Plan B Restaurant, Breda, Netherlands

...just a casual thing, a Plan B if you were, in case your original intentions didn't transpire.

'''ABOUT BREDA'''

This isn't the best known of places to foreigners I think, so perhaps I should tell you a little bit about the place. It is located in the South of the Netherlands, near to the Belgian border. It's pretty much off the tourist trail, and is a smallish town (quite large by this country's standards, though) with ...
...would be hard pushed to recommend this before them. With any luck you'll be seeing those reviewed in the near future.

'''CONTACT INFORMATION'''

Plan B
Kasteelplein 2,
Breda.
The Netherlands.

Telephone : (+31) 76 - 515 65 86  ... more

INTRODUCTION

Now that I am back for a while working in the Netherlands, I thought I would have a stab at reviewing some of the restaurants, if for no other reason that it keeps me entertained. And so here we go with my debut restaurant review. I hadn't expected much from this restaurant I hadn't visited before; I'd been told beforehand it wasn't anything special. To complicate this even more, I was accompanied by a friend from Barcelona who naturally knows his calamari from his patatas bravas. It will be interesting to see what we thought between us.

One nugget of wisdom my friend imparted on me is that PlanB, the restaurant name, is a very Spanish name for such a place. This is because according to him, in Spain tapas is seen as not really seen as something you would specifically go out to eat - it would be just a casual thing, a Plan B if you were, in case your original intentions didn't transpire.

ABOUT BREDA

This isn't the best known of places to foreigners I think, so perhaps I should tell you a little bit about the place. It is located in the South of the Netherlands, near to the Belgian border. It's pretty much off the tourist trail, and is a smallish town (quite large by this country's standards, though) with a pretty main square, and lots of shops, restaurants and bars to keep me amused. The centre of town is quite pretty, and this place is quite historic, as William of Orange came from here. Charles II also hid here from Oliver Cromwell's Puritans during most of his exile, as part of the Spanish Netherlands at the time. Funny that some years later, Charles would lead a war against Dutch domination of world trade, leading to the Treaty of Breda in 1667 to end the war.

THE RESTAURANT

PlanB is located in Breda city centre, just off the main square (Grote Markt) walking southwards, on Kasteelplein. This makes the location a bit quieter and relatively off the beaten track compared to other restaurants nearer to the centre. The restaurant has space for about 30 people, each small table suitable for 2, with several of these pushed together. You certainly couldn't fit more than 2 or 3 tapa at a time on these tiny tables. All but one of these tables were made of dark brown wood, 1 table sat in the middle being painted a loud yellow colour. I got the impression this wasn't by design; the plates were randomly coloured and patterned, and my friends was chipped at the rim. There were 2 or 3 kinds of wooden chairs too, randomly scattered around the table. So clearly attention to detail isn't this place's forte. There was also an interesting couple of high tables, that took on a sort of carved, ornate form, with some accompanying carved chairs that reminded me of some Gaudi stuff in Barcelona (I'm no artisan so I could be way out with this observation). No one seemed to be sitting there and were ostensibly the sole preserve of the waiting staff.

The room was quite spacious, with a high ceiling and winding staircase in the corner leading up to the loos (I didn't use them and so can't comment on their standard). 1 side was dominated by the large windows and door of the entrance, hung by some quite pleasant red net curtains arranged in a fancy way, which made the place quite light. The opposite was the bar, containing a couple of draft beers on tap (Belgian beers Leffe, Jupiler and Hoegaarden) as well as a good collection of spirits. The other 2 walls were totally uncoordinated; a red wall with a bit of art in the form of a carving and a couple of modern looking paintings. The other white wall contained 2 mirrors hung at different levels to create a diagonal, and a sombrero hung in the top corner.

The ambience was quite relaxed, in keeping with the laid back experience in what is more or less the Dutch countryside. The soft, non intrusive music was assorted Britpop and American hits; my friend heard 1 Spanish song all night.

The restaurant was about half full between 8-10 pm on a Saturday night where other restaurants were at full capacity, which might indicate the level of popularity this place enjoys. As is customary in the Netherlands, smoking was permitted and this some of the patrons did, although it wasn't offputtingly smoky (phew!)

SERVICE

I have become accustomed in the Netherlands to having to struggle to get the attention of the serving staff, as attentive service doesn't seem to be in the culture. This was more of the same, although they were polite and helpful at all times when called upon, and not that hard to hail, although this may in part be due to the relatively small size and custom in the restaurant.

FOOD AND DRINK

My Spanish friend was initially vexed by a lack of Spanish beers available; apparently they did have Corona once but we had to point out to our Dutch waiter that this was in fact Mexican. There were some other bottled Belgian beer available as well as the draft, and we respectively went for Hoogaarden and Jupiler, which other had their usually high quality, although I forgot to ask for a slice of lemon with the Hooegarden, which, incidentally, you seem to have to do in the Netherlands as they serve it without as default. I had a quick shufty at the wine list and the average price for a bottle was about 20 Euros, non of which my friend had heard of, and I'm no wine expert either, so I can't comment on whether they were worth it or not. We ordered 6 dishes from the 22 plus 6 specials that I counted were available (the usual mix of fish, vegetable and meat dishes). Unfortunately most of these had Dutch names, so I have to translate when I can't use Spanish. Interestingly, my friend looked at them and concluded that some of them weren't even Spanish, and this was more a Mexican restaurant.

Nachos with tomato salsa - not a bad start, these arrived on their own and formed a natural starter, but I suspect they hadn't thought of this and they were just the quickest thing to serve. Some of the nachos looked slightly blackened but they were pretty tasty, with a cheesy tang to them. The salsa was a bit spicy and rather tasty, with big chunks of tomato. I would not be surprised if this was all ready made, though. Actually I would be more surprised if it wasn't.

Calamari rings in batter - Next up, these were well cooked and not rubbery, easily tested by cutting them in half with a fork with not unreasonable resistance. The batter was crisp and not greasy, the aioli served with it creamy with a bit of a kick. My friend informed me that he believed these were frozen rings as the consistency was too hard, which I thought was a very handy thing to know, as I'd never have picked up on that.

Tortilla - this came against the recommendation of the waiter - and this was on the specials list! It wasn't what we expected, as it wasn't a single wedge, but three slices of omelette mixed with potato and red pepper, quite potatoey on the whole, but actually very pleasant, if nothing special.

Eggs with tuna - arriving with the tortilla, this was basically 4 boiled eggs halfs laiden with tinned tuna that had been mixed and fried with onion and a small smattering of capers, sprinkled with powdered cheese (at least I think that's what it was). Again, these were pleasant enough without standing out.

Piri Piri chicken - We had expected spicy chicken legs, but we got diced chicken breast in a quite mild sauce a rich orange in colour, with almonds and red pepper. The chicken was overcooked and a bit stringy, but the dish was edible enough.

Patatas fritos - The last dish to arrive, this was probably the biggest let down. The thin slices of potato were too thin, and had been overcooked so some were pretty hard, some being pretty much crisps as they shattered when you tried to pick them up with a fork. The aioli was identical to that served with the calamari.

These dishes arrived 1 or 2 at a time and with significant spacing between them, so we always finished the remaining dishes before the next lot arrived. I guess that's good or bad depending on if you like to eat a bit at a time or not. In total this process took about an hour, with the first dish arriving within 10 minutes.

OTHER OPINIONS AND FUN WITH BABEL FISH

I found some reviews on the web; unfortunately they were in Dutch. This is what Babel fish gave me. Remember that Babel fish is great at translating words but doesn't bother itself with the grammar, context or word order, which usually is a bit different in another language:

A favourable one:

"Plan b is a real must if you want sociably even ertussenuit! Cost-quality is very well and the service is perfectly. You imagine yourself you as a real customer (what at many restaurant always but the question is!).
We have eaten heerlijk. The knoflooksmaak put certainly up with the next day I! Go this way by therefore"

A not so favourable one (I think):

"Terribly tapas restauant, and especially terrible nice eat very cosy and sociable, good service. And for the price hoef you it to already not at all leave. Super!"

Mixed reviews then? Who knows but I'm immature and I just like laughing at the gibberish translations.

CONCLUSION

This was actually better that I'd expected, so thanks to our very low expectations it wasn't a bad experience overall. But there are 4 other tapas bars in Breda similarly priced and I would be hard pushed to recommend this before them. With any luck you'll be seeing those reviewed in the near future.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Plan B
Kasteelplein 2,
Breda.
The Netherlands.

Telephone : (+31) 76 - 515 65 86 

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