Fresh off the heels of my trip to Vice Versa, I sampled another of Roermond’s wonderful restaurants, Il Forno, just a few doors down. Now, I like Italian food. A lot. And I like fish. Even more. In this restaurant I had fish cooked in an Italian style. Winner.
For me the quintessential Italian restaurant should have several qualities - free flowing, cheap but wonderful wine, an atmosphere where you are at home laughing your ass off with friends or family round the table not worrying if the waiter will tell you off, and above all absolutely no menu. Just give me what you have that is fresh. Il Forno does all of these things and much, much more.
From the outside, Il Forno doesn’t really give the impression of being a good restaurant or a bad restaurant, just somewhere you might get some grub. Inside, there are maybe 20 tables catering for parties of two or ten with a small bar on the right had side and kitchens through the back. The first thing I like about this restaurant is that it is run by a bona fide Italian chap called Leo who loves his football (as testified by the Inter Milan shirt proudly hanging in the back), and his wonderful Dutch wife Frances. There is nothing worse than going into an Italian and having some ned moaning “boanjoorno” at you - I demand authenticity!
After being seated, my Dad, my wife and I ordered drinks (a beer for me, and wine for them) and waited for our waitress. We were asked only one question - would we like meat, fish or a combination? Fantastic! We all plumped for the fish. About ten minutes later appeared three small dishes on which sat a huge mussel generously smothered in a tangy tomato and basil sauce and covered in parmesan, grilled in the oven. Seriously, a little bite of heaven. As an amuse bouche (wait, think Italian....amusio bouchio) it was unrivaled. Next up came a seafood bisque. I am yet to find out what was in it as every mouthful was different but equally scrumptious. There was definitely calamari, tuna, some form of white fish (haddock maybe), mussels, clams and an array of herbs all mixed in with fresh tomatoes. I was truly sad to finish this dish and would have been happy to finish my meal with another bowl of the same! For main course came two pieces of expertly grilled fish - we reckon they were sea bass and sea bream, served plain with a wedge of lemon and a drizzle of garlic and parsley sauce and a side dish of pasta with jumbo prawns for us to share. It was wonderful in both its simplicity and tastiness.
We followed it up with a cappuccino for me and espresso for Dad and the wife. It was proper Italian stuff - rich and with an aroma which reminded me of a wonderful afternoon spent in Roman cafe’s with the wife last year. After a cheeky complimentary limoncello (Dad went straight for the grappa) we headed for home, suitably full and ready for an afternoon snooze.
I should add that I have been to this restaurant many times, probably thirty, and every time I have had the fish, every time it has been completely different and every time it has been wonderfully tasty. You can phone ahead to request something special, a whole lobster or a dozen oysters, and Leo and Frances will do their utmost to find them for you. I can’t vouch for the meat as the fish is so good I have never gotten around to trying it, but the diners around us did and they looked suitably impressed.
I love this place, and so should you. If you like fresh fish, expertly cooked it an authentic Italian atmosphere then this is your place. The only problem is that it is in the south of Holland. If it was in Istanbul, I would be there every week.
Food 5/5 - fishy goodness
Presentation 4/5 - simple rustic Italian
Service 4/5 - no hassle, very relaxed
Setting 4/5 - damn you for being in Holland!
Overall 17/20
Showing posts with label Netherlands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Netherlands. Show all posts
Friday, 2 September 2011
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
Vice Versa, Roermond, Netherlands
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!)
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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