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Café Par Hasard – Almere

Ratings : F-D – 4.5/5 | TripAdvisor – 4.5/5 | Facebook – 4.9/5 | Google – 4.2/5

In April 2018 Par Hasard opened their doors in Almere. Located on the Belfort, the restaurant square of Almere.

It’s the first franchise of this concept that has been proven successful in Amsterdam. Richard, the franchisee, has been the chef in Amsterdam for over three years, before opening his own Par Hasard.

The atmosphere is that of a Belgian ‘frietkot’ combined with that of a eatery. Par Hasard has a nice menu, with starters and main courses. Most products are homemade, and that reflects in the taste. The fries are fresh as are their sauces and side dishes.

Special wishes? No problem for Richard. If possible he will accomodate you.

We always enjoy eating at Par Hasard. Service is friendly and professional and fits the cafe feeling of the place. We enjoyed the small sole fish, the satay, the hamburger, the chicken, the fish and chips and of course the ‘zoervleisj’.

You are also welcome for just a drink, or a few. We are sure you will order some nice snacks to go along.

Café Par Hasard Almere  |  Belfort 128  |  1315 VD  Almere

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Gasterij Stadzigt – Naarden

Ratings : F-D – 3/5| TripAdvisor – 3.5/5 | Facebook – 4.1/5  | Google – 4.1/5

Driving by we have seen the sign ‘Gasterij Stadzigt’ very often and it was one of those places on our list ‘to visit when the occasion arises’.

Last week finally we had a reason the visit this restaurant. It’s located in the middels of a nature park operated by the organization Natuurmonumenten. Of course we are only interested in the part where you can get food and drinks…

Beautiful weather, and luckily we were able to get a table on the terrace.

We ordered drinks and studied the lunch menu. The white wine is Spanish, the girl serving us had no idea of what grape, but of course willing to go inside to check. The beer is from Docqmans, a small brewer in Tiel in the Netherlands but the beer is advertised as Belgium???? Maybe worth some more research…

We ordered the fish trio -advertised on their printed menu as ‘variety of smoked fish and tuna salad’ with bread and butter-, the tuna melt and two veal croquettes on bread.

When served the fish trio was made up of salmon (smoked), some very tasteless and watery crayfish and the tuna salad that looked and tasted like canned tuna without anything done to prepare it and turn in into a salad. We mentioned our disappointment with the waitress who discussed it with the kitchen: “we always do the smoked salmon and the tuna and the third fish is whatever we have of could get our hands on”.
(Strange that the menu on the website states a trio of fish without further specification.)

The tuna melt consisted of one slice of sourdough bread with the same boring tuna thinly spread and of course the cheese melted on top.

The two veal croquettes came on one slice of the sourdough bread.

All very ‘sparse’ and there was not enough value for money. Service was adequate but not very warm or welcoming.

Gasterij Stadzigt  |  Meerkade 2a  |  1412 AB  Naarden

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Singel 101 – Amsterdam

Ratings : F-D – 4.5/5| TripAdvisor – 4.5/5 | Facebook – 4.7/5  | Google – 4.4/5

Food-drinks is enthousiast about an newly discovered restaurant in Amsterdam. Located on Singel 101 bearing the same name.

The restaurant operates without a menu. The chef, Orlando David Iradi, who has worked with three Michelin star chef Sergio Herman, is based on the chef’s menu only. It starts of with three courses for € 35,= and can be extended to 6 courses.

Our visit started of with some nice amuses presented in a trendy style. Our three course menu started of with a very nice salmon, served in a cucumber soup, with a kroepoek of potato and an ever so nice wasabi creme.

For us the star of the menu was the braised veal cheek in it’s own jus. Accompanied by some grilled green asparagus and leek.

The dessert was a very tasty panna cotta style pudding with passion fruit.

The restaurant is family owned and run which provides a good understanding of hospitality. The lady serving is very friendly and does everything to make your dinner a great experience.

We understand the menu changes often depending on availability, season, quality, freshness and price of the produce. That showed when, a week later, we visited Singel 101 again and had a completely different new menu.

Restaurant Singel 101  |  Singel 101  |  1012 VG  Amsterdam