Back and have far too many review notes from New Zealand - a lot of work ahead!
Back and have far too many review notes from New Zealand - a lot of work ahead!
Member since:23.05.2007
Reviews:114
Members who trust:168
INTRODUCTION
Well you've heard about the hotel in vivid detail, now onto the restaurant. Restaurant Orange is the name of the hotel restaurant of the Keyser Hotel in Breda, South Netherlands where I am presently ensconced. If I'd have included this in the hotel review you'd never have got to the end of it; so here it is, in its entirety.
RANDOM FACT ABOUT BREDA
Colonel Tom Parker, the manager of Elvis Presley, was born in Breda as Andreas Cornelius van Kuijk.
THE RESTAURANT
Having had breakfast here many times, I wasn't quite sure as to where the restaurant would fit in with all of this; as I waited for a table I scanned the area and couldn't work out where it was. But as I was shown to a seat it dawned on me; it was the small slightly set off area near the window that is marked off during breakfast, something which I'd subconsciously registered but not quite processed in my brain. This area had seating places for 30 or so people. There were 2 big tables of 10 and a few more small tables, either enough for 2 or 4. I was given a table of 4, which was already laid, complete with bright blue plates and cutlery, so this was cleared, leaving me without any plates but with a knife, fork and side plate. On each table was a large bottle of mineral water; as I didn't open it I didn't discover whether it was free or a cover charge. You could see that they'd taken care to co-ordinate the tables, as everything matched on each one. Not a huge thing really but noticeable when you're really looking out for detail.
The restaurant was pretty empty when I arrived; there was one lone female French diner ordering dessert, who I would have stared at more with my tongue
out, dribbling, had I not been engrossed in noting everything down, including her. A couple were just leaving as I arrived, and I noted all three of them didn't have coats, so I suspect they were fellow residents. As it was Tuesday, about 7.30pm, I can't really judge if this is popular or not with the locals.
This area is quite nice and fancily decorated in parts. There is an old fireplace with an oval mirror above it, and some swirly lamp fillings that snake out of the wall and curve into a claw at the end, in which is suspended a light. I had a seat near the window and behind me on the low still stood a couple of Roman busts. The view of the car park opposite the hotel greeted me from behind, not really inspiring, think I did the right thing in facing into the restaurant.
THE MENU
The menu was divided into several sections:
Starters - 5 starters, at about 10 Euros each, including raw tuna, duck, veal and lentil salad
Entrees - 3 dishes at about 9 Euros each - pidgeon, mullet or eel soup (they naturally had much fancier names but I couldn't be bothered writing them all down)
Mains - 5 dishes at about 20 Euros each, including seabass, salmon, and veal
Desserts - 4 dished at about 8 Euros each, including chocolate tart and homemade cookies
3 course meal - a mix of the above options at 27.5 Euros
Menu Taste of Art - some kind of taster of lots of the dishes - 4 courses at 47 Euros and 5 courses at 45 Euros. E.g. deer fried in almond, turnip, cabbage and chanterelle sauce
THE MEAL
I was asked if I wanted anything to drink immediately, and I chose an orange juice, which came shortly later. This was freshly squeezed and even had the froth on top you get when you do it yourself, complete with a spoon to whizz it up. This was very nice; refreshing, and no need to add sugar, so I reckon they'd done that already.
By this time the attractive French lady had legged it, and I was left on my own to my thoughts (and my review notes). It struck me, as I was serenaded gently by Neil Diamond and Simply Red, that writing reviews really does cure the boredom of eating alone; I had plenty to occupy me as I waited for each course. Even the bar was empty, and so I had plenty of space in which to mull over my hatchet job.
As a main course, I ordered "Grilled seabass with tomato-beetroot sauce, goats cheese potato puree and puffed tomatoes in garlic oil". This title taken verbatim from the menu may indicate the level of pretention the restaurant enjoys (or likes to think it does).
Soon after, I was treated to 5 slices of white baguette served with slightly warmed (and therefore softened) butter. This was as delicious as I've come to expect with the bread here, and I polished the lot off between then and the end of the main course.
One of the waitresses (in all, 1 waiter, 2 waitresses and the restaurant manager served me at one time or other) then toddled over to change my knife and fork to the fishy varieties.
In line with my previous experiences of Dutch service, I was never pestered and had to actively beckon in most cases for attention, in which case the staff were always helpful and friendly. This was generally OK but there was one point where I caught their eye smiled at 3 of them, who each in turn smiled back and walked away. I was asked after each course if I enjoyed it; I do wonder if that was in part due to my enthusiastic wielding of the pen, to garner notes for this review, every time something arrived. Hopefully they thought I was AA Gill but I suspect not, as I still had to cough up at the end of the night (lucky I'm on expenses, eh!)
13 minutes after ordering (I told you I was noting everything), the seabass arrived; 2 large fillets with the skin on, perched on top of each other and on a small bed of the goats cheese mash, er sorry, I mean goats cheese potato puree, which in turn had a layer of leeks and peas separating it from the seabass. Dotted around the plate were 4
Pictures of Keyser Hotel Restaurant Orange, Breda, Netherlands
Grilled seabass with tomato-beetroot sauce, goats cheese potato puree and puffed tomatoes in garlic oil
cherry tomatoes, and some deep fried green leaves which I believe to be mint. A few surreptitious swirls of creamy sauce around the plate completed the ensemble.
The seabass was perhaps a little underwhelming; it tasted OK but I didn't get the impression the full flavour had been drawn out, nicely cooked as it appeared to be. I think it may have lacked seasoning. Of course I realise this now, about 2 hours too late, and didn't rectify this at the time with some salt. The puree was very nice, potatoey with a decent hit of cheese and good texture. The beans and leeks were a nice addition to this, crisp and brightly coloured, and the cherry tomatoes exploded upon cutting and were very full in flavour. They appeared to be slightly cool, so I reckon they were boiled then bunged in ice water to puff them out.
The size of the portion was good; at first I thought there to be too little mash, but the minimalism of this and the size of the seabass actually worked out quite well in the end; any more and I probably would have been stuffed. I'm probably used to our Brit way of being mashtastic (the more the better) but maybe this is a nice change. It's also not trying to pad out the more expensive ingredients, so full marks to them on that score.
I wasn't going to have dessert, but in the interest of you, dear reader, I sacrificed myself and overindulged. I ordered "Vahlrona araguani chocolate and mascarpone tart with Tonka beans ice". 13 minutes later it arrived, and boy was it a feast for the eyes. A large square of the chocolate mascarpone sat on one end of the plate, surrounded by a spodge of cream with a biscuity looking thing on top, and an impressively round scoop of, I assume, light brown Tonka ice cream (I've come to realise that "ijs" means ice cream and they don't always translate it correctly). The chocolate square also had some slithers of white chocolate sticking vertically out it, and a thin orange wafer of marzipan similarly placed, neatly swirled with a chocolate drizzle on one side of it. At the near end of the plate was some crushed nuts and fragments of chocolate. It all tasted every bit as good as it looked; I expected the chocolate to be really rich but it was just right and didn't make me feel like I would explode; nicely chocolatey with the mascarpone creaminess. When I explained this to the waitress she told me how she found it too rich, so obviously she hasn't had desserts in the UK. The orange marzipan and white chocolate was scrumptious. Tonka ice is, I reckon, a fancy name for coffee ice cream, which was also excellent, combining nicely with the tart. The cream with the biscuity thing was also a nice appendage; the biscuity thing turned out to be some sort of crushed sweet concoction, very sugary but very very tasty.
They say that pictures say a thousand words and so I enclose one of each course so you can judge for yourself how accurate my prose is.
It was at this point that 10 Dutch people on 2 tables strolled in, so I made good my escape, just at the right time I reckon. The whole process had taken an hour bang on, which was well paced I think. I made my leave as Paul Young and Zuccero were crooning to their finale.
CONCLUSION
I would conclude that the restaurant is quite good, although nothing really special as they didn't quite nail the flavours of the food that I would expect for such a fancy name and price. I had the seabass on another occasion and it was pretty much the same; not bad but a little lacking in the full taste you would expect from such a fine fish. At least then, they're consistent. The restaurant was also a bit more full and the bar packed, though I noted a proliferation of foreign accents, so I would conclude that it's quite popular with the guests more than the locals. It is a bit pricy though, and perhaps it has these expensed business types in mind - don't you just hate them! There are plenty of other restaurants in Breda that do a better job of seabass, so draw your own conclusions from that. The dessert was quite excellent though, so this is the place for you if you like your desserts austentacious.
exceptional by (22%):
very helpful by (78%):
