Monday 19 December 2016

Different ambiances for different menus - Lieve Belgisch Restaurant


We stumbled upon an interesting food experience when we were in Amsterdam.  We were curious when we saw the opulent table settings on several tables outside this restaurant - Lieve Belgisch Restaurant on Herengracht, a short block from our BnB.  Gold cutlery and crystal goblets for streetside eating?  We stopped by and was further intrigued when the young Maitre D' tried to explain the menu to us.

It seems that depending on how much you pay, you get a different menu and different kind of food - and corresponding ambiance!  The gold cutlery was for the "Mrs. Bubbles" menu and then there was another one called Belgian Baroque where everyone shared the food from plates put in the centre.  

One of the menus, "Mum's Kitchen" appealed to us as we were looking for some homecooking.  We were seated right below a poster with someone's "Mom" on it, complete with red checkered table cloth and kitchen casual cutlery.






Farmer's pork paté with mustard preserved fruit
Cheese waffle with beer dip - the dip was perfect for the cheese which was tactfully hidden inside the waffle without overwhelming
Braised pork neck with piccalilli sauce



Beer chicken with smoked Roseval potatoes and green beans
Honey and lavender parfait
Cherry Tiramisu


The appetizers and mains were both very good, the desserts being the weakest.  But it was a very entertaining evening for us.  We were fascinated by the ambiance-switching going on inside the restaurant right beside us.  It seems that tables that were preset had the cutlery and glasses placed on plexiglass so that when guests wandered in requesting a certain menu, the whole setting could be lifted up with the plexi-glass and moved around depending on the seating.  Moving glass on top of glass was no mean manoeuver and there were times when we held our breaths through some narrow misses by the staff.  But it was all very interesting! 




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