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1980-03-10 – 2010-03-10: CELEBRATING OUR 30th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
On March 10, my wife and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary in our favorite restaurant, De Kromme Dissel. This is a famous restaurant in the Netherlands and in Belgium too. It might not be the most ‘media minded’ restaurant of the Netherlands, not the trendiest… They do not have an own line of culinary products made in some atelier and sold under their name. No, the Kromme Dissel restaurant is definitely not one for ‘culi-freaks’ or for star-hunters and groupies…
Well, they do have one Michelin star! As a matter of fact, they even happen to be the restaurant in the Netherlands with the longest uninterrupted period with a Michelin star… 39 years, and we all do hope 40 soon! This is an absolute record in the Netherlands, and a great achievement for this restaurant that started in the late sixties. Chef kok Willemsen brought the Kromme Dissel its first star in 1971. The success story was continued by the great lady-chef Angelique Schmeinck from 1995 on, and the current chef Tonny Berentsen, who took the restaurant over about a decade ago. And yes, they do have a great number of true and loyal guests, enjoying again and again the great times at the Kromme Dissel. The restaurant is located in Heelsum, near Renkum, very close to the city of Arnhem. A beautiful lane brings you first in front of the well-known Klein Zwitserland hotel, part of the Bilderberg group. Get your car parked and walk around for a while, enjoying the surroundings. The restaurant is inside an Old-Saxon style barn, a cozy, warm and intimate place. The decoration, the flowers, the fireplace, everything gives you there a great feeling of timeless hospitality. You just feel WELCOME and comfortable…
The Kromme Dissel restaurant is a special, nearly magical place. While the French do go out to a restaurant primarily for a good, decent meal, and are less critical about the ‘decorum’, most ‘common’ Dutchies will go out for the ‘gezelligheid’, something that is not really easy to translate. It means coziness or snugness and a kind of companionship, sociability. Of course the food has to be ‘edible’, even ‘enjoyable’, but many Dutch are willing to pay more for the ‘entourage’ and ‘social coziness’ than for the food. That is why I love Belgium, because they know there how to mix both sides so well. In the Netherlands you do have it too, below the rivers Meuse and Rhine, in Limburg, Brabant and Flemish Zeeland… But the Kromme Dissel, even situated above those rivers, gives you this great feeling too. May be this could be one of the reasons why the well-known Belgian gastronomic guide ‘Les étapes du bont goût’ (Houses of good taste) counts 40 restaurants in Belgium, 1 in the North of France, and 6 in the Netherlands… 4 in Limburg, plus 1 in Flemish Zeeland and … the Kromme Dissel, as the only one above the rivers.
Well, back to March 10, 2010. After the check-in at the hotel and a little refreshment in the room, we went for a ‘cold nose’ walk around the hotel. Back again, we sipped some Laurent Perrier brut champagne, had a quick change and walked to the restaurant. Champagne again, from chardonnay specialist Henri Mandois, served in the warm and cozy lounge room, with some tiny appetizers (Antillean cheese-ball with tomato-coulis, turnip greens bavarois with herbs crust, potato croutons and a muffin with lime, drained yoghurt and poppy seeds).
After a short small talk with the chef, Tonny Berentsen, we moved to our table.
Tonny Berentsen
We decided to take the ‘Kromme Dissel specialties menu’ with 7 (official) courses, and a wine-food match, chosen by sommelier Dolf van Drempt. (Actually, we did like 80% of the guests coming to the Kromme Dissel, very little choose for ‘à la carte’, they come for the season menu, always surprising).
The first wine was French, Alsace pinot blanc Rieflé 2007 (nice wine, not so young and crispy anymore, but much more beautifully ripe and mineral, with a hint of Underwood and remaining of truffle), served with a – non official – amuse, a tasty roll of barbecued eggplant with eggplant compote, a shrimp in a (kroepoek) crackers batter and some piccalilli… (Tasty, great contrast in structure and taste, lovely!).
The 1st official course was a little ‘salad’ of North-Sea crab and Jerusalem artichoke, served with a perfectly soft farm egg and a creamy sauce of Bianchetti truffle… (It was absolutely delicious!).
The next course (2) was a delicately fragrant and powerful combination of meaty lobster bisque, with ravioli of ginger and green onion, topped by a lobster medallion with ginger and served with a parsley pesto. Simply fantastic again! The chosen wine had no problem at all with all those spicy tastes. It was no truly ‘wild passion’, but a wise and pleasant match.
A new wine was elected for the next course (3), an Aussie chardonnay 2007 from Fernoy Estate, Margaret River. (Quite nutty and creamy oaky in the nose and on the palate, but plenty of ripe fruit and freshness to compensate and make it a nice and pretty complex wine). The 3rd official course was build around a core of crispy baked red mull filet on a gorgeous and spicy sauce of shrimps and hot pepper, a mini taco filled with guacamole and a tasty corn cream. (I’d love to get the recipe of this shrimp and hot pepper sauce, chef!). The wine underwent a real metamorphosis, the creamy oaky taste was completely absorbed by the strongly flavored corn cream, the freshness and the ripe fruit took over and combined very well with this quite spicy dish! Well done, again, Dolf!
The next ‘wine’ was not a wine, but a pineau des Charentes (grape must muted with wine-alcohol before the end of the fermentation, so that it tastes sweet). This one, from Château de Montifaud in Cognac, is not really the one that a melon would fancy to swim in… It might not survive it! This is much more a ‘lounge’ or ‘after-dinner’ pineau than an aperitif one. This is really a great pineau! Now, I was really wondering how this would match with the next course (4), a tumbler shaped piece of goose liver rolled in … sfine picy cake crumbles (an incredibly tasty combination, we loved it!), and served with a jelly of red beet. Wow, you absolutely can wake me up at any time with such a dish…
The ‘cognac’ roots of the pineau matched very well with the earthy beet jelly, the grapy most taste of it was a bless with the spicy goose liver. Before we could let our ‘encore’ fill the room, Dolf came wisely and triumphantly at our table, to let us taste the next wine.
I knew that one, I have been visiting the winery (and many more) two years ago, in… Puglia (Italy). The Tenuta Albrizzi – Salento IGT – 2006 of Cantina Due Palme, is definitely not a 90+ Robert Parker wine, but a full, ripe, smooth, tannic (but not too much) wine from cabernet sauvignon and primitivo, aged for 6 month in French barriques. This would not be the choice of a boring trend-following sommelier; it could only be the choice of a passionate, curious and food-focused wine loving sommelier. Compliments again for daring, Dolf! It is a great wine for wine-arrangements, not so expensive but with a great taste and value for money. As a matter of fact, it did very well with the next course (5), a very spicy one! The core of the dish was based on a perfectly baked organic calf loin, served on a strong calf meat-juice with lime and apricots, a creamy salvia risotto, a piece of slow-cooked and glazed calf cheek with crispy garlic, a round ‘bitterbal’ sweetbread croquette with salvia mayonnaise, and a endive top in a roll of lime perfumed bacon. The wine did survive this very complex and risky taste enterprise without any problem or shame.
The next course (6), was may be the strangest of all. Strange in its presentation, like a small hotdog bread, filled with very strongly tasting ‘camembert marinated in Calvados’, softened with a sweet apple compote, spiced up with some slices of chorizo and rucola salad, and served with a sticky stripe of apple syrup. Yes indeed, also strangely surprising (euphemism) in taste! Well, this is a kind a combination you like or not. We actually loved it, but might have preferred it as part of a nice autumn or winter lunch buffet. The combination with wine was not easy at all.
No wine could actually match with the strong, pungent taste (and smell) of the cheese. Dolf did his very best and followed again, with my full approval and confidence, his own logic. His choice was a very nice Domaine Schistes Rivesaltes Solera Ambré from the French Roussillon. A muted wine, made the oxidative way in solera style, with a minimum aging period of 10 years. The result is a very complex concentration of honey, dried fruit, tobacco and nuts. Not bad at all with the dish, but it would have been much better with some other dish. The normally soft caramel tones of this wine in the aftertaste were getting pretty harsh because of the pungent cheese. May be a sweeter and stronger ‘pommeau’ (with apple-alcohol muted sweet apple-must) could have been a better match.
Before the real dessert, we were surprised by a fancy sweet amuse, a creamy white rum milkshake topped with a lukewarm Curaçao blue sabayon. Not bad at all!
The last official course (7) was a degustation of lemon/lime, white chocolate and pistachios, with lovely combinations, fresh, soft and creamy at the same time. Wonderful! The match with the Tokaj Classic Winery Tokaji Late Harvest 2004 was again a good gamble: fresh, fruity, soft and creamy, not too sweet.
After this, we moved to the cozy lounge room again for some nice coffee and chocolates and had an evaluation talk with chef Tonny Berentsen about the whole menu, how it was build-up, and about the specific dishes, one by one.
It was a great evening, with fantastic food, good wines, a great serving team (thumbs up for: Dolf van Drempt, ass. manager and sommelier; Robert van Silfthout, ’stand-in maître’ for that evening, - Iddo Krips, manager & maitre was enjoying a short break -; Erwin Westering, Geartsje de Bruin, who joined the team short ago) and , last but surely not least, a terrific kitchen team (Tonny Berentsen, chef; Sierk Buwalda and Jeroen Hoogsteder, sous-chefs; and all the interns and help-troops). Thanks to all of you, who made this restaurant No.1 on our list! Special thanks too for General Manager Bilderberg Hotel Klein Zwitserland, Peter de Beer for the wonderful hospitality.
Extra thanks for Robert van Stifhout who shot the food pictures for us in the kitchen…
Kromme Dissel specialties degustation menu 7 courses: € 82,- per guest, wine & food matching arrangement : € 52,50 per guest.
Website De Kromme Dissel
Website Klein Zwitserland hotel
Website Bilderberg hotel group
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