Tapas #23 Dinning out in Amsterdam
At the end of september we went on a date ;-) to have dinner in a place in Amsterdam. This place is called “La Oliva” and we had a pretty nice experience there.
Oh… I miss so much summer weather. It’s true I like fall, but no doubt that I am truly in love with summer. I will always be. Amsterdam looks amazing in the warmest months of the year. It just glorious to wander around the streets and channels.
So, going to the main topic, we went to La Oliva and we liked it a lot. It is located in Amsterdam’s Jordaan neighborhood, which is a plus.
There were a few things I would love to highlight from our visit:
- The local is not too big, I always prefer small – medium sized places to avoid crowds
- Cozy and stylish atmosphere.
- Cooks were spaniards, something really important for me when I visit a Spanish restaurant abroad
- Presentation of pinchos was beautiful and not complicated to understand
- There were a lot of Spanish classics, but also some innovating pinchos
- Good quality ingredients
- Nice price, completely reasonable
- Their owners speak Spanish too, which makes you feel much more comfortable!
- They accept dogs (as in numerous places in The Netherlands, which is something I love from this country!) and they give fresh water (idem!!)
I would like to show you some of the things I saw there. They were really kind and they let me took all the photographs I wanted to (for me it’s a daring exercise ;-) by the way, I didn’t dare to speak longer than a few words with one of the cooks, which is shame, but I was dying to see the kitchen and talk with some of them…)
This is a Spanish favorite: Chistorra, pimientos de padrón and eggs (quail eggs look cooler ;-) I like them a lot!)
This was one the mentioned innovative pinchos: figs with blue cheese. They look pretty, don’t they?
Yuum…. setas (a kind of mushrooms) with jamón serrano and quail eggs. Delicious!
Of course, a lot of varieties pinchos de tortilla de patatas!! With jamón serrano, green sparragus, mushrooms…
Another innovative pincho: mango with duck foie and cheese.
A happy dog with his humans spending the afternoon in a restaurant plus fresh water :-)
Oh, and we could not help but order dessert. Crema catalana. I just love this, it was perfectly done!
There are always some buts, I should be honest with this matter too:
- Food served is reheated in the oven, therefore, tortilla de patatas and some other pinchos were actually overcooked or dryer for this reason. We asked for 2 rounds of pinchos and in the second round we asked specifically not to reheat anything… cold but much better. I guess this was also due to to the time we went there, it wasn’t peak time. Maybe in peak hours food is served just made to the table.
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About the pincho and the tapa subject (we’ll call it the Pinchogate case), tapas are for free depending on the area, because you pay for them in Seville, but you don’t in Jaén or in Granada. I love that you’ve reviewed a Spanish restaurant abroad, it’ll help foreign people to know where to go if they want to enjoy a proper Spanish meal and not a fake one. By the way, I was going to tease you about going to this place and compare you and your date (blink-blink) with the Simpsons, when they where to Americalandia (dunno the origina version name) in Japan, do you recall that episode? Oh, and about the food, I love the mango and the fig pinchos! Good to know our gastronomy is evolving also abroad :-D
Everything looks gorgeous. I absolutely love the simplicity of the fig+blue cheese bites, can’t wait to give that a try at home. I would have never asked for tortilla if they served it under “hot tapas/pinchos”, though. Tortilla must, MUST be consumed at room temperature!
@Carlos
I like the denomination “Pinchogate case” :o) It’s good to read your thoughts, more because you are kind of andaluz (kind of, I say, because somehow you are mexican too! don’t get me wrong ;-)). it is kind of hard to explain about tapas, but I am glad you help me with this!
I am a shame for The Simpsons fans… I can’t recall the episode you mentioned and many more either :-( I like The Simpsons but my Somebody and sisters (and a lot of friends) have a way more advanced command in this matter, hahaha. One of my sisters almost me retira la palabra because I forgot Nelson’s name the other day. I referred to him as the guy of “ha-ha” xD
It was nice to see a nice restaurant with cute and realistic spanish flavors combinations. No inventions or bizarre mixes as paella with chorizo and so on. Also, you are right, the fig and blue cheese pincho looks very harmonic! It’s just a pity I am not very good friends with figs…
@Morti
I totally agree with the tortilla temperature! :-D
Try figs and tell me how it went, I love how they look, but I figs are not my favorite fruit…