greek chariots of yogurt

Day 8 – Rhodos

Veemarktstraat 59, 4811 ZD Breda

First Impressions – I never get that excited about Greek food, however if there is one place outside Greece which has the possibility of changing this, it has to be in Breda. We were welcomed inside by a jovial waiter, who sat us down and bought us a menu and a large shot of ouzo, (watered down thankfully).

Interior – I think cosy is the right word, in the style of a taverna. Ruined by the sh*t paneled ceiling (like a suspended ceiling in an office). It was fine as long as you didn't look up - I would not spend so much time getting everything authentic looking and then not bother with the roof. Maybe it's on the to-do list... 

 

Service – Brilliant service by the two blokes on shift. You could have a laugh and joke with them, (as you normally can with the Greeks). Felt a bit like being on holiday. My co-eater is very particular about bananas, and the waiter was happy to bring out a bunch so he could pick the right one to go into the banana split.
 

Food – €23 (for three courses) – For starter I picked halloumi. I have only eaten it grilled and love it. This came out with a sort of batter on it, like it had been deep fried, and was served with tomatoes. I enjoyed it however I have eaten better versions of this starter. I think grilled is better than deep fried.

 

Main course was mutton shank in tomato sauce, served with fat rice and parmesan. I cook lamb shanks at home and my first thought was that when I prepare it, it falls apart easier than this. However I think that is probably because I use lamb and not mutton. The flavour was good, the tomato sauce and the parmesan which was sprinkled around the edge of the plate set the meat off well. It was a decent enough plate but a little bland. I think that was the rice's fault.

For desert I had a simple greek yoghurt with honey and walnuts. It was delicious and I will be preparing it at home. The honey was very sweet in contrast to the yoghurt, (which texture was more like mr whippy but a bit stickier). It took a few goes to get the yoghurt to honey ratio per spoon correct, once I cracked it I never looked back. sp=y+(h/5) <sp=spoon><y=yoghurt><h=honey>

 

 

Final Thought – I don't want to criticise it, but it was the sort of standard Greek food you find in most places on holiday. I would come back though if someone else suggested it as I would like to try something else. I don't have too much to say about this place really apart from the yogurt and service were really good. It hasn't made me excited about Greek cuisine.

 

 

wine all over the place

Day 7 – Ristorante Pizzeria Girasole

Sophiastraat 14, 4811 EK Breda

 

 

First Impressions – We were greeted at the door, coats taken, and sat down nicely. The waitress said she would "put the coats down her alley which only she has access to", (a walk-in cupboard by the front door). A bustling Sunday evening saw most of the tables in use, although not many people had ordered so I couldn't do my usual recon. I will say now that my phone was in my coat and had to use my co-eater's phone to take photos. It was also quite dark so some images are grainy.

Interior – Girasole has a typical Italian feel about it. White walls covered in ornaments, paintings, and lanterns. It is a very warm room and instantly relaxing. There is a bar area at the back of the restaurant and was packed full of bottles of wine. It is quite exposed as it is on a dark street corner, you can see everything going on from the outside, but once you are in it is easily forgotten.
 

Service – I cant help thinking that if a certain incident didn't happen then this section would be different. We ordered a carafe of house wine / it arrived and we poured a glass each / I took my co-eater's mobile to take the interior picture / I didn't realise the flash was on / the room was lit up by the flash / everybody turned around to look who was taking pictures / I tried to move the phone down and lock it quickly / the glass of wine in front of me got in the way / the glass of wine lost it's balance and toppled over away from me / valpolicella surged out of the glass, all over the clean white table cloth, and missed my co-eater by inches.

It was after this accident that the male waiter took an instant dislike to us. Ignoring our table, blatantly. I wasn't bothered as the waitress continued to serve us and was very pleasant. The bloke just walked up and down, brown nosing the big tables and generally coming across as a petulant brat. I don't want this to be viewed as bad service though, it was just him. Everything else was good, the chef came out and mingled with the customers - I spoke with him at the end of the night and he seemed genuinely happy to receive complimentary feedback about his cooking. I walked over to the bar/kitchen area especially, as I couldn't bring myself to lower my social standards enough to converse with the waiter, who also had an extremely camp walk.
 

Food – €4,50 + €5,50 + €9,50 (starters for two) €10 (main dish) – The starters we ordered were to share. Bruschetta al Pomodoro / Crostini alla Olive / Insalata di Mare. Bruschetta al Pomodoro speaks for itself really, didn't blow me away but was pleasantly edible. The crostinia was bruschetta again but this time had an olive paste on it. It was like two parts black olives to one part green, put in a food processer with some basil and olive oil, and mixed up. It has a pesto feel about it but is better - I haven't seen this anywhere else and it's really good.

 

Insalata di Mare was a plate of octopus / calamari / clams / mussels / vinaigrette dressing. Outstanding. Don't know what to put really, the octopus was the star of the show! You could eat a bin full of that and run a marathon. Proper super food from the sea. I would ALWAYS order this in here.

 

Lasagne = BOOM! I worked in Breda when I was younger and used to come here quite often as it was near to where I was staying. The recipe has not changed one bit. Made with fresh egg pasta and had about 8-10 sheets of it. Amazing. Everyone prefers different things when it comes to lasagne, I really like a lot of fresh pasta in mine so it ticked all the boxes. Not so long ago I ate a 'Lasagne' which was two sheets of pasta, some mince without seasoning, in a metal take-away tray, with a load of béchamel sauce on top - this could not have been further along the lasagne scale of excellence unless it sang a little song at you before you ate it. The bolognese sauce just backed everything up too. Amazing value for €10!

Final Thought – I really enjoyed the evening. I was slightly apprehensive about coming here for an Italian, I didn't want to be sat there thinking about Al Dente's menu. I was not disappointed though - it is a different style, and with what I ordered, a lot more homely. That lasagne on a Sunday night is exactly what you want.

If I was here for any length of time I would visit regularly.

turkey dinner

Day 6 Cont... – Lades

Oude Vest 19, 4811 HS Breda

 

 

First Impressions – High expectations. This is the number one restaurant in Breda on tripadvisor.com (correct at time of writing). For all intents and purposes this should be amazing, however Al Dente is something like number nineteen and Gauchos is quite high on the list too, number four I think? You know what I am trying to say... It was packed in there (Saturday night) and smelt very authentic. I holidayed in Turkey earlier this year so I can confirm that I know how to recognise the smell of an authentic Turk(ish restaurant).

 

Interior – I'm not just Gauchos bashing all the time now, but so far if I had to pick an interior to be my new lounge I would choose this. It's quite like it already with the damask style wallpaper and soft furnishings. The flooring was real wood and aged, it went together amazingly well. I have since decided I will purchase big drapes upon my arrival in Blighty. Please note I think I caused a bit of offense taking this photo. The bloke on the table was looking right at me, which made it hard to comfortably take the rest of the images in peace. This was not the first time the camera would get me into trouble this weekend.

 

Service – Noticeably good. As the whole menu was in Turkish/Dutch we just picked the things which were for two people to share. The waitress stood and explained everything when it came out. I felt that everybody knew what they were doing and there was no unnecessary panic, (a state of mind which can easily be subconsciously transferred to the public, thus accumulating in a stampede/riot/coup of the restaurant). Thankfully none of the above happened.

Food – €12 + €29 (starters and mains, for two people) – For the starter we shared the meze plate. I shall try to remember what each thing was. Anticlockwise from bottom right; tomato salsa / yogurt with mint and cucumber / ratatouille / meatballs / cant remember / artichoke hearts (pickled) / little chilli gherkin pepper things / feta wrapped in filo pastry in a sweet chilli dip. I liked everything apart from the one I cant remember, (which is why I cant remember it). For €12 is was more than enough for two people to share. This also came out with a Turkish flat bread which had been baked in a stone oven. My favourites were the artichoke and the ratatouille. There is too much food here to annotate each dish.
 

 

 

Lades Izgara Specialiteit. Three words I have not said to anybody. I also cannot say the third word and nor can you. It is basically the dish you get in Turkey which comes out in a little ceramic pot, (sometimes they have to crack it open). They didn't smash up this bowl though as it looked expensive. The bowl contained a ratatouille style sauce, filled with peppers, tomatoes, beef chunks, lamb cutlets, chicken breasts, and a sort of burger (burger like in form). It was beautiful, especially the lamb, it was a shame that the cutlets weren't bigger as this was my favourite part of the meal. I don't think you can get better than tomato based sauces for a dish combining more than one type of meat. All of the meat was well cooked, it is a shame you cannot say that for a lot of the places in England - they just seem to know how to do it over here. I really enjoyed it and I would say that it was better than anywhere I ate whilst in Turkey! Served with potatoes (really tasty even on their own), and a good salad.

 

 

Final Thought – Tripadvisors number one. As I am now in direct competition with tripadvisor, *turns to the left and spits on the floor*, I don't want to mention them anymore as there is a possibility it could result in legal action, but I would say this is probably up there. It is good value for money and if I had eaten here earlier on during this trip I would have made an effort to return. As there are now only five eating nights available left, (some of which have already been earmarked), I doubt I will come again this break. I don't have anything negative to say about Lades, and I would be surprised if anyone went and had a bad experience.

danger! danger!

Day 6 – Wok To Walk

Kolksteeg 8, 1012 Amsterdam
 

 

Foreword – Wok To Walk is in Amsterdam. Not Breda. I cannot, not report this.

 

First Impressions – I have been here a few times before. Upon entering this restaurant you are agreeing to take part in a Subway style ordering process. Very clean, which is really important for a fast food vendor.

 

Interior – There are long benches at the front of the shop, these benches are for sitting on. The counter is at the back and the two woks are also behind the counter, facing towards the seating area, and protected by a glass screen. I assume this screen is to stop people throwing money and underwear at the two geezers cooking up the magic.
 

 

Service – Really busy in here - I'm not surprised though they must make a fortune. The menu is split into three sections. Type of noodle / meat or fish / sauce. Each option is numbered and you simply state the three digit code of what you'd like. I ordered 214. 2 = wheat noodles with vegetables / 1 = kip (chicken) / 4 = hot sauce. You are then invited to pick a guest ingredient, I picked broccoli. Finally a garnish, coriander. Simple enough to understand, not simple enough for the tw*t in front of me, holding everything up by not following procedure, trying to negotiate some tofu on the side. I could see the bloke behind the counter was getting really annoyed with all of his stupid questions but didn't let on too much. A model professional. You then take a seat, and wait for your number to be called. It takes about 3 minutes once your cooking begins.
 

Food – €9,50 – 214. I nearly wrote 'OMG' but i refuse to do it. Just wrote it then anyway, (I do not use this phrase for the record). It's just brilliant in here - really fresh takeaway food which tastes as good as any sit down version. You get loads for your money. Also by using the different guest vegetables and sauces it is easy to create a totally different experience each time you visit. There are more variations when ordering W2W then there are particles in the universe. The universe also cannot be eaten and enjoyed in the same way. On the table we were sat on there were about 5 more people, everyone's order looked different and everyone was going nuts about it. They clean up in there!

 

 

Final Thought – Massive! There is one in Soho in London. I have never been but I need to go now, please everyone go and try Wok To Walk in Soho. It's so good me and my mates were talking about taking on the franchise but it's €150K. Trust me we would have done it if we could of clubbed the money together. Big food!

cowabunga ii

Day 5 – Los Toros

Haagdijk 29, 4811 TN Breda
 

 

First Impressions – Different staff!! How would they know about the €10 tip!? The bloke with the long hair recognised me but I don't think he spoke much English. He reminds me of a character in Scarface or something - the one who can only speak a handful of foreign words but is fully committed to the cause. It was very busy so we sat near the front this time.

Interior – See day 1 for a detailed description of the interior. This time I noticed different pictures on the walls, I would have taken more photos but it was packed and I don't like people to see me taking them, (hence none of these photos are taken with the flash on). Pedro was playing guitar up and down the aisle and generally being a hindrance. When the waiter asked him to move he did, but he just messed about when the waitress asked. Quite funny though, he was singing pop songs but swapping the language to Mexican, and he whistled really well.

 

Service – It was busy, the waiter couldn't really understand what I was saying, I was trying to order ribs as a starter but he didn't understand me. Not his fault though I think I could have been clearer. This wasn't Scarface by the way this was the other one. It wasn't as personal this time but they had a lot of work to do so it's fully understandable. 

Food – €25 (steak) + €7 (ribs) – I ordered Los Toros Dos Carnes and 450g of ribs (to share, they were €14 but I put €7 as I only ate half). When the order was taken for the ribs he asked what sauce would I like. I told him to do the same ones as what you get with the mixed grill. He looked at me like he didn't really understand and then said "bitter sauce". I didn't know what that meant, or if there was any sauce last time. I just agreed and let him do it. They came out with a sticky sauce on and were fantastic again. Proper stuck to the bone and needed a concerted effort to remove said meat from said bone. ARE YOU READING GAUCHOS??
 

 

Los Toros dos Carnes is a metal dish, topped with onions, tomato, slice of pineapple, and finished off with a 150g cut of fillet steak, and a 150g cut of sirloin steak. The sirloin steak was packed full of flavour and was de-lic-ous. The fillet was just as good in it's own way, much softer with a melt in your mouth character. I am only going over old ground again as I have already eaten these meats, the best thing to write would be that the bits of cow and pig you get here are consistently brilliant.

 

Final Thought – It's always a risk eating somewhere you have already eaten well in. One one hand it could be just as good or a little better, leaving you with a warm glow inside for having the confidence to walk back through the door. On the other hand it could be pap, ruin your evening, and shatter any good memory you had of the restaurant in the first place. This was on the same level as day 1. If you want meat in Breda, then I would have no qualms about recommending Los Toros. I will add that I think having the mixed grill represents better value for money with the amount of food you get - but no complaints.

Apart from I didn't see any sort of bonus for my hugely generous tip. Now I am forced to skulk around outside until I see €10 boy and then go in and eat again.

you wan thai you wan yum thai

Day 4 – Block 62

Ginnekenweg 62, 4818 JH Breda

First Impressions – Yesterday; fingers = burnt! (Beyond recognition). I entered Block 62 full of hope and desire that it would be good. You can buy pickles and stuff in here so I think the protocol is to approach the counter and make it quite clear you would like to eat. The Thai woman, (who I think is the proprietor), (unconfirmed), remembered me from yesterday and was genuinely happy to see me. As it was busy she sat me down on the table facing the window, (on the right of the picture above). I was glad this happened as I was eating by myself tonight and I'm a bit funny about sitting down in the same area as people who aren't loners. This way I could take pictures of the food without having to worry about a member of staff intercepting me.

Interior – I got the impression that the whole place was optimised for getting orders and serving food quickly and efficiently. It was extremely well lit thanks to the spotlights suspended on a ring of trunking on the ceiling. I like that industrial look, it only reinforced my initial feelings that they don't mess about in here. It was in sharp contrast to the fabric armchairs at the back of the room, the jars of pickles on the wall, and the chalk board containing Dutch information that I cannot read, but worked well. I don't think its the type of place you'd bring someone for a night out but it's definitely a venue you can drop in on without bringing on any sort of formal pressure.

Service – I felt instantly welcome by Mother Thai, she took me to the table, took my drinks order and returned with it promptly along with a small bowl of vegetarian crackers. I don't know what these are but I have had them before. They went brilliant with the Hoegaarden I selected, (I don't normally drink that but there was only one other draft on the counter and I didn't fancy it). Mother Thai then abandoned me and left me to the native waitress who is probably my favourite member of staff so far this trip. I cant put my finger on the reason why but she was like the stereotypical Dutchwoman and spoke better English than me. That normally happens in England but never abroad, as I am a modern day Samuel Pepys now I've started this blog. Anyway, she suggested the 'Bento Box', I agreed and the order was placed.

Food – €22,50 – The Bento Box is a little basket, split into four sections. One of the sections always includes a bowl of jasmine rice. The other three are a surprise. I thought to myself, "this is all very east Asian".

The first bowl contained a ginger and lemongrass soup with tiger prawns and mushrooms. First let me state I don't like mushrooms - I tried to eat a couple but they are not my cup of tea so I left them. I am certain most people would have loved them. The soup contained whole bits of lemongrass, and slices of a kind of ginger. I ate one of the bits of ginger and it tasted like spicy hot bark. At this point I didn't know what it was and I asked the waitress to identify it, she told me it was ginger, was only there to flavour the soup, and wasn't to be eaten. She said, "it can be eaten but it is not very nice at all, I should have told you before". We both laughed about it, (I didn't think it was funny, I also didn't tell her I ate some of the lemongrass too because I would have looked like a right knob). The soup was quite hot and although there were only two prawns in it, I enjoyed it.

The second bowl was a salad made of lettuce, onion, celery, parsley, and squid. The salad was very nice, if it was in a bigger bowl I would have struggled with it as the celery was quite overpowering, but it wasn't in a bigger bowl. I don't know if I should take that comment out now - it's not a diss. I may come back to it later. I'm keeping the comment in and everything I said after it up to this point > <. The squid was the softest I have eaten. It was cut into strips and then scored diagonally in both directions to make a sort of lattice effect - this must have been why it was so soft. I will be adopting this technique anytime I cook with squid from now on and sort of think it was worth coming here to find that out.

The third bowl contained yellow chicken curry. Brilliant it was. There was a leg in there and part of the thigh too. The chicken was so tender that I think I only had to look like I was going to go near it with the cutlery and it would start dropping off the bone. I really enjoyed it, and I wont go into too much detail on this dish as it was hard to pick out individual aspects of the curry. It all blended into a big yellow b*stard bowl of flavour and I would order that on it's own as a main.

The fourth was the bowl of jasmine rice which was perfectly sticky as all good jasmine rice should be.

Final Thought – This was the right choice of venue to eat alone I think. The prices were reasonable and the food quirky and fun. The bill came out with a little pack of Haribo Goldbaren, (no translation needed - spell check is flagging it up, obviously don't know what it's doing), and it was a good way to end the experience. I left a €3,50 euro tip, (took it out of the tip money I saved yesterday). I wouldn't say it was an amazing enough experience to go back during this trip as I only have seven nights left. However it is definitely a great place to eat in if you are in a hurry, or on your own like me. Loser.

shambles...

Day 3 – Gauchos

Grote Markt 33, 4811 XP Breda

 

Foreword – I should start this entry by explaining what happened in the build-up. We were going to eat here on the first night but changed it to Los Toros. We should have been eating in Block 62, however it was about 21:45 by the time we got there and the kitchen had closed. Annoying. Then we were running around trying to find somewhere still serving (now 22:00). Luckily Gauchos were still cooking.

First Impressions – Relief that we were eating something that wasn't going to be cut off a hanging piece of offal. There were a few people still seated as we entered and during the walk to our table I scouted out what they were eating for some inspiration - it all looked very nice.

Interior – Quite slick. There were sort of cave drawings on the walls of cows, most of the seats and stools were upholstered in cow hide - they looked really cool. The bar and serving counters were all brushed stainless steel. I remember thinking I wouldn't mind my living room looking like this, which is high praise indeed.

I wouldn't swap my Liam Gallagher canvas for a picture of a cow though.

 

Service – There isn't too much to say here. The waitress was blonde, friendly and smiley. Asked if we would like some bread, but failed to tell us that it would add €4 to the bill. I asked her what 'Churrasco de Cuadril' was, she told me it was thin cuts of rump steak, marinated, and topped with garlic and parsley. It was all correct apart from the "thin cuts" bit - it was pure slabbage. They also took ages to collect the bill, at one point my co-eater was quite annoyed and said to himself, "just take the money and end it!" Which gives you a bit of a clue as to how the next passage will read.

Food – €25 + €7 (side dishes) – I have thought long and hard about what I'm going to write here. Maybe the level of the previous meals has made me slightly more critical of lesser dishes? Therefore I thought about how I would write this passage had this been day one. I would have written it as follows;

I ordered Churrasco de Cuadril. The waitress asked me what side dishes I wanted, I panicked and asked for grilled seasonal vegetables, and tagliatelle with tomato salsa. After she left I realised I was subconsciously trying to chase yesterday's dinner by ordering pasta with steak. I half got up to change the pasta to something else but decided against it. I wish I had. The steak was very well cooked, I would say perfectly cooked again, but the cut of the meat wasn't really flavourful - it was all a bit flat. Maybe that's why they try and flog you a sauce to go on top of it, (I don't know why you'd want sauce if something already has garlic and parsley on it?). Anyway I don't think the chef could have done much better with the piece of meat he was working with, so I can't really complain about that. What I can complain about is the absolute disgrace of the pasta side dish - I'm getting angry. The pasta was overcooked. That's annoying to begin with. Secondly, the 'Tomato Salsa' was appalling! If you shut your eyes you would think you were eating own brand spaghetti hoops. It was sh*t to be honest - I cannot find the right word to describe it better. Tasted like someone had put a sweetener in it too *shakes head*. The grilled seasonal vegetables were a pair of grilled bell peppers, they were just that, everyone knows what they taste like. I wasn't impressed with this experience at all.

I will also point out that my co-eater had ordered ribs, (he also made a snap panic decision), they were bottomless ribs too and I tried a couple. These are the same ribs I talk about eating in England on Day 1's entry, and the reason I won't order them. Tasted pre-cooked and then flashed on the grill, also tasted processed, texture was all wrong, and the barbeque sauce was an abomination. A-BOM-IN-A-TION. He was also complaining that his fingers stunk of old cheap pig for some time after. And they charged €1 for a pot of mayonaisse.
 

 

 

Final Thought – I can't even be bothered to have one really. If I have to waste any more time typing about Gauchos Breda, I shall say this;

No love went into any of these dishes. Always be careful about eating anywhere located on the main square. I will never return to this restaurant. The steak we had at Los Toros pisses all over this place.

Fin.

 

filetto di manzo

Day 2 – Al Dente

Nieuwe Ginnekenstraat 20, 4811 NR Breda
 

  

First Impressions – Excitement. I felt like I should have been on a date though as it seemed like quite a romantic venue.

Interior – I have been to many Italian eateries, ranging from diners with plastic furniture and the classic red and white check tablecloth, to boutique hotel styled restaurants. This one was closer to the boutique style. It felt a bit odd at first because my co-eater this evening was male, I always think people think that 2 men sitting across a table from each other looks quite homosexual. This feeling was exacerbated by the obvious lesbian couple behind us (one of them looked like a full on man and had the voice to go with it, I’m certain she had taken some hormones. Just because you are a lesbian, why does it make you look like that?). Nothing wrong with that though, it just made it look like we were sitting in the gay section. There was a picture of the pope on the shelf behind my co-eater’s head – I’ve never eaten in front of him before.
 

Service – We had two waitresses on this occasion. The menu was in Italian/Dutch but was fairly simple to read. Without asking, the first waitress placed a little rectangle plate in the centre of the table which had on it some salami / a selection of olives / bruschetta with tomatoes / risotto balls in breadcrumbs / prawns with that prawn salad dressing / and some sort of legume which I’ve never had. All very nice, and this was not present on the bill. She also recommended the house wine and smiled constantly throughout our encounters, especially when I told her this place was going to get a good write-up

Food – €18,50 – I ordered tagliatelle con filetto di manzo, rucola e parmigiano (tagliatelle with sliced fillet of beef / parmesan cheese / rocket). Wow! I was instantly trying to compare it to the steak at Los Toros from day 1 but came to the conclusion that the meals were too different and that any comparison wouldn’t really be fair. The meat was cooked perfectly. Absolutely perfect. I think there is about a 10 second window when cooking beef for the optimum time to take it off the heat and I think the chef took it off at precisely the correct moment. It was superb. The pasta had also been cooked with the same degree of precision and the parmesan knitted everything together. It was a very well balanced plate of food without a single ingredient taking over. It was so good I had to share some of the meat with my co-eater who was going mental for it too. The waitress also provided bread and olive oil, and the house montepulciano d'abruzzo was a delight.

 

 

 

Final Thought – This place has thrown a spanner in the works. I have 9 more meals to go and I am in serious danger of returning here too. For the good of the blog I don’t want to, because I’m trying to get a good variety of places, however we both thought that if we come back and have a carne dish with that beef as the star it would be biblical! I’ll go back probably – maybe I can leave work earlier one day, come straight here to eat, and then eat again at 10ish? I don’t really want to start going down that road – but the diary is the most important thing now.

The most important thing for everyone...