O'Donnell's Bar - Amsterdam

The stag weekend continued on Marie Heinekenplein in Amsterdam, at O'Donnell's, a place that's ploughing the furrow of continental Irish pub with which many of us are all too familiar.

Bitterballen

It was situated on quite a nice city square spot, so suited us rather splendidly for a beer and a light snack, in the afternoon sunshine.

Now, I won't claim that the food on offer was particularly outstanding, but the situation merited a review as we were dressed in a quite outstandingly bonkers fashion.

Nachos

As I may have mentioned, there a good section of regular readers who are way more interested in the "what we wore" section as opposed to "what we ate". Many of these devotees were represented here today, so we couldn't but take the opportunity to give them their moment in the sun.

Aside from the stag, regally decked out as our reignin monarch, we had a blend of other royals, revolutionaries, presidents, and leaders from history, including Cardinal Richelieu, Tutankhamun, and a quite magnificent Maggie Thatcher. The challenges of retaining one's modesty while wearing a short skirt proved insurmountable, but the welcoming and attentive waiting staff at O'Donnell's managed to cope.

The journey to O'Donnell's

We ordered thirteen small beers, then considered the menu, which was of the pub snack variety. I extolled the virtues of bitterballen, which are the quintessential Dutch bar snack. Half way between a pork meatball and a croquette, they're served with mustard, usually in a portion somewhere between half dozen and a dozen. I've enjoyed them many times, to the extent that I've cooked them at home, and even have my own secret recipe for the little blighters.

My voice was not greatly heeded, though, with nachos, burgers, and many, many bowls of chips ordered, instead.

The food was all decent, performed its task admirably, and allowed us to proceed on our merry way with stomachs that thanked us for the brief respite from our otherwise liquid diet.

So overall, O'Donnell's will remember us, and we'll remember them. We'll remember a good refuelling feed, and they'll remember a pair of size 8 ballet pumps that we cast aside by Maggie Thatcher in favour of bare-footed hobbling. Its place in the collective memory is guaranteed.

Scores
Blythe scores O'Donnell's
3/5 for food
3/5 for presentation
3.5/5 for setting
3.5/5 for service
giving an overall 13/20

Today's quester were: Ernesto 'Che' Guevara (2), King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands, Margaret Hilda Thatcher, William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe), Barack Hussein Obama, the Duke of Edinburgh, Armand Jean du Plessis - the Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu, Ho Chi Minh, Tutankhamun, Prince Charles, Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, Queen Elizabeth II

We ate: nachos, frites, bitterballen, burgers

We drank: Heineken

We wore: Presidential tie (2), combat fatigues (3), crown, purple Calvin Klein's, orange t-shirt, tweeds, military jacket, snake head-dress, grey beard, purple robes

Total bill: the bitterballen were €6, the beers were around €2.50

Ferdinand Bolstraat 5, Amsterdam
http://www.odonnellsirishpub.com

La Vaca Argentina - Amsterdam

Amsterdam! My visits, recently, have simply been for transit, either to countries further afield or to other parts of the Netherlands, so I was glad to get a chance to wander round the place for an afternoon. The main business of my visit was a stag weekend for regular guest quester, Malcolm (who has joined at Locanda de Gusti and Origano amongst other places), but I got a little oasis of calm to start my weekend with a relaxed lunch, prior to the arrival of the massed ranks of chaps.

Interior

After a wee stroll, I alighted upon a likely looking row of restaurants. I was tempted by one called Garlic Queen, which featured the Dracula-repelling bulb in just about every dish, but sadly it wasn't open, yet. Instead, I popped in to one of the many Argentinian steak places that populate the city centre.

This one was called La Vaca Argentina, and looked a smart if under-populated place. I guess there's not much demand for a steak dinner at 3pm when it's sunny outside.

Soup

Their menu was extensive, featuring a big range of meats, cuts and preparation styles. Argentinian goulash soup caught my eye, unsurprisingly, then I chose to follow that with a rump steak

Soup arrived promptly, in a big cup. It bore some flavour relationship to some previous goulashes I've had, but it wasn't the best soup in history. Solid but unspectacular would be the verdict.

Steak

The steak was entirely better, with an impressively large, accurately cooked and seasoned rump delivering good flavour and that unmistakeable meaty texture. The quality of the beef was good, and the execution was pleasing.

So overall, La Vaca Argentina served me very nicely, and fulfilled its function of giving me a good meal to remember while I shoved bad shawarma towards my face, in the few moments when I wasn't pouring lager down my neck, over the course of the rest of the weekend.

<b>Scores</b>
Blythe scores La Vaca Argentina
3.5/5 for food
3.5/5 for presentation
3.5/5 for setting
3/5 for service
giving an overall 13.5/20

Today's quester was: Blythe

I ate: Argentinian goulash soup; rump steak

I drank: red wine

I wore: brown suit

Total bill: €30.75

Reguliersdwarsstraat 8, Amsterdam
<a href="http://www.lavacarestaurant.nl/">http://www.lavacarestaurant.nl/</a>