Fancy Drinks & Living Room dinner in Utrecht.

Yesterday was a day with a bit of sunlight, a bit chilly but still inviting to get out of the house and do something.

This first got me and Derk to the cinema (Wolff city Bioscoop Utrecht) to see the movie Hugo in 3D. This was a great start of our afternoon and the movie was amazing. A good story with great effects and added: some childish humour, made it a great movie.

After the movie we still had some time left before our reservation at C'est ça (which apparently is bizarre that we were able to make a reservation that same day). Since we had some time left we went for a glass of wine and beer in the centre. We chose to go to Four, the bar (and restaurant) in Hotel Dom just next to the actual Dom tower.

There were only a few seats taken on this quiet Sunday in town. We took a seat at the bar and were served by a very friendly girl. She served us a glass of wine which wasn't on the wine menu but apparently her favorite. I have to say, it was a really tasty and wonderful Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Momo. 

We also got the chance to take a look at some of their suites, in one word WOW!

This is really something I haven't seen before in Utrecht and it felt like walking into fancy New York suites. Looking at the docking stations, yoga mat, enormous spaces for your clothes, whirlpools and a perfect view over Utrecht. Two suites had the luxury of a rooftop terrace and one had a full view over the Dom tower from the bed. I was truly amazed by the gorgeous suites and it's a shame that I already have a (my own) bed in the heart of Utrecht, so never really a reason to stay in a hotel :)

Since we already had reservations we had to take a rain check on the restaurant, which also looked very attractive. A bit chiq, a bit fancy, great interior design and a menu that we'd love to try out some day.

So we jumped back on our bikes, towards C'est ça. It's near Griftpark in a neighbourhood with hardly any shops or restaurants and so on. So it was a little search before we found it!

Right when we entered the chef had a good and friendly look at us and welcomed us to the restaurant, right from his kitchen. In a few seconds one of the ladies welcomed us and invited us to pick any table that we'd like to sit. The ambiance was one of a living room, a cozy old fashioned living room. 

The concept of this restaurant is that there's a 5 course dinner made by the chef and only if you have any diet/veggie wishes than you may indicate them and they will adjust the menu. Otherwise, you'll only be surprised. And so we were.

There were several wines to chose from but the advice was to go for the viognier, it was 70% matured on oakwood. It had a nice fruity but bitter taste and really popped our taste buds.

Our first surprise was a terrine of lamb, truffle mayonnaise and a little clove of garlic that was blanched in milk. Usually I'm not a big fan of terrines but this was really tasty and had a good meat bite other than I'm sometimes disappointed by all the gelatin I find in terrines. 

The second surprise was a big old fashioned bowl with a creamy tomato and fish soup and a large serving spoon and two plates. This was not weird, it even made us feel more at home and relaxed and we enjoyed another glass of the viognier.

Our third surprise was the main course. It was a piece of tail of the monkfish. A good firm bite and very tasty fish with a saffron sauce, sea lavender and a cream of potato. Also this dish was accompanied by the viognier, a perfect combination. 

The fourth surprise was a cheese platter with a soft cheese that was put on the plate when served, which looked like an epoisses. The blue cheese and a hard cheese from the Jura were very tasty as well. We accompanied this dish with a young glass of port and a matured glass of port. The differences were very big and actually I wish I also had chosen the matured glass of port. 

Our fifth and final surprise was the dessert. The dessert was a yogurt bavarois that clearly also contained lemon. It was accompanied by an amazing home made chocolate liquor. 

All the time we felt very at home and the personnel really did everything they could to make us feel this way. This by giving us everything we need, but also not being in the way. They've been absoluty kind and helpful and everytime we had a doubt about what to drink they came with more bottles to let us try which one we'd like best. 

This is a service I think every restaurant should have. From a restaurant side: the tastier choice is more likely to be the more expensive one and guests will go for a better taste once they've had it. Also I usually don't like liquors but after tasting the chocolate liquor I couldn't get enough of it!

From a guests side: Once you've tasted something you know so much more than many words can tell you. You know you make the right choice once you've tasted!

So... it's a win-win in my opinion :)

Anyway, the whole day was a perfect Sunday and I've enjoyed it to the max. 

 

Great movie, fancy drinks and a surprising and really perfect dinner!

Time for a recipe... Tomato & Bread soup

It's time for another recipe and I'd like to share one of my favorite soups with you.

This Tomato & Bread soup (Pappa al pomodoro in Italian... it's an Italian/Tuscan dish!) is good for a lazy sunday on the couch but also a perfect special dish during a homecooked dinner with friends. The great thing is, you can use up all your 'old' bread that's left over, so you're also thinking yield management ;)

The reason I love this soup is because it can fill you up, no sugar is used, the tastes of the different ingredients mix up so wel, you can make it all organic, it's veggie (Personally I'm an occasional veggie.. once or twice a week) and it makes you look like a great chef .. ;)



So, no long talks this time, here's my recipe. It's based on different recipes from Jamie Oliver, Amber Albarda and some recipe websites.



What do you need?
- 500 grams cherry tomatoes. (fresh and deep red, prefferably bio/organic)
- 3 cloves of garlic - cut into slices
- a large bunch of fresh basil (chop the stalks and tear up the leaves - keep seperately)
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tins of peeled tomatoes (prefferably the bio/organic)
- Sea salt and Pepper
- One red pepper (throw the seeds out)
- Some freshly grounded Pecorino
- 2 large handfulls of bread ( I love using sourdough bread )

What to do?

Prick the cherry tomatoes and toss them with one sliced clove of garlic and a quarter of the basil leaves. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, put them in a roasting tray or baking dish and cook in the oven at 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4 for about 20 minutes. Make sure the tomatoes are not on top of the other but all seperated. The reason for doing this is so that their flavour becomes intense and concentrated.

Heat some olive oil in a large pot and add the remaining garlic and the basil stalks. Stir around and gently fry for a minute until softened. Add your tinned tomatoes, then fill the tin with water and add that. Break the tomatoes up with a spoon or a fork, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
Tear the bread up into pieces and add them to the pan. Mix well and season to taste. Tear in the basil leaves and let the soup sit on a low heat for 10 minutes. By this time your roasted tomatoes will be done, with juice bursting out of their skins, so remove them from the tray, remembering to scrape all the lovely sticky bits from the bottom. Pour them into the soup with all the juices, basil and oil from the tray.
Give the soup a good stir – you're looking to achieve a thick, silky, porridgey texture, so feel free to adjust it with a little water. Then remove it from the heat and add 6 or 7 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and some fresh red pepper.


Divide between your bowls and serve with a little extra basil torn over the top if you like. The most important thing with this soup is that you have a wonderfully intense sweet tomato basil flavour. Add some freshly grounded Pecorino in the end.

You can easily keep this soup in the refridgerator after it cooled down. It might even be better the next day.


All I'd like to add; Enjoy!!!