Michelin & the Street: the Netherlands

THE NETHERLANDS Is it chance or coincidence that the whole country cycles constantly and that the national dish is fries with mayonnaise? Either that or the meal is sausage and potatoes. And then there’s the cheese that’s everywhere and at every time of the day... Dutch food is hearty food so my advice for travellers is to do as the Dutch do and bike as much as possible lest the excess baggage be personal rather than in your suitcase. There’s a handful about my waist that I can put directly at the door of the Dutch. Beer, chips and mayo – mind you, all good things on their own…

Generally the dairy and chacuterie that we sampled was excellent; especially the cream which is often on the menu as an extra for your coffee, cake or hot chocolate. I have no idea why I found the word for cream so amusing (slagroom), but I did. And I ordered it at every opportunity. So why, if the cream is so good, are there so many of those little UHT milks everywhere? They’re excessive packaging and awful product for not much convenience. They should be banned. And I’m pretty amazed that so close to Italy the coffee of choice is drip filter. I usually drink my coffee black, without sugar, so there’s nothing to hide what a foul drop filtered coffee usually is. Bitter and baleful. Not at all what I like to wake up. Interestingly, apparently some travelling Dutch like to bring their own coffee with them overseas for fear the local brew won’t be strong enough.

One of my favourite things to do travelling is poke around in foreign supermarkets and I had enormous fun in the Netherlands. All I can say is: wow, I have never seen such a big dairy cabinet and range. I will be seeking out quark at home more regularly after a few memorable encounters (including one on an early morning train when we had to kinda shake it up and try and drink it out of the tub because we’d no spoon). I’ve also become a convert to yogurt drinks, though in retrospect I feel that may have contributed to the weight-gain as well. So there’s the dairy section – and then there are the meat and fish pastes. According to our gorgeous Almelo friend raw beef paste is what everyone’s eating nowadays in Holland. It’s like serving French Onion Dip at an Australian barbecue. There’s a hot paprika meat paste that I thought was pretty good and it’s bloody nice to see no one getting freaked out about raw meat.

And yes, we tried pickled herring: it’s fishy and wet. I’m sorry that I couldn’t get right into it for the sake of our lovely Dutch friends, however I did like the hot raw onion contrasted with the fish. I did not so much like the soft white roll it's often served in. It all got a bit mushy for me!