posternatoir

The restaurant scene in Holland has developed quite quickly in the last years. Holland does not have a real gastronomical history like Belgium or France, but the restaurant scene is evolving quite rapidly. In the last years the restaurants have become qualitative much better. Holland has now two 3 star restaurants and a lot of people believe Oud Sluis will be the third. Oud Sluis by the way did receive last week again the 1st price of best restaurant of Holland by the culinairy magazine Lekker. With respect to the molecular gastronomy, it is of course true that there is also a trend towards foams, frozen stuff etc, also in Holland. But in the topsegment there are some restaurants that set the tone, like Oud Sluis and they are indeed influenced by some techniques that came from the 'molecular gastronomy'. So it is popular but i do not really know restaurants that follow this trend even more radical. Greetings Posternatoir

On the 16 th of July we wanted to celebrate the birthday of my father. A good place for celebrations is Restaurant Oud Sluis in Sluis in Holland. It is a 2 star Michelin rated restaurant with chef de cuisine Sergio Herman. This chef recieved last years a lot of prices. He was rated the best chef in Holland in the year 2004 by Gault Millau. Also the restaurant was rated the first place in the famous Dutch culinary magazine Lekker. Rumours are going around that maybe this restaurant will be the next 3 star rated restaurant in Holland. At restaurant Oud Sluis the accent of the cooking is more fish then meat. Below i will review the dinner we had at Oud Sluis including some picture i took of the food. Because the weather was very beautiful we could drink a nice glas of champagne outside on the terras. We were seated and we wanted to have the four course menu. This menu costs 65 euro. When you want paired wines and a glass of champagne the bill will come around 110 euros. After a while the waiter came with the champagne, it was a blanc de blancs. I don't know of which house it was but it was good. Very soon after the champagne came the first apetizer. It was a little horn of filo with inside chopped watermelon and parmaham topped with a little bit ice of melon After that came two little apetizers that were a bit El Bulli Style. Chef Herman is inspirated by spanish cuisine, but of course with his own twist. Again a little horn of paper (not eatable) with inside small frozen drops of advocado. You put it in your mouth and when it melts the flavour comes forward. The other also frozen apetizers was frozen soja. You had to put it in your mouth immediately, after that you tasted soja, steam comes out of your nose due to the cold and then it's gone. It was a really cool course. This is also made in liquid nitrogin, where in they poach the sojafoam. After the 3 apetizers came the real amuses. A plate with on it 4 little plates. With from the left to the right. On the left side a little cup with mussels with a vinaigrette of anchovy. Very nice and fresh dish Next to that was chopped scheermes ( i don't know the english translation) with shallot in a sweet vinnaigret. Next to that you can see a chopped salmon with koreander and sushirice and a little cream on top. The best of the 4 was the one at the right, a cup with grey shrimps, above that a mousse of peas and above that an clear jelly of tomato. Really a very delicious dish. Excellent! After these excellent starters we where asked to go inside. Oud Sluis is a trendy restaurant, the staff is not stiff, there is a really relaxed atmosphere. We were seated and after that our first wine came. It was a Pinot Blanc from Austria. A very fruity and a little sweet Pinot Blanc. After a few minutes came our first starter. On a oval plate were 2 roles of fresh tuna fille with granny smith jullienne. On top of the rolls to slices of cocquille. In between the rolles some frozen olive oil. At the left side currymayonaise with gelly of granny smith. And at the right side was a nehm (egg rohl) of crab and cabbage. This was a very nice dish. Excellent After this our second wine came, a white bourgogne. And our second starter wich was 3 preperations of langoustine. On the left side was a roll of savoiekool( i don't know the english translation). Next to that a fresh fried langoustine with some eatable flowers. It was just fried in a pan for 20 second on each side and it was so good. The best langoustine I ever tasted. Next to that chopped raw langoustine with shallot and riceviniger. On the right side tagliatelle of langoustine jelly. Around these last two preparations was a foamy sauce of langoustine. A very innovative and good dish! After this the main course was served. On a plate was at the right side a rouget with on it tomato, on top of that 2 green asparagus with a quenelle of black olive. On the left side was a caneloni of paella ( with a bouillabaisse flavor). After that a waiter came and he poured a bouillon of tomato on the plate and a coulis of paprika. This was an excellent dish again. After the main course we could choose if we wanted cheese or 3 litle desserts. Because we all knew that the desserts are pretty good here we took those. The first dessert was a little plate with 4 compositions of chocolate. A little crusty choco, above that a cake of chocolate, above that a cream of chocolate, with on top white cream of tokabean. The second dessert was a millefeuille of white chocolate with in between raspberry and a sorbet of kirr. Next to that a quenelle of raspberry ice. A very fresh dish The last dessert was a diagonal line of fruit from the woods ( raspberry , blackberry, strawberry etc., with a jus of exotic fruit, ice of kafir and jelly of red fruit. After this we had a coffe and some friandises. This was an exceptional good meal in one of the most creative, innovative restaurants of Holland. When you are in the neighbourhood of Sluis, this is in the province of Zeeland, it is really recommendable I am sorry for my mistakes in english, but i did my best!