Andrew Kay’s first of a two-part Dutch culinary tour takes in Blue Pepper & Senses

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My annual trip to Holland took place a little later this year but was a bigger gastronomic event than ever with eight days of fabulous food and drink starting in Maastricht and then moving on to Amsterdam. The Maastricht part of the trip was related to International Chef Exchange and you will be able to see that when the hour long TV programme is aired when Latest.TV Brighton goes live next year. How exciting is that?

Amsterdam was very much a trip of two parts: food and culture. I stayed at the NH Museum Quarter for the first part, perfectly located for the museums and for the concert hall where I heard a fabulous recital by British pianist Paul Lewis.

I changed hotels later in the week and stayed at Hotel Albus, a chic new hotel minutes from the flower market and perfectly placed for most things. That night I had dinner in their restaurant Senses. It’s a small room but the food ideas are big and they pull them off. Passionate about the slow food movement you can sense that much of what the chef is about is great produce treated with respect. I started with a pumpkin soup that was served from a teapot and poured over a prawn wrapped in finely shredded potato then fried. It was heart-warmingly good, rich and delicious. I followed it with a steak tartare. I love steak prepared in this way if it is good, and I was delighted that the steak and all of the seasoning were brought to the table for me to indicate how I would like it. It was stunningly presented, tasted great and came with superb frites, mayonnaise and a Caesar salad worthy of the name. I would have had more but I was pressed for both time and tummy space. But I made up for it the next day at their excellent breakfast buffet.

Amsterdam is famous for its Indonesian food and right now the hottest name is Blue Pepper. Blue Pepper takes the flavours and concepts of Indonesia but gives them a European twist. I started with a sweet dumpling with chilli sauce which was quickly followed by three plump scallops with a satay style dressing made of Macadamia nuts, heavenly, and a salad of seaweed. There was also a fine powder that I could not identify but would happily eat my own body weight of. Next came a spicy broth, the only truly fiery dish of the menu, with a piece of poached perch lurking in its depths, stunning stuff. Then venison satay with pomegranate and apple salad, deep flavours balanced by crisp fresh ones. This was followed by three perfect lamb cutlets cooked with lily flowers and served with courgettes and ribbons of crispy fried sweet potato. Now lily flowers were a first for me and I can’t wait to have them again, a strange bitter floral flavour that was rather moreish. Dessert was a plate of mango ribbons served with a cointreau dipping sauce and three sorbets, a stunning lime, a delicious rose and a quite extraordinary beer sorbet. I loved Blue Pepper to bits, delicious food and charming service.

Blue Pepper, Nassaukade 366, Amsterdam, +31 (0) 20 489 7039
Senses at Hotel Albus, Vijzelstraat 49, +31 (0)20 530 62 00
With thanks to Visit Holland www.holland.com and Rail Europe www.raileurope.co.uk