La Rive

Food	Service	Atmosphere	Value
9	9	9	9

You can tell two things about La Rive from its name alone. It’s a French restaurant and it’s located on the edge of a canal. Right on the edge of the Amstel, in fact. The water slops so close to the windows you feel as if you are in a boat, a very, very opulent boat. For this is Michelin starred dining at its grandest; the room is exquisite and lit by windows on three sides. The tableware, the cutlery, the glasses and the clothes are all crisp, sparkling and of the highest quality. All this grandeur would mean nothing if the food was second rate but of course it’s first class.

We had a degustation menu for our lunch, six courses each with matching wines. We didn’t both eat the same dishes or drink the same wines so with so much to review it’s best to just talk about some dishes at random, although there wasn’t a single one that I wouldn’t happily (very happily) eat again. The sommeliers chosen wines were excellent, too many to list here but obviously carefully considered and well presented.

Executive Chef de Cuisine Edwin Kats is a Dutch chef of purity and imagination, taking ingredients that may sometimes be humble in their provenance and using alchemical magic to turn them into gold. You could call this ‘classic’ cooking, except that there is no weight to the dishes, each is light with flavours never masked by unnecessary sauces or creams. A small piece of halibut in stock with a few white beans illustrated this perfectly, the stock so delicate and the halibut precisely cooked with the beans adding a precise ‘mealiness’ and body on the palate.

Croquettes of salted cod, potato and Belon oysters were presented beautifully, a minimalist work of art on the plate. The spoonful of Oestra caviar added luxury to the salted cod which is, after all, not an expensive ingredient- an almost witty touch.

A La Rive signature dish of terrine of Jabugo ham, goose liver and stew steak with oxtail jelly again showed chef’s style of taking prosaic ingredients – oxtail and stew steak- and bringing out their hidden qualities. The striated slice of terrine was a visual feast as much as a gastronomic one. the variety of textures well set off by the binding oxtail jelly.

We both shared a seasonal dish; a partridge lightly roasted in a vine leaf and served with sautéed Brussels sprouts in bacon with potato cakes. The bird was carved at the table expertly and with the minimum of fuss. In fact throughout the meal the staff were both attentive and yet invisible, while at the same time clearly proud of their chef and happy to linger at table and answer any questions asked. This was not pompous or overbearing service, but perfectly professional and added enormously to the pleasure of the meal.

Cheese was superb, a selection of fine French cheeses chosen from small suppliers by expert supplier Bernard Antony a widely revered ‘affineur’. We almost had no space for dessert after such a feast but nonetheless a Chestnut mousse with whisky cream, pear fritters and ice cream made with poached prunes was wonderful, both to look at and to eat.

Chef Kats is clearly a star who deserves his stars and the restaurant and team back him up brilliantly. My companion and I are still talking about our meal with great big smiles on our faces. Very highly recommended.

November 2005

Had dinner here and it was the most wonderous, romantic meal I have had. Was pricey (especially when you forget to look how much that bottle of wine was!) but worth every single Euro

Sunday, November 13, 2005