Three Friends

We went out for dinner yesterday evening in Amsterdam. They took us to one of their local favorites, De 3 Vrienden, or the Three Friends. Of course, on the walk over we thoroughly exhausted the really bad joke that we were each with three friends and therefore allowed to enter.

All bad jokes aside, we had a great dinner experience. The restaurant is a cozy place with book lined shelves, old fashioned wooden tables, and plenty of candles. The menu had about 20 different options, all priced at €8.50 each. Each option was labeled as a hot, cold or hot/cold dish and could be ordered in any combination or order our little hearts desired. We decided to order two courses each.

For the first course, I had a salad with crayfish tails and avocado with a piri-piri dressing. Delicious. It was fresh, light, and full of flavor. My second course was a confit de canard served with mashed potatoes and peas. Yeah - I actually got mashed potatoes and peas at a fairly serious food restaurant, and enjoyed it! There were some sauces on the plate that jazzed up the mash (I suspect truffle oil) and made it yum. But the shock of seeing that combination next to my innocent piece of duck was fantastic. I'm going to have to venture they've got a cook with skill and a great sense of humor!

Well mannered people would have stopped there as we had plenty to eat and had all enjoyed our meal. However we decided to go for dessert as well. I had the spekkoek (see borrowed picture above), nice thin slices, with cinnamon ice cream and it was a delicious combination. F thinks of any dessert with ice cream as an tribute to my father... who loves to add ice cream to dessert when we have it! Friends also tried the whiskey and liqueur tastings and both were also yum. Their whisky selection (you could choose from 6 options) was actually quite good and F tried the Talisker, Oban, and one other that we liked less so don't need to remember. The Talisker remains our favorite, though.

All in all, a wonderful evening. Good company, delicious food, and a completely reasonable bill. I'd gladly to back to De 3 Vrienden, especially since I just saw on their website that the menu changes every month! If last night was any indication, you can rely on a good meal and great service!