Dining in Amsterdam: Bolenius, De Kas, Ron Gastrobar, Brasserie Marie, Oriole (and Pho Ga via UberEats)

Mike explored restaurant options in the Michelin Guide and made reservations several weeks in advance.  Here’s our opinion

Bolenius, 

This is a one Michelin star restaurant with a tasting menu. We got the six course menu with wine pairings. It was Mike’s favorite.

We arrived at 1:45 PM, and the last reservation was for 2 o’clock. There were only three guests when we arrived and the other tables left shortly afterwards so we have the restaurant to ourselves.

This course had 20 different vegetables in it. 

This asparagus dish was interesting. They really transformed the ingredients.

De Kas

This is a two Michelin star restaurant.  It’s in a beautiful location inside a greenhouse. They grow their own vegetables either on site or at a farm nearby.

This dish had an interesting combination of strawberries and beets, that Unexpectedly went very well together

The restaurant was a bit crowded, and the service was attentive, but not exceptional.

 Ron Gastrobar

This restaurant used to be a two star Michelin restaurant, but they decided to be more casual and do now just a one star. The food was supposed to be unchanged just a little bit more relaxed atmosphere.   The first dish was delicious with a mango hummus. Unfortunately, it took an hour for the second dish to come out a, Seabass, which was not warm when delivered. Perhaps they shouldn’t be so casual.

Brasserie Marie

This was a last minute reservation at a bib gourmet restaurant.

The fresh blini was excellent (and convinced Chris, we should be trying pancakes the next morning).  

It must be asparagus season, we got it at every restaurant. This was particularly good with the hollandaise sauce.

We got the Seabass again because they would only give us a pound and a half of steak and that seemed too much.

Unfortunately, they left a few too many bones in particularly on Chris’s portion. The service was lacking as well we had to pour our own wine.

Oriole

This was another bib gourmet restaurant, one we had reserved in advance.  We also got a late lunch reservation and had the restaurant to ourselves after a while. The service was exceptional, and the food was very good. The portions were a bit large.

 Pho Ga via UberEats

After a long day of birding and 27,000 steps Some in chilly light rain, we ordered Pho via uber eats.

It was just what we needed.