La Rive* / Amstel hotel / Amsterdam

To love

Hands down: the bread and butters! Best I ever had. But also the ambiance: the chairs, the round tables, the romantic environment next to the canal. And not to forget the waiters. They were truly amazing! Not as stiff as you think they would be. Actually, we had so big fun with them. Good times!

To forget

It was asparagus-season. An asparagus is OK, but as soon as these white thingies pop out of the ground, every restaurant uses them. And I don’t like them too much. Being an (easygoing) vegetarian, I said to the waiters that they could surprise me, but that I didn’t like asparagus (understatement). From the 7 courses, 2 of them contained asparagus? So those courses I already could not love.

Also, we took a wine pairing arrangement. But the wine waiter was VERY economical, and not serving full glasses. When you pay EUR12.50 (!!!) per glass, I think you deserve a normal serving amount.

Remarkable

I told my friend that I REALLY wanted to go to La Rive one time. Since my manager was always telling me he has such a nicer dinner there (to be more specifc: he was going on and on about a cherry tomato he got with 20 different preparations). One day, my friend told me he had a surprise for me; he booked La Rive via DiningCity. In Hoorn. I started laughing. He booked Lucas Rive in Hoorn. Where we of course went. Later, he we did went to the right restaurant.

Soon after our visit, the restaurant lost its star.