24 hours in Berlin Visited 6/23/2018 4 Forks

Huftgold  Neue Bahnhofstr. 29

In between my 2 weeks in Amsterdam, I figured it would be fun to take a quick jaunt over to Berlin to see my friend Jill.  She was about to move from Berlin to London soon, so I figured now was the time to go otherwise, I probably make the trek over.  To be honest, even though most people rave about Berlin it was just never top on my list to check out.  It kind of reminded me of being a grey and stern city - and that is exactly what I got when I visited.  No knock to the city and I'm sure I didn't get to see even half of it while I was there, but I didn't get the warm and fuzzies when I went to visit.

Luckily, the one fun thing that was going on while I was there was that it was the World Cup and Germany was playing while I was there.  Jill and I met up with one of her friends at a local bar/restaurant where they were showing the game outside.  It wasn't a huge space but they hung a large TV outside and you could still order drinks and food while you watched the game.  Since I was in Germany, I felt like it was my duty to get wiener schnitzel while I was in town.  For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a very thin veal cutlet that's breaded and pan fried.  It was served with buttery mashed potatoes, a mushroom sauce and a salad.   Everytime I eat veal, I feel super guilty but it was delicious and paired with the mashed potatoes and a squeeze of lemon, it was German food heaven.  The place seemed like a fun local place to hang out - I didn't see a ton of tourists, so if you're in that part of town and looking for a casual place to hang out, I'd definitely recommend this place.  Unfortunately I can't remember how much our bill was but it was quite affordable and the nice waiter even gave us a free shot at the end.

Photo Credit:  Yelp

2 Weeks in Amsterdam - Part 2 - Visited 6/16-6/29/2018 4.5-5 Forks

The Seafood Bar  Van Baerlestraat 5, 1071                                                                               4.5 Forks

Everyone kept telling me how the food in Amsterdam is meh but most of my meals so far had been pretty great and this next round of food really blew me away.  I knew that they were more well known for fries and heartier food so when a colleague told me about Seafood Bar, I was super excited to eat something healthier. 

To set expectations, even if you you have a reservation, you're going to wait a long time here.  Luckily, Sophia and I weren't starving but don't go hungry because you'll get angry and cranky very quickly.  The service in general in Amsterdam is much slower in the US, so you'll have to temper your expectations a ton.  But once we were seated everything was fine.

The menu is a seafood lovers dream.  They have everything you can think of and then some.  We had a hard time deciding what to get so we opted to get the Fruits der Mer "Seafood Bar" with the mixed grill add on which is a STEAL at 80 euros for 2 people as the Fruit der Mer is 47.50 euros on it's own and the mixed grill is 34.50 euros.  Someone in pricing didn't seem to do the math correctly on this one!  At first, we weren't sure if this was going to be enough food but it was way more food than we could even consume.  The Fruit der Mer is a two tower raw bar stacked with mussels, cockles, razor clams, periwinkles, crab, shrimp, home made salad, seaweed salad, 4 oysters, half a lobster PER PERSON, langoustines, prawns, and snow crab.  Amazing.  Then on top of everything the mixed grill platter came out with a cooked white fish fillet.  Everything tasted fresh and delicious, although the waiter forgot to give us some of the tools, so we had a bit of a hard time opening some of the shellfish.

Overall, it was an incredible deal and if you're a seafood lover, it's a definitely must in a land full of meat and french fries.  Total bill:  $52.65 USD per person with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Rijsel Marcusstraat 52 B, 1091 TK Amsterdam                                                                           5 Forks

OBSESSION to the extreme.  I was initially annoyed that I had to stay in this weird Student Hotel away from the city center and kind of in this random neighborhood.  But it turned out for the best because otherwise, I wouldn't have discovered this place while walking around.  When I first walked in they said they were full for the night but the owner graciously said if I was willing to come back at 9pm, I could get a seat.  This is where being near my hotel was great, I went back and took a quick disco nap and came back out for this amazing dinner for one. 

The menu is French/Flemish and while it's a small-ish menu (it changes daily), everything on there sounded awesome.   They have very well priced pre-fix meals but I opted to get just an appetizer and main which was more than enough food.  You know you're in for a treat when the amuse bouche is duck liver pate!  Yum.  For an appetizer I got the white asparagus with a perfectly poached egg and heart stopping butter sauce drizzled on top of it.  It was out of this world.  For my main, I got the spring chicken which is an entire roast chicken served with spring peas a side of crunchy potatoes (and a side of mayo - this is Amsterdam afterall) and a very fresh and simple butter lettuce salad.  The chicken was incredibly moist and if it wasn't a nice restaurant, I would have tried to gnaw at the whole thing.   Thank god for the butter lettuce salad because between the chicken and potatoes/mayo, I needed something green in my system.  

But what made this meal even more special than the fantastic food was their wine list.  They had an incredible list of delicious French wines and since I was only 1 person, they were kind enough to offer me certain wines by the glass - including an amazing glass of Gigondas.  I almost died because you hardly ever see this by the glass anywhere. 

Everything about this meal was 5 stars.  The waitstaff was super nice and attentive but not annoying.  The food was clean, simple and fantastic and the wine was simply amazing.  I highly recommend you make a reservation because this place was packed to the gills when I went and I saw a few people get turned away.  In fact, I'm already thinking about going back on my next trip.   Similar to the Seafood Bar, the price was so incredibly reasonable for the amount and high quality of food.  Total bill: $59.34 with tax, tip and 2 glasses of wine

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Van t'Spit 

De Clerqstraat 95, 

1053 AH Amsterdam                                                                  4.5 Forks

Another day, another roast chicken restaurant.  This one was recommended by some colleagues in the office and unlike Rijsel, this is more of a hipster bar/pub than it is a white table cloth restaurant.  Tom and I went on a random quiet afternoon after our orientation was over and there was literally no one in the bar.  But you could still see them roasting whole chickens in the back. 

There is only 1 thing on the menu and it's (you guessed it) roast chicken.  You can either get a half chicken or a whole chicken and then they have a few sides as well but that's it.  The nice thing about the chicken here vs. Risjel is that they cut it up for you which makes it much easier to eat.  They also have a nice array of sauces you can put on your chicken and we got some kind of spicy sauce for it.  Similar to Rijsel, it was a fabulous juicy chicken.  For sides, we got fries (I mean, what else do you get here?) and cole slaw, which was fine but nothing amazing. 

Overall, it was a really nice casual bar and the guys running it were super laid back and really nice.  If I lived in Amsterdam, it seems like it would be really fun place to catch up with friends and relax on a nice weekend.  Total price:  $52.54 USD for 2 people

Photo Credit:  Yelp