I was lucky enough to find myself in the Netherlands and Belgium recently - a birthday trip for the big three-ohhh-nooo. While we were in Amsterdam, a few friends living in London came over to enjoy my birthday with me - such a treat to have such good mates! They rented a boat and we drove around the canals, enjoying a bottle of Moet and some beautiful cheese and bread under mostly blue skies. My fantastic birthday boat ride just got even better when we moored for lunch!
Envy is part of a group of restaurants, and the owners certainly have the mix right, although each venue seems to be completely unique. Envy is sleek and dim, sitting below street level. With the open kitchen enjoying the light of the front window, and the seating area stretching like a gun barrel back into the depth of the building, this small space is able to create the ambiance of a wine bar and a juice bar, depending on where you're standing (99% wine and 1% juice!).
When you open the menu it appears to be a selection of 2 breads, a chefs lunch, and then three pages of cheeses - impressive and baffling all at once! I saw my friends flip through once, twice and then three times thinking they'd missed something. . . so we all went with the chefs lunch (!) and the waitress didn't blink when we asked for 2 veggies.
Our first stage arrived as a medley of pumpkin - a small pumpkin soup, pumpkin chutney, and pumpkin done three or four other ways. Each bite sized morsel was different to the last.
We then had several plates following - each served degustation style. We enjoyed a cucumber gazpacho that was very tasty and refreshing, as well as some 'luxury bread' with truffle butter. One interesting flavour came in the form of a small meringue the size of a 10 cent piece - was it lime? Intense! I don't know how they packed that much flavour into such a small daub.
Desert was a really creative - white chocolate 'soup' with fresh pineapple on a skewer - and there was the lime meringue again! The soup was creamy but light, and the pineapple created an edge to cut through the milks. Full of taste but not overwhelming.
We had a variety of people serve us, including one chef, all of whom were friendly enough. With good company and a nice bottle of wine, plus a few stiff coffees, it turned out to be a lunch to remember! Thirty is not so bad after all.
When you open the menu it appears to be a selection of 2 breads, a chefs lunch, and then three pages of cheeses - impressive and baffling all at once! I saw my friends flip through once, twice and then three times thinking they'd missed something. . . so we all went with the chefs lunch (!) and the waitress didn't blink when we asked for 2 veggies.
Our first stage arrived as a medley of pumpkin - a small pumpkin soup, pumpkin chutney, and pumpkin done three or four other ways. Each bite sized morsel was different to the last.
We then had several plates following - each served degustation style. We enjoyed a cucumber gazpacho that was very tasty and refreshing, as well as some 'luxury bread' with truffle butter. One interesting flavour came in the form of a small meringue the size of a 10 cent piece - was it lime? Intense! I don't know how they packed that much flavour into such a small daub.
Desert was a really creative - white chocolate 'soup' with fresh pineapple on a skewer - and there was the lime meringue again! The soup was creamy but light, and the pineapple created an edge to cut through the milks. Full of taste but not overwhelming.
We had a variety of people serve us, including one chef, all of whom were friendly enough. With good company and a nice bottle of wine, plus a few stiff coffees, it turned out to be a lunch to remember! Thirty is not so bad after all.
Usually I take my own food photos (sneakily I hope! I don't like wrecking the mood with constant flashing, and there's something strange about photographing everything you eat!) but then I steal my final photos of the restaurants decor so I can get a beautiful shot, sans empty glasses and chewing patrons. But in this case, my friend Amy somehow shot these incredible photos - I think they're worthy of promotional material on Envy's behalf! They capture the smooth, dark eatery perfectly. Thanks Amy - for the photos and more!
Address: Prinsengracht 381, 1016 HL Amsterdam
Phone: +31 20 344 64 07
Website: http://www.envy.nl/en/
Sounds fantastic - more photos in future though - and can you make them bigger?
ReplyDeleteYep - can have bigger and more food photos! Thanks
ReplyDelete