Not to be a total downer on the food front. I did have a few amazing treats. The first white asparagus of the season–so sweet and succulent–was at someone’s house, so I can’t help you with that. But I can tell you to go to ‘t Mandje on the Zeedijk on Wednesdays at 5pm for the most amazing oysters you will ever eat.
These oysters are enormous!
Normally, I avoid anything when someone tells me first how big it is, and then later how good it is. When it comes to food, ‘large’ is almost always a bad sign. Except for with these oysters. I didn’t know they could grow that big. They were bigger than my hand.
And yes, they tasted amazing. I really like oysters, but I’ve never had an oh-my-god-that’s-mind-blowing oyster moment, one where I remember exactly what the oyster tasted like and where I was eating it.
These–I’ll remember. They’re from Zeeland, in the brackish inlets. They were sweet, almost like scallops, underneath the perfect amount of brininess. And delightfully slick, but also meaty and, due to their size, requiring a bit of chewing to get them all down.
And they cost 1.50 euros apiece. When Peter asked the guy selling them–a certain Vic van Koningsbruggen–why they were so cheap, he answered, “I want to make a difference.”
Vic also takes cheese to another old bar on the Zeedijk, In de Ooievaar, on Monday afternoons. Such a lovely atmosphere–nothing like a sunny afternoon bar, and a piece of bread with a thick slab of salted butter on it. The salt crystals glimmered like mica. As for proper cheese, there was Calvados-washed raw-milk camembert. This is the kind of thing they’re just casually eating in Europe all the time, those bastards.
Amsterdam is very friendly to this ad-hoc process of food in bars–Vic is just a freelance food dude, who likes these bars and wouldn’t mind earning a little drinking money. It’s something we could use more of in NYC. Does anyone know of people that do this? If I were in town regularly, I’d do it at a local bar. But I suspect everyone here is a little too busy with their real, important lives to do something like this on the side.
Earlier:
Amsterdam #1: Photos
Amsterdam #2: Two Examples of Dutch Literalism
Amsterdam #3: Adventures in Croquettes