Eat Mode

I was walking down Zeedijk one Friday evening, when it occurred to me how many Asian restaurants there are in Amsterdam’s China Town that I still have to try. A few minutes later I was ordering at Eat Mode.

Eat Mode is a basic diner-style Asian fusion restaurant with tables and stools bolted to the floor and mauve walls. The menu features mainly Chinese and Japanese dishes and I ordered two of the latter: Japanese brown curry with vegetables and udon noodles with seafood.

Service was quick, the portions generous and both dishes were under €10. On paper, Eat Mode sounds like a perfect cheap Amsterdam meal out. The reality was rather less palatable.

I had been expecting a Chinese version of Little Thai Prince, further up Zeedijk, which excels at rich, creamy curries; or Raan Phad Thai, whose signature phad thai noodles are redolent of fresh coriander and lime juice.

Eat Mode's curry was thick and almost gelatinous, with the gritty aftertaste of poorly incorporated spices. I had ordered vegetarian curry, but this one was filled with fist-sized pieces of chicken, mushrooms and carrots inelegantly hacked into 6 cm-long chunks. A world away from the refined flavours and presentation you associate with Japanese cuisine.

The udon noodles where swimming in an unpleasant briny liquid, with a few limp pieces of cabbage nestled forlornly between the seafood (admittedly a good selection of mussels, shrimp, prawns and squid; the highlight of this highly unsatisfying meal).

I couldn't finish either dish. Once you have found a restaurant that turns out consistently good food - like Little Thai Prince, my regular Sunday haunt – it’s easy to choose the safe route and keep going back to it. After sampling what Eat Mode offers, I wish I had.