Not exactly Nigella

Mumblety-odd years ago, on my first evening in Amsterdam, I ate at a restaurant offering traditional Dutch cooking. The special of the day rather appealed as much for the sound of the name as much as anything else: hutspot met sudderklapstuk, which turned out to be a mash-up (hotchpotch) of potato and vegetables with a huge piece of braised beef.

The restaurant is still there, though much more spruced up these days, and still includes such substantial fare on the menu (and in these temperatures, you can see the benefit).

However, the specials this time didn't particularly appeal (and what sort of beer were they offering?), so I chose a variation with curly kale, and a sausage and speck (bacon pieces).

The presentation was a bit...well, striking.

And then the demon of literal word-for-word translation struck on the dessert menu. Even with a cinnamon and caramel sauce, "bag cheese on a biscuit" doesn't entice.


P.S. I've just noticed Disqus's bizarre idea of "related" content elsewhere among their users - nothing to do with me. I'm working on finding an alternative commenting widget if anyone has any bright ideas