Gare de l'Est

Restaurant Gare de l’Est was originally built in 1901 as a coffee house for the local warehouse workers. From the outside, the place looks like a typical Amsterdam eetcafe (bar serving food). Once inside, large Moroccan lanterns, weathered wooden tables and an eclectic menu take you on a culinary journey far beyond Holland's borders.

Gare de l’Est serves a four-course dinner for €32, cooked each day by a different chef in their own style. This means there is no choice and few options for vegetarians, although it is possible to order each dish separately if four courses are too much.

Image of restaurant Gare de l'Est The starter was a mixed, Japanese- style seafood platter. In the centre was a mound of wakame seaweed, tossed with sesame seeds and slices of fresh ginger. Around it, carefully arranged like a Zen garden, were two thick rectangles of dark pink, raw tuna, a buttery pan-fried skate fin, a single shrimp with its tail in the air, and small daubs of creamy soya mayonnaise.

The main of entrecote was rather tough, even though it was rosé on the inside. This was topped with a slice of pungent fennel sausage, and served on a bed of sauerkraut and baby roast potatoes.

The cheese plate comprised four cheeses. Working round the plate from mild to stinky, we tried a mild taleggio, brie sprinkled with earthy truffle shavings, hard Swiss cheese and finally a blue-veined gorgonzola. A square of lemon cheesecake with a scoop of honey ice cream followed for dessert.

I’m sure the warehouse workers never ate this well, but I would happily put in a hard day’s graft for another taste of Gare de l’Est’s four-course feast.