with alcohol it almost tasted like a brandy (specificaly like a grappa or rakija). Didn't care for it, really.



Second course was also fish - zander fish (fresh water fish) with bacon, black truffle shavings, garlic foam, and red cabbage. There was a slab of bacon on the dish, but there was also a couple of thin strips threaded through the fish (nice touch, and I am sure it imparted flavor) It is tough to tell where everything is in this picture, so here is a diagram version.



It was so good, that when I finished I picked up the remaining sauce with my spoon and ate it like soup. I should have just licked the bowl.

For a fresh water fish, it held up really well to the rich flavors of the garlic, truffle, bacon, and red cabbage (which was soft but not mushy).

The incredible thing though, was what it did to the wine. I really did not care for the wine on its own. With those strong flavors, however, the immediate taste of alcohol stripped away, and what was left was a hazelnut taste that was very pleasing.

Up to that point, I though the sommelier was a bit of a showboat, talking too much and not really impressive. After that, he won me over.

Entree


The wine was another surprise - a rich red, very flavorful. The sommelier made me guess what it was (uh, you tell me) and it ends up being an Austrian red, 1995 Weninger. It went well with the entree.



Squab (pigeon) with lentils, greens, and a pastry of goose liver. Served with a black pepper sauce.

This was good, but not as good as the zander fish.

Cheese Course

I love cheese courses. In fact I got the 5-course menu over the 4 course because the extra course was the cheese.

The sommelier asked me to think about what would work and said he would be back. I text-messaged that to Jingleheimer and he wrote back "Dude, is he giving you homework?" Between that and the red wine guessing game I felt like I am taking some kind of quiz.

In the meantime, the waiter prepares the plate. I took a shot of the waiter doing this for a party of five:



Here is the plate I received:



The cheeses were: a soft Dutch goat's cheese, a soft cow's milk from France, a hard aged cow's cheese from France, and a blue from France.

The sommelier decided to really hook me up. He poured me three different sherries.



The first was light and clean to go with the first two cheeses. Next was amontillado for the hard cheese. Last was some freaky ass blend spanning multiple vintages and it looked like a port. Tasted like one, too. I did not like the first one as much as the next two, which were great. The cheeses were also good, especially the blue - very creamy, strong taste, but not too pungent.

Dessert

Dessert wine was a white wine from Germany, a Huxelrebe by Wittman. I am not a big fan of sauternes and other dessert wines generally, but this was delicious. I would get it again.

Vermeer not only gives two little gift courses before the meal starts, they also added in a little dessert. They brought me a plate of cake flavored ice cream, sitting on top of sweet basil and coffee grounds, surrounded by meringue. No flavoring in the meringue, just pure hard white sugar goodness. The cake ice cream tasted like cake batter, and the basil and coffee added a real strong bite to what wa otherwise just sweetness.

I wish I had taken a picture of that, because it also looked pretty cool, with the yellow scoop sitting in a square meringue frame, littel bits of basil and coffee sneaking out of the bottom.

Dessert was some kind of pastry topped with two different custards, one citrus, and the other more caramel. It was good, but it didn't matter by that point. I was too damn stuffed.



I paid the bill (straight cash, homey) and wandered off into the streets.

[StevieG]

Wandering the Streets

Well, not really, I have been to Amsterdam plenty, and was making my way down to the Leidseplein and eventually, Holland Casino. I found myself near the Spui, though, and I know Cafe de Beiaard as a great place to have one.

So I stopped in and had a Belgian tripel. In for a penny, in to get pounded.

While I was drinking at the bar, I heard the group next to me start talking poker and the Holland casino structure. The guys all looked college aged, and I thought there was a chance at least one was a 2+2er.

At this point, though, I was too far gone to want to make small talk, so I settled for the gesture instead. I wrote SUP BRO? on a beer coaster, gave that and €20 to the bartender, and told him to buy them the next round and hadn them the note.

I then shipped myself out of there, trying not to fall into a canal on the way to Holland Casino.

[StevieG]

Poker at Holland Casino

I hate having to pay a cover charge to go into a casino. But I am not really one for the remaining vices on offer in A'dam, and drunk as I was I plowed ahead anyway for the €2 or €3 or whatever it was.

There is a free coat check, but it had better be free because they make you use it.

What percentage of drunk tourists leave a jacket there in the springtime?

Anyway, this is the most full I have ever seen this room (though I have only been maybe 4 times previously). The Thursday tournament must really bring in the players.

There are cash games going, and I sit in the €10/20 limit hold 'em game.

Pretty straight forward play from all players that I can see, with varying degrees of looseness. Average 4 to the flop, a preflop raise maybe 15-20% of the time.

I really didn't stay long, and am only involved in two pots, really.

Once my KhJh made the flush on the river, pissing off to no end the d00d with 7h4h who had me beat on the flop with his 7 paired up.

Other hand I raised from EP with AQs, got only two takers including one blind. Made top pair on flop, bet out, got one caller. Turn rag, same deal. River 9, blind makes small motion to chips but checks. I check behind and he shows his pocket 9s for the spiked set.

Like I said, I didn't stay long, because I had a train to catch.

Plus even drunk I notice the atrocious rake of 5% up to the GNP of Surinam. I counted €17 removed from a €340 pot and tasted some of my 5 course meal return to my mouth.

Cashed out up a large €3 and headed back into the streets.

[toss]

Good report, I enjoyed the food more than the poker.

[StevieG]

Back in the Streets

The red light district (at least the New Market area) is a good place to have a drink. It's also nice to walk by and check out the talent.

And I enjoy sanctioned public urination. One more example of Dutch common sense. You're going to piss in the canals anyway, so let's set up a urinoir so we don't have to see you, and so you have light enough not to piss on your shoes.

So I used it.



You can see the drain, a beer can, and a condom next to it. Red light district in a nutshell.

One Last Beat

I roll up on Central Station around 1:00. Agent looks at my ticket, tells me I missed the last train, next one is after 4 AM.

Oh noes.

I had even checked the schedule before leaving. I saw trains at 11:20, 11:40, 11:50, 12:00. I looked ahead and there was one at 12:20. I thought, great, they run all night.

Not so, idiot, the last one was 12:20. One more "next" button and I would have known.

€95 cab ride later, I am back in bed at the hotel, ready to leave the next morning.

I really cannot afford too many more business trips to Amsterdam.

[zman31]

Great report, thanks. Wish I had hit the Vermeer when I was in the 'dam last summer, sounds excellent.

[canis582]

thanks

[Shrug]

Fun read.
I am so hungry now.