On the eating side, Amandine had previously asked me if I wanted to have yum cha/dim sum. HELL YES!!!! I haven't had it since I left Melbs 7 months ago *sob sob*. In between the shopping, we toddled into Chinatown and went to Oriental City, a place she had been taken during her secondment, having been described as the best place in Amsterdam to have it.
Entering the restaurant, we were confronted with a spiral staircase where many people (including Asians!) were waiting for tables. So far, so normal. The second thing I noted was that IT SMELLED RIGHT. After collecting a number, we waited approximately 5 minutes before our number was called and we bypassed a few incredulous looks that we had such a small wait to get a table. Hehehehe.
Mandy looking a seraphic
Me looking as rough as guts (aka, normal)
There were no dim sum trolleys here - you had to read a menu and pick out the things you wanted. Amandine isn't a fussy eater so naturally we ordered the favourite things I had been missing most.
The order sheet - with address for future reference!
The haam soi kok - pretty good texture and flavour but a bit oilier than I'm used to. Also could have done with more filling.
Chicken Feet (fung jiao) - OOOOH YEAH!!!!
Mmmm, tripe (pak yip)
Har cheung. Nice and large prawns inside - bless being a coastal city, bless.
Not a great photo of the har gao - we started being Asian by digging in before I could be more Asian by photographing it
Not really a yum cha dish, but we wanted some siu lung bao. The wrapper was a bit thick but the filling and flavour were right!
Another not really yum cha dish but my craving for Asian-style roasted duck is apparently reaching legendary status so there was no resistance when Amandine suggested we get one. Hehehehe.
Following yummers, we did more strolling and shopping only to realise quite late in the day that we hadn't had any pancakes! Given that our reservation for dinner was at 7:30 and we intended to cram in a canal tour, we rushed to Pancakes!Amsterdam and ordered a dish of poffertjes to share.
We then rushed onto a canal tour - highly recommended and capable of teaching someone to be multilingual. Alas, because I had forgotten my camera, I didn't take any photos, but that's alright because this should just make everyone go and do it themselves. Or make me go back and do it again :P
For dinner, Amandine had selected Seasons Restaurant, which had gotten some pretty goo reviews on that friend of the travel risk-averse, TripAdvisor. We were running a bit late due to the canal ride taking longer than expected and then got lost on the way to the restaraunt (all those canals look the same, dammit!) but despite it being quite busy, they saved the table for us *phew!*. We decided to order two 2-course menus, sharing the entree and dessert. For entree we had the grilled asparagus (mmm spargel) with smoked salmon and poached egg, main for Amandine was the spaghetti with shrimps and tomato while I had the grilled Asian steak with greens (mmm, medium-rare), and the mango basil vacherin dessert. Feel free to use your imaginations but we were very happy and told the owner and chef so as we left! They were sitting outside the front and we four had a happy chat during which they confirmed that we had to visit our next port of call - The Mint Hotel.
The Mint Hotel has a rooftop bar that was originally recommended to us by our B&B host, and it was a great recommendation! You can't really tell from the crappy photo but it had a great view over the (flat) city.
And we sunk some cocktails to boot. Good time had by all!
Various sprinkles and sauces to go with the pancakes.
A plate of poffertjes, courtesy of wikipedia.
We then rushed onto a canal tour - highly recommended and capable of teaching someone to be multilingual. Alas, because I had forgotten my camera, I didn't take any photos, but that's alright because this should just make everyone go and do it themselves. Or make me go back and do it again :P
For dinner, Amandine had selected Seasons Restaurant, which had gotten some pretty goo reviews on that friend of the travel risk-averse, TripAdvisor. We were running a bit late due to the canal ride taking longer than expected and then got lost on the way to the restaraunt (all those canals look the same, dammit!) but despite it being quite busy, they saved the table for us *phew!*. We decided to order two 2-course menus, sharing the entree and dessert. For entree we had the grilled asparagus (mmm spargel) with smoked salmon and poached egg, main for Amandine was the spaghetti with shrimps and tomato while I had the grilled Asian steak with greens (mmm, medium-rare), and the mango basil vacherin dessert. Feel free to use your imaginations but we were very happy and told the owner and chef so as we left! They were sitting outside the front and we four had a happy chat during which they confirmed that we had to visit our next port of call - The Mint Hotel.
The Mint Hotel has a rooftop bar that was originally recommended to us by our B&B host, and it was a great recommendation! You can't really tell from the crappy photo but it had a great view over the (flat) city.
I need to work out how to take night time photos on that phone.
And we sunk some cocktails to boot. Good time had by all!
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