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