I would like you to pause for a moment and think about your favourite Dutch food.
Now, I am guessing you came up with very little, at least nothing that didn’t also involve a “shmoke”. This is about to change. The town of Roermond in the southernmost Dutch province of Limburg has, in the past ten years, conjured up a couple of restaurants which are absolute gems.
Vice Versa is situated in the heart of the old town of Roermond, facing out over the Roer River with its willow-lined banks, houses straight out of a Rembrandt painting and copious amounts of well-fed ducks idly passing the time. From the outside, the restaurant looks like the 19th century warehouse it once was, complete with arched windows and covered entrance. Once inside, the diner is transported into a modern culinary world, with a large bar complete with immaculate brass finishings, elegantly lit drinks cabinets and an array of attractive barmaids and waitresses. There must be 20 to 25 tables ranging from intimate, semi-hidden away two person tables, to large ones set in plenty of space to accommodate parties of up to eight or ten people.
I was dining this evening with my father who is quite the well kent face in Roermond, having lived there since 1995. We rolled up at 8.30pm on a Friday night without a reservation, and unsurprisingly were greeted by a full house. But we, and other diners, were not just turned away into the rainy Dutch night, we were invited to have a complementary drink at the bar and wait for an available table. Nice touch. My Dad had the first of what proved to be a half dozen too many glasses of a very good red wine from the extensive wine list, while I had a pint of Amstel. Can’t go wrong there. We were also offered menus (in English if we wished) so we wouldn’t have to wait long once seated. After a pleasant half hour wait, we were shown to our table.
To start I had plumped for the Truffle Carpaccio while Dad ordered the scampi. The latter appeared in a large, main-coursed sized dish and was nothing like the breaded offerings served up circa 1986 in bar suppers across the land. Picture half a dozen fresh Dutch prawns, about two inches in diameter, served upon a bed of home-made pasta with a simple herb and olive oil dressing, and surrounding a small pot of fresh chilli-tomato sauce. The portion was not too big, not too small, and Dad gave it the big thumbs up. My carpaccio was something else entirely. I am not joking that it is probably in the top five things I have ever eaten. The plate was enormous, with maybe ten or twelve slices of the freshest, thinnest cut beef carpaccio, served on a bed of crisp, peppery rocket, with fresh cracked black pepper and slices of Dutch parmesan. In the middle of the plate, hidden beneath some meat, was a small spoonful of avocado salsa, which still has me wondering what was in it that I liked so much, given that I can’t stand avocado. The piece de resistance was a drizzle of truffle sauce over the top of the meat - again, the perfect quantity - which offset all the other flavours beautifully. I truly did not want this plateful to end and would happily have had another one straight after for my main course. But I didn’t. And I’m glad.
Whilst sitting at the bar earlier, Rinus, the owner of Vice Versa, told us the specials of the day. Included on there were supposedly rather nice cuts of beef, of differing sizes, he got from a local butcher. Dad ordered one of these, with chips and a peppercorn sauce (ever the Scotsman abroad) but I thought something more Dutch was appropriate. Short of ordering a clog sandwich, I admit to being a little stuck as to what this might be, but Rinus advised me to try some of the array of game products on the menu - a Dutch speciality apparently. I chose hare fillets in a port sauce with accompanying assorted seasonal veg. Dad’s steak was massive, perfectly cooked and presented very simply (which I like). It came with a little boiled cauliflower, broccoli and carrots and with a huge portion of chips for us to share. His peppercorn sauce was served in a little milk jug type thing and was just the perfect blend of creamy and sharp. I was given a plate of four fillets of hare (they’re bigger than you think) which had the same veg. Similarly the port sauce arrived in a separate jug and was rich, sweet and had a lovely alcoholly aftertaste. The hare was a delight: tender, moist and very filling and the sauce was just enough to liberally coat the meat, with enough left over for dipping the chips in. Blimey, this was tasty.
After this we were, sadly, too full for dessert, but judging from the look of the plates going past our table some diners were in for a treat. We settled on coffees, a double espresso for Dad and a cappuccino for me, before I gallantly offered to pay the bill. Now, it was expensive, but that was more to do with the five pints of Amstel and three bottles of wine we went through. The food itself was not badly priced at all, 5-8 Euros for a starter and 12-20 for main course, and a couple of Euros each for the coffees. For this quality, I would probably have paid double.
Rinus called us a taxi and Dad and I headed off for a pint in town (bad idea) full to the brim with Dutch culinary goodness and raving about Vice Versa and their hospitality. Only one thing annoyed me, and that was the fact that Dad gets to go back every week and I had to return to Istanbul. Ah, well, good excuse for another visit.
If you ever happen to be in downtown Roermond, pop in for dinner. You won’t be disappointed.
Scores on the Doors
Food 5/5 - cracking!
Presentation 5/5 - simple but stylish
Service 5/5 - Impeccable and with free drinks!
Setting 4/5 - Picturesque Dutchness. The only drawback is having to trek
upstairs to go to the loo, and I am a lazy Scotsman.
Overall 19/20
(Ed - thanks to Patrick for this great post to get us started!)
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