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arcisfoodblog · 5 years

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No need to travel over 12,000km to enjoy the fantastic food and cocktails of Indonesia’s best restaurant, Locavore, as they took over the Rijks* kitchen last week!

About Trading Places Joris Bijdendijk of Rijks Restaurant* has already chalked up quite a few impressive collaborations over the past couple of years. Chefs from some of the most high regarded restaurants around the world were responsible for curating half of the menu of the 2-3 day events. Ray Adriansyah and Eelke Plasmeijer from Bali’s Locavore – which is a mainstay in the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants since 2016 and currently at #42 – also enjoyed their 2017 stint at Rijks so much that they together decided to take things a step further with this “Trading Places” concept and swap restaurants for about a week.

The chefs travel to their temporary environment without ingredients, set recipes, and with only a few helping hands. They will soak up the local culture and produce for a couple of days before eventually preparing and serving a signature menu for 4 or 5 days at their “new” restaurant with locally available ingredients and supported by the resident staff.

We have visited Locavore on holiday in Bali back in 2015 as well as the 2017 Locavore x Rijks* collab and love their food and creativity. Consequently, a lunch booking was made within minutes of the announcement and it surely did not disappoint!

For foodies, Trading Spaces provides a unique possibility to experience restaurants that you normally would not be able to visit and fully immerse yourself rather than just sampling a couple dishes by the visiting chef. With an entire week, there are also more opportunities to visit these already limited events. I can imagine that it has benefits for the chefs as well. It is obviously not as extreme as temporarily relocating entire restaurants to the other side of the world (like Noma and The Fat Duck did), but with this concept, chefs are pushed to really try something new rather than churning out the same signature dishes for a couple of days before traveling to the next city. Not wishing Joris Bijdendijk being abroad all the time, but I sincerely hope that Trading Places really takes off ;-).

About the lunch: As we were about 15 minutes early (Amsterdam public transport was efficient for once), they asked to sit at the bar until our table was ready. Already 15 minutes into service and with plenty of people already eating, I would surely hope that they would not need to set any tables. Just a couple of minutes later – we barely got in our order for cocktails at the bar – they ushered us to our table, explained the concept and asked if we wanted to order a cocktail whilst browsing the menu options…

Still somewhat confused why we hadn’t been seated right away, but under the enjoyment of our delicious Fennel Sling and the Boulevardier cocktails (EUR 15 each), we browsed the nicely designed menu cards. The 6-course lunch was EUR 85, but for dinner, you had the option for 2 additional courses (bone marrow and cheese) and extra friandises which would be EUR 120 in total. At the 2017 event, I recall that there were only limited possibilities for cocktail pairings, but now Locavore went all out and brought along one of their bartenders to sling cocktails: 5 signature cocktails were available as an aperitif and 4 different ones were the pairings for the menu. Consequently, the beverage pairing for 6 courses consisted of 4 cocktails and 2 white wines and was EUR 56. For the 8-course dinner menu, 2 beers from Amsterdam brewery Brouwerij ‘t IJ would be added to the fold, thus totaling EUR 68.

We kicked off our lunch with 3 amuse dishes:

Flower Power (Assorted fresh and fried Spring Flowers, Wild Rose Kalamansi Vinegar Emulsion, Flower Salt, sprayed with Rose Kombucha).

Missing the North Sea… (North Sea Shrimp, blanched in Sea Water, served on Seaweed and Ice, Oyster Emulsion and Lime Leaf Oil); Delightful and pure saline flavors and textures. Chantal had some super crispy radishes instead of the shrimps and a slightly sweeter codium seaweed emulsion instead my oyster one.

Hot Tomato, Cold Tomato (Tomato Sambal Sorbet, Warm Tomato Consommé, Sliced Sherry Tomato, and Celery Salt). The hot and cold sensation between the consommé and the tomato sorbet is amplified by the same feeling that the sambal brings to the sorbet itself. Amazing start of lunch!

Roti Introduced as “roti with sunflower oil, peanuts, and herb butter” which was way off from the “Fermented New Potato Flatbread, served with Huttentut oil, Hempseed Dukkah and Stinging Nettle Butter” printed on the menu on the table. This Huttentut oil (‘Gold-of-pleasure’ or ‘Camelina’ oil in English) was new to us but tasted quite nutty and reminded us of flax seed. The roti and condiments were supposed to last the next couple of dishes, but they were so good that they didn’t even make it through the next one.

The first dish from the menu was White Asparagus (Charred and Pickled, Roasted Garlic Miso Vinaigrette, Young Garlic Chips, Goose Egg Yolk Emulsion, and Wild Watercress Leaves). The pairing was a fresh 2018 Müller-Thurgau white from Apostelhoeve, Maastricht, The Netherlands.

The second course was Goat Tartare (Goat Leg, wrapped and barbecued in Ramson Leaves, served almost raw, Pickled Wild Garlic, Andaliman Pepper Crème Fraîche, and grated Goat Heart). Chantal had barbecued watermelon instead of goat. For some reason she wasn’t all that interested in the microplane grating of the barbecued and then dried goat’s heart which gave my dish a smokey, umami hit. This spicy yet creamy dish’s pairing was a delicious yet equally “out there” cocktail with Mescal, Fresh Goat Whey, Tarragon, and Agave syrup, finished with a grating of goats’ cheese.

The third course was Otak Otak (Leek stuffed with Minced Mackerel, Barbecued on Charcoal, Burnt Leek Powder, Cured Duck Egg Yolk, Chive Vinaigrette, and Chervil Leaves). Chantal had more leeks instead of the mackerel. A second Dutch white wine paired this dish: a more full-bodied 2017 Johanniter by Aan de Breede Beek Wijngaard, Nijkerk, The Netherlands.

Up next was the highlight of our lunch: Black is the New Orange; a fantastic take on “different preparations of carrot”. (Carrot Steak, roasted in smoked (Beef/Vegetable) Fat, Spiced Carrot Puree, Carrot and Passion Fruit Reduction). The bold and complementing cocktail was made with Chili-infused Vodka (hot hot hot!), smoked Carrot Juice, Apple Cider Vinegar, and a super-Fragrant Cumin mist.

The final savory course was Goose à la Royale (Wild Goose Ballotine, Very Intense Sauce, Fresh Morels, Glazed Spring Turnip, Wild Green Asparagus). Chantal had a barbecued celeriac “steak” instead of the goose and a miso sauce. Together with the obvious North Sea amuse, this was the only dish that didn’t have a distinctly Asian flavor. The refreshing cocktail did, though: Naked Grouse Whisky, Purple Basil Blossom Syrup, White Wine, Nutmeg and a sprinkle of dried Pandan leaves. It paired remarkably well with the thick sauce à la royale (which is typically made with livers and blood of the animal in question, but I can imagine that “very intense sauce” looked a tad better on the menu…)

The first sweet dish was Bubur Sumsum (Frozen Rice Porridge, Rhubarb Granité, Ginger torch poached Rhubarb, Crispy Rice). Spot on: fruity and refreshing as a pre-dessert should be.

The menu’s finale was Kue Beri Hitam (Blackberry Tart, Cacao Oil Crust, Coconut Blackberry Sorbet, Egg White Coconut Crème) served with a cocktail of Pandan infused Sweet Vermouth, Roasted Coconut, Gin and Angostura Orange Bitters. Again fresh and not sweet at all and the cocktail was top-notch.

Service itself was a bit of mixed bag. All very friendly, but individually ranging from very good and attentive to uninformed, off-timed and disconnected to the rest of the teams. Unfortunately, this was similar to our previous visits to Rijks and in our experience unfitting for a Michelin-starred restaurant.

No sweet treats to go with our tea (which was Green tea instead of the Earl Grey we both ordered). As the “koektrommel” (cookie jar) would have been served during dinner, it felt like a missed opportunity. However, as a perfect nod to the longstanding tradition of intercontinental flying in KLM’s business class, we did receive a Delfts Blauw miniature statue of a Balinese temple as a souvenir. Instead of jenever, it contained a hibiscus-infused vinegar.

A great closing of a wonderful lunch!

Locavore Bali @ Rijks Restaurant* – Amsterdam (May 2019) No need to travel over 12,000km to enjoy the fantastic food and cocktails of Indonesia's best restaurant, Locavore, as they took over the Rijks* kitchen last week!

#Asia&039;s 50 Best Restaurants #Bali #Blog #Eelke Plasmeijer #Fine Dining #Joris Bijdendijk #Local Food #Locavore #Lunch #Michelin Star #Ray Adriansyah #Restaurants #Review #RIJKS #Rijksmuseum #Trading Spaces #Travel

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fattymountain · 7 years

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MUME

Taiwan is known for their nightmarket snacks and cheap yet tasty local food, but lacked in casual fine dining restaurants. So when two contemporary restaurants opened in the same year, MUME and RAW took Taipei by storm. Both opened in 2014 and changed Taipei’s dining scene ever since. Foodies has flogged to Taipei ever since these two restaurants have made it on the Asia 50 Best Restaurant…

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#Asia&039;s 50 Best Restaurants #Best meal #Birthday #Casual dining #Casual Fine Dining #Fine Dining #Hip & Trendy #innovative #Modern European #My favouites #my favourites #Restaurant Reviews #Restaurants #Taipei #taipei restaurant #taiwan #travels

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atozaatar · 7 years

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Gaggan, #23 World's 50 Best Restaurants, #1 Asia's 50 Best Restaurants.

Gaggan, #23 World’s 50 Best Restaurants, #1 Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants.

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#Asia&039;s 50 Best Restaurants #Bangkok fine dining #emoji menu #fine dining Bangkok #Gaggan #Gaggan review #World&039;s 50 Best Restaurants

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kwttoday · 5 years

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These Are the 50 Best Restaurants in Asia

The seventh edition of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants is out and leading the pack is Tokyo with as many as 10 restaurants on the list. Hong Kong (9), Bangkok (8) and Singapore (7) follow the lead. The top spot has been taken by chef Julien Royer’s Odette (Singapore), while Gaggan, Bangkok finished second after four consecutive years as Asia’s Best…

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#Asia #Asia&039;s 50 Best Restaurants 2019 #asia&039;s restaurants #best restaurants in Asia #restaurant #restaurants asia

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eduspiral · 5 years

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Dewakan Restaurant at KDU University College is the First & Only Malaysian Restaurant to be Ranked on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants

Dewakan Restaurant at KDU University College is the First & Only Malaysian Restaurant to be Ranked on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants

KDU University College’s Dewakan is Malaysia’s Best Restaurant and Asia’s Best 50 Restaurant Sourced by EduSpiral Consultant Services for your Benefit. For more information contact 01111408838

Dewakan – Fine Dining Restaurant at KDU University College Utropolis Glenmarie

Dewakan restaurant located inside KDU University College in Shah Alam, made Malaysia proud by ranking 46th on the list during…

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#Asia&039;s Best 50 Restaurant #Dewakan Restaurant #KDU University College Fine Dining #Malaysia&039;s Best Restaurant

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apronadventuresofsammysalami · 5 years

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Asia's Best Restaurant for 2019

Asia’s Best Restaurant for 2019

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You can now sample our iconic signatures at Restaurant Ikarus including the dramatic Rosemary Smoked Egg. 📷: @helgekirchbergerphotography #odetterestaurant @lobeholdgroup #michelin #lesgrandestablesdumonde #worlds50best #asias50best

A post shared by Odette (@odetterestaurant) on Dec 14, 2018 at 5:00am PST

Odette was named and…

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#2019 #acqua panna #asia #asia&039;s 50 best #asia&039;s best #best restaurant #chef julien #Chef life #french #haute cuisine #michelin #modern #number 1 #odette #san pellegrino #singapore #worlds 50 best

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kl-foodie · 3 years

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Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2021: Malaysia Ranked In 3 Spots From 51-100

Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2021: Malaysia Ranked In 3 Spots From 51-100

Hello, foodies! We have some good news to share today and we can’t wait to tell you all about it! The coveted list of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants will be revealed this Thursday, 25th March 2021 but ahead of the announcement, they have unveiled the restaurants that have been voted between 51st and 100th and our country, Malaysia has managed to rank three (3) spots! Hooray! Asia’s 50 Best…

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#Asia&039;s 50 Best Restaurants #Kuala Lumpur #Penang

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blehlovesfood · 7 years

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Effortlessly Chic: Le Du Restaurant + Wine Bar, Bangkok

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#Asia&039;s 50 Best #Bangkok #Chef Thitid Tassanakajohn #Dining #Food #GranTourismo #Le Du #Le Du Restaurant #Modern Thai Cuisine #Restaurants #Things to Do in Bangkok #Travel #Wine Bar #World&039;s 50 Best

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arcisfoodblog · 7 years

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I think that there were only 3 minutes between reading about the restaurant collaboration event between RIJKS from Amsterdam and Locavore from Ubud, Bali and booking my table…

We have been to Locavore before, so this was also the ideal opportunity to check out RIJKS* which was already on my to-visit list for quite some time.

About the restaurants: Locavore, led by classically trained chefs Ray Adriansyah and Eelke Plasmeijer, create unique, inventive and modern European fine dining dishes based on hyper local sourcing of seasonal ingredients. We visited Locavore whilst on holidays in Bali in the summer of 2015 and were completely blown away by the food (and cocktails), even our kids loved all the food they were served. It was no surprise to me that their efforts were soon rewarded by a place in 2016’s Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants (at #49) and they were the biggest climber in the 2017’s edition moving on up to #22.

RIJKS* is the fine dining restaurant of Amsterdam’s famous Rijksmuseum. The restaurant is under direction of Executive Chef Joris Bijdendijk who worked among others as sous chef at Le Jardin des Sens*** at Montpellier, France. In 2012 he became head chef of Bridges in Amsterdam where in 2014 he managed to get the restaurant its Michelin star as well as receiving a personal accolade as Gault&Millau’s Talent of the Year. Joris took his current role at RIJKS as the Rijksmuseum reopened after lengthy reconstruction late 2014 and the restaurant been awarded 16 Gault&Millau points and got its first Michelin star in 2016.

On their site, the intro about the restaurant claims that RIJKS is the Rijksmuseum served up on a plate, telling the story about the Netherlands, its influences from countries far and near. They indeed adhere to that in the menu, the wine list has an abundance of wines from the Netherlands or from Dutch winemaker’s abroad and they only have Dutch spirits. Furthermore, RIJKS started hosting events every couple of months with renowned guest chefs, similar to a guest curator in the Rijksmuseum. The chefs they were able to get so far are pretty amazing as they represent top-notch restaurants all over the world:

Margot Janse (The Tasting Room in Franschhoek, South Africa (at the time #88)

Jacques Pourcel (Jardin des Sens*** in Montpellier, France, now closed)

André Chiang (André in Singapore, #14)

Tim Raue (Restaurant Tim Raue** in Berlin, Germany, #34)

Nick Bril (The Jane** in Antwerp, Belgium #74)

Virgilio Martínez (Central in Lima, Peru, #5)

About the menu: This collaboration was a 3-day “quatre-mains” between Joris and Ray/Eelke and we visited for lunch. The 6-course lunch menu (EUR 77,50) was nicely balanced with RIJKS and Locavore each taking care of 2 of the snacks, 2 main courses and 1 dessert dish.

There was an option to have a wine/cocktail pairing for each course: 5 glasses being served of which 3 cocktails to go with the Locavore dishes and a white and a red wine to go with the RIJKS main dishes (all EUR 10 per pairing). I only had the wine pairings and sips of the cocktails as Chantal opted for the full pairing.

The food and drinks: We started of with a glass of nice Delamotte Brut champagne (EUR 15 a glass) to accompany the 4 very diverse snacks (depicted clockwise):

Locavore’s Rujak, Young Fruit, Tamarind, Cashews, Chili (Rujak is a traditional Indonesian tangy fruit and vegetable salad dish, now all in one bite)

RIJKS’ Kohlrabi, Langoustine, Komboucha, Verveine (minus the langoustine for Chantal of course)

Locavore’s Black Rice Blini, Smoked Egg, Crispy Rice, Purslane

RIJKS’ Fermented Mushrooms and Umeboshi (Japanese salt plums)

The first course was for account of Locavore:

“Let’s Call it a Ceviche”: Coconut, Fermented Sambal Matah (a Balinese raw sambal), Kalamansi (a hybrid between kumquat and tangerine), Oysterleaf

The pairing was a Ketel One Vodka, Coconut, Lemon Grass and Lime cocktail

Green Gazpacho, Grilled Avocado, Pomegranate

Next up was RIJKS. The wine pairing was a nice and crisp 2016 Riesling from Apostelhoeve (Maastricht, The Netherlands)

Scallops, Cream of Oyster, Green Strawberry and Vermouth Vinaigrette

Smoked Leek, Goat’s Curd, Pickles, Potato Crisps with Dill

A vegetarian dish by RIJKS: “Ode to Dutch Beans” followed.

A fantastic combination of 30 different beans that are native to or have found their way to the Netherlands in the past 500 years. Served in a cheesy tartelette case and paired with a nice and fruity 2015 Pinot Nero from Niedermayr (Alto Adige, Italy)

Locavore took care of the main course: “Kambing”.

The dish consisted of 2 preparations of goat, being Sate Buntel (satay made from minced meat that is wrapped around a bamboo skewers or in this case a bone) served with a silky smooth Smoked Aubergine Puree and Nasi Bakar (spiced fried rice wrapped in banana leaf and which is then finished on a grill) and a Kalio (the final stage of a Rendang before the coconut milk has been fully absorbed by the meat) served with Atjar and “Ketchup”. Incredibly tender meat and amazing flavours!

The pairing was a nice and smoky Bourbon, Pineapple, Rosemary, Thyme and Paprika Syrup cocktail

Chantal had a Roasted Swede in Salt Crust, Old “Texels” Goat Cheese, Lovage and Blackberries

Ray Adriansyah in action

The (pre-) dessert was for account of RIJKS:

White Asparagus, Magnolia Ice Cream and Cress. Very interesting and nice choice of flavours, but in our view lacking a fresh note to balance the overall sweetness.

We concluded the menu with Locavore’s “Es Buah”, which originally is a Indonesian iced fruit cocktail dessert. It was indulgent whilst refreshing at the same.

Condensed Milk and Coconut, Guava Ice Cream, Passionfruit, Mata-Mata (also known as Longan, Mata Kuching or Cat’s Eyes, a fruit related to the lychee)

Paired with a Brandy, Passionfruit, Cloves, Vanilla and Egg White cocktail. By itself very nice, but combined with the dessert it overpowered everything.

We finished with coffee/tea with friandises (EUR 8 per person):

Left to right, top to bottom: Black Walnut bonbon, Ginger Cinnamon Bread, Sugared Cranberry, Salty Fudge, Pumpkin, Rhubarb, Chocolate Kisses with pink pepper corns.

About the food and service: The chefs and kitchen brigade clearly had fun in the kitchen during service and that clearly showed on the plates as well. The food was absolutely delicious, diverse, surprising and beautifully plated. With the first bite of the ceviche and sip of the Locavore cocktail, I could really picture ourselves back on Bali!

However, if you advertise it as a RIJKS x Locavore event, it is rather disappointing that you don’t mention at all that the 2 main courses in vegetarian menu are not from Locavore. As said, the alternatives from the regular RIJKS menu were very tasty too, but their pairings with the Locavore cocktails were far from ideal. Regular wine pairings would done them more justice. As such the pairings with their intended dishes were good, but we thought overpriced in relation to the rather skimpy quantities that were served: the dessert cocktail even came in a small liqueur glass with an ice-cube in it.

Hopefully, the erratic – although very friendly – service can be attributed to it being the first service of the event. Knowledge on the dishes and ingredients seldom exceeded what was mentioned on the menu leaflet already on the table and the pace between courses and with the pairings was totally off. For example, we hadn’t even finished with the second snack and the third and immediately thereafter the fourth were served. The pairings arrived too early, too late, partially (only for Chantal instead of for both) or not at all (the digestive that Chantal ordered) which caused the bill to be incorrect too. It may have been the high bar set by having visited 4 other (multi) Michelin starred restaurants in the past month, but also from experience one should be able to expect a more seamless service at this level.

Enough nitpicking: on balance, the concept of guest chefs is great and RIJKS x Locavore event worked out splendidly from a food perspective and that still is the most important element. Looking forward to the next collaboration: Dan Hunter from Brae!

RIJKS x Locavore, Amsterdam (April 2017) I think that there were only 3 minutes between reading about the restaurant collaboration event between RIJKS from Amsterdam and Locavore from Ubud, Bali and booking my table...

#Amsterdam #Asia&039;s 50 Best Restaurants #Bali #Blog #Eelke Plasmeijer #Fine Dining #Joris Bijdendijk #Locavore #Michelin Star #Ray Adriansyah #Restaurants #Review #RIJKS #Rijksmuseum #Travel

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turbogrill · 6 years

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Three great barbecue recipes, for grilled scallops, Thai-style chicken, and lamb chops

Susan Jung recreates a dish she watched Vietnamese resort staff grilling on the beach, and explains how to grill spring chickens with an addictive Thai sauce and lamb chops with a cooling salsa

PUBLISHED : Monday, 08 October, 2018, 2:46pm

UPDATED : Monday, 08 October, 2018, 2:45pm

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Susan Jung

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