Hotel New York - III

Hotel New York / Koninginnenhoofd 1 / 3072 AD Rotterdam

+31 (0)10 - 4390500 Website : http://www.hotelnewyork.nl

Always busy this place, very simple but lovely building that's a beauty only looking at it. A terrific location (plenty or parking space) and a place were you can eat from dusk (07) till dawn (24), no closing hours. And full it was again, a lot of people making the place the perfect place to talk and catch up.

Just been there with Rene about a month ago and since I needed to thank Sema for her help the other weekend when there were so many sick people I decided to go to Hotel New York again. Like always very busy, such a cosy place. Started of with the perfect Calamaris again ... went for the shrimp croquette and after that the mixed grill. Thanks to a good tip from my lovely friend Sandra I had to go for chocolate and since she wasn't there I think she'll forgive me for choosing this dessert ... ;-)

And also suitable for kids ...

The Dylan - Amsterdam

Amsterdam, December 1, 2006

The Dylan Amsterdam
Keizersgracht 384
1016 GB Amsterdam

The Dylan Amsterdam (former the Blakes Hotel in Amsterdam), is a Creation Of Anouska Hempel, The Celebrated London Hotelier And Internationally Renowned Designer. The Building Is An Exceptional 17th Century Landmark On The Keizersgracht, One Of The City's Famous Canals. Its Beautiful Garden Offers A Haven Of Tranquility, Away From The Hustle And Bustle Of Amsterdam's Unique Historic Center. The Dylan Amsterdam Is A Testament Of A Philosophy On Design And Lifestyle, Offering The Ideal Blend Of Color, Texture And Atmosphere And Of A Meeting Of East And West.

Well in plane english it's a perfect place in the heart of Amsterdam in a terrific and stunning building and very nice styled using a lot of black.

Time for a lunch last Friday (December the 1st - 2006). The last time I was there it was still the Blakes hotel and now transformed to the Dylan. Invited by my dear friend R. This busy woman deserves a lot of respect of how she manage her oh so busy job and family life and still find the time to have lunch with me. She's a real sweetheart. Each diner / lunch we get to know one another a bit better. Her possible only flaw is her car ... but we're working on that :-)

The last diner was with rather strange subjects as for conversation so this lunch was just fun. Time went by very quickly and before we knew it we're actually too late. But we managed, thanks for the ride home. And she also wanted to have her dish stated here, so her wish is my ...

Amuse :
Homemade sundried tomatoes (that's actually funny in Holland ;-) )
Handmade Crisps with seasalt and a tomato sauce
Salted puff pastry with Reypenaer Cheese

Starter :
R; Salad niçoise 'The Dylan
P; Dutch shrimp consommé with poached turbot and tarragon oil

Main Course :
R; Grilled Dover sole fillets with a vol-au-vent of sweetbreads, crayfish and frog legs
P; Monkfish fillet spiked with lemon, served with fennel and baby squid à la Grecque

Dessert :
R; Sugar pastry tartlet with lemon cream, marinated citrus fruit and a mandarin sorbet
P; Warm tartlet of Pur Caraïbe chocolate with chestnut garnache and vanilla ice cream

Coffee :
R & P ; Espresso ... and again Peeze what was not good, both got a second one and was a bit better but still not what you expect from espresso. Dear Vic please help these people out ...

served with some small alternatives to bonbons, like a 'sorbet'of Cocos, Papaya and Yoghurt foam, A caramel cookie, sugared pear and nougat.

We drank champagne during the lunch and although it wasn't Ruinart is was most enjoyable.

The food was pretty good, the flavors of the individual ingredients were kept like they should and weren't covered in sauces. The nouvelle cuisine look need to go though that can be done much better although their variety on the Salade Nicoise was very nice. For ambiance we would preferred diner in stead of lunch I think, it was quite ... (actually we're the only ones)

Thanks R for the invitation next time it's on me again, have a great weekend,

-xxx- P.

Iris - GooGooDolls

IRIS - GOOGOODOLLS

And I'd give up forever to touch you
Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest thing to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
Cause sooner or later it's over
I just don't want to miss you tonight

And I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything seems like the movies
Yeah you bleed just to know your alive

And I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

great song, great lines ...

click to listen here (with parts of the serie the OC)

Chateau Pomys 1983

What can I say ... ???
After almost 20 years in my celler it was a party to drink this wine ...

website : http://www.chateaupomys.com/

Hotel Costes

Hotel Costes / 239 Rue St. Honore / Paris - http://www.hotelcostes.com

One of the most beautiful, romantic hotels of Paris. An hotel with an attitude, look at the website and google for it. In the heart of Paris in the one of the most trendy areas this late 19th century hotel is 'hidden'. A place for trendy people, as well the restaurant is worth wile. Details were it's all about, nice old building with trendy touches of which it's music is one. A mix of trendy, contemporary lounge. Especially album 9 is excellent.

What more is there to say ...

The album covers of their 'lounge' cd's,

their cd's are all made by Stephane Pompougnac.

Are you ready to jump? - Madonna

Once in every life
There comes a time
Because We walk out all alone
And into the light
The moment won’t last but then,
We, We remember it again
When we close our eyes.

Vis aan de Schelde - Amsterdam

Scheldeplein 4
1078 GR Amsterdam
+31 (0) 20 6751583

http://www.visaandeschelde.nl

It has been a while since I've been here. Probably the best fish restaurant in town. Leaving a job for another has also it's advantage, for instance having lunch (like today) or diner with the associates you have been doing business over the years. Today I was invited by Loes en Marco (see the log of the College Hotel), and of course they chose something nice.

We should make a tradition of this at least once a year... :-) And even lunch can take up to almost 4 hours before you know it. This restaurant has a big clientèle, and that showed, almost every table was occupied for lunch. There is a nice atmosphere in this restaurant that is situated on a perfect place in Amsterdam, near the centre, near the highway and plenty of parking space.

There was a lot to talk about and some nice developments as well. We will stay in touch that's for sure.

What did we have for lunch :

For starters :
Succulent squid prepared three ways

For Main Course :
Grilled tuna with béarnaise sauce and house-made fries

Accompanied by a : Chateau Neuf du Pape - Domaine de la Charbonniere - vin blanc

It was a nice lunch with good company, thanks for the invitation and we'll see eachother pretty soon. Since I'm not the only one who's changing 'lane's' good luck to you too,

Boris - Holy Pleasure

Boris - Holy Pleasure

Boris has a new CD, yes indeed the Boris of Idols. And it a very nice and mature album. Very good and strong numbers that are a bit undutch. Beautiful Day is a very nice song, Those things you do and of course Stupid Things is on there. Click on the link or on the photo of the album to hear the song on YouTube.

Visit the website at http://www.borismusic.nl/flash_en.html for more info about Boris.

Hotel New York - Rotterdam

Today it was time to visit a friend that I haven't seen for too long a time. We went to see some things for the kitchen that I'm looking for in a long time, also wanted the CD of Karin Bloemen, bought about 6 CD's ... and indeed not the one from Karin Bloemen. Sold out !!! Oké need to go to the next shop.

But too many people, so we went pretty quick to have some food for Lundin (lunch / diner) we headed for Hotel New York in Rotterdam.

Hotel New York

Koninginnenhoofd 1

3072 AD Rotterdam

+31 (0)10 - 4390500 Website : http://www.hotelnewyork.nl

Always busy this place, very simple but lovely building that's a beauty only looking at it. A terrific location (plenty or parking space) and a place were you can eat from dusk (07) till dawn (24), no closing hours. And full it was again, a lot of people making the place the perfect place to talk and catch up.

We started of with Oysters, and yes they are here again, the Oysters (0000) from Zeeland, small and flat but nice from taste. A good starter. 6 is only a few for two people so we ordered some Calamaris as well. They were also excellent. A lot of places can take this as an example, not the fat big 8 rings in a basket. This was excellent and the sauce was perfect. Of course we still had some appetit left and ordered half a lobster with mayonais and Stellendamse shrimps unpealed. A delicacy again with homemade mayonaise, always a treat. Finished with something real sweet - chocolate things and hazlenut pie. The chocolate things you can skip, they can do much better than that, the home made hazlenut pie was perfect. Pitty that the coffee was not good, but I'm used to that in this country .... we need to work on that !!!

Staff is very friendly, not well trained or experienced but with everything around, of course good company, it is worth the waiting. I love this place even if IAMSTERDAM. Haven't been there in a while but surely will be back. A real treat, the prices are also very good for the quality served !!!

for a look at the menu : http://www.hotelnewyork.nl/eng/caferestaurant/menu.html

Silver Spoon / Wappaz

It's a small shop (web link on the left side) in Amsterdam in the Runstraat in the city centre. They have almost every book you're looking for. Ask them for a book and they know about it. I couldn't resist today and expanded my range of books with :

Wappaz. A book that's written in a nice style. Very clear with simple dishes to make but with perfect taste and stunning to look at. The pictures are just so well taken, you'll get hungry looking at them. Next to good recipes it also makes you think about your own next creation .... nice book if you like small dishes but an awfull lot :-).
It's what you get with restaurants like ENVY in Amsterdam or LAMBERMONS in Haarlem...
The other book I bought is Silver Spoon. This italian book has been the best seller in Italy for over the last 50 years or so.
Silver Spoon is the book to have if you want to know about Italian cooking, so it was not yet in my collection and as of today it is. It's over 1200 pages, about 3 recipes per page ... I looked and every thing I could think of is in the book. Looking forward to make some great recipes.
Well I need to check the stove and fridge since my first items should be ready for testing ... have a nice weekend and of course a great diner,