Amsterdam is one of my favorite cities in the world. During the first three times I visited there, I managed to enjoy the city’s famous foods over and over again – the famous fries and delicious mayonnaise, amazing gouda cheese and of course the sweet and yummy stroopwafel. Besides these, this city has everything when it comes to culinary and you can find everything there – traditional food and dishes from around the world at the highest level.

Every time I visit there, I find amazing places and restaurants, and this trip was no different. As usual, I prepared myself for the trip – I searched Pinterest and saved all the restaurants and places I didn’t want to miss and then … a few weeks before the flight I received an email with an invitation to a tasting meal at a particularly intriguing restaurant.

Bridges Restaurant is located in the prestigious Sofitel Amsterdam de Grand hotel, and that’s already a good enough reason to visit it but it’s certainly not the only reason. The restaurant was named just a few months after it opened as one of the best restaurants in the Netherlands and received its first Michelin star in 2013 thanks to the meticulous dishes served and the great service. As a foodie who loves hotels, this was really an offer I couldn’t refuse  🙂 We decided to use our invitation on Valentine’s Day afternoon which happened to be on the last day of our trip and we enjoyed a private and romantic meal for two.

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The restaurant offers a rich menu consisting mostly of fresh fish and seafood of the highest quality, but you can also find meat and vegetable dishes which are equally excellent. The chef conducting the cooking in the kitchen was the super charming chef Andrès Delpeut, who joined the restaurant’s staff last August. Delpeut describes his dishes as traditional and classic dishes with influences from around the world with a special twist. And in the tasting meal we had, which included 6 different dishes, the impact was felt from the East, from France and of course from the local Dutch cuisine.

As expected from a Michelin restaurant, the dishes are relatively small, sophisticated and arranged like modern pieces of art on the special plates they are served on. The restaurant itself is like this as well, which was redesigned two years ago by the French designer Christophe Daudré in a modern style, elegant and warm inspired by the reflections and the movement of the water flowing in canals that surround the restaurant {which incidentally, are the city's oldest canals!}.

The restaurant is open during the afternoon and evening hours and offers different combinations of delicious meals {2 or 3 dishes for lunch or dinners including 4 to 6 dishes} and each dish comes along with wine that was chosen specially to empower the flavors. There’s no doubt that the addition of wines to the meal makes the meal more expensive {even though the wines are priced very reasonable compared to other restaurants that are similar}, but if you’re already treating yourself to this kind of meal, I suggest choosing at least one glass of wine to go along with your meal with the sommelier’s recommendation, because it definitely upgrades the whole experience of the meal.

As I said, we were invited for a tasting of six dishes accompanied by six excellent wines that were served by the professional sommelier who gave us a detailed explanation about each of the wines.

As a starter, we were served fresh bread and butter, right after we enjoyed a very special appetizer – a sponge cake made with green curry and crème fraîche, which was a real treat, and an individual sized pastry with a wakame seaweed spread. The pastry itself was excellent but since I'm not a fan of seaweed when it’s not on sushi, the sea flavor was a little too strong for me. Daniel, on the other hand, really enjoyed this appetizer and ate my leftovers as well…  😉

The appetizer dish they served us was the most delicious part of the meal in my opinion – a crispy cylinder of black and white sesame stuffed with fresh and high-quality red tuna placed on stripes of wasabi flavored cream cheese, topped with a great soy sauce with aromas of citrus and ginger.

The next course was lightly charred calamari, which were placed on tiny patties of chicken in Tom-Ka-Kai sauce with an excellent Asian aroma. I especially liked the combination of textures in the dish – soft and crispy.

After that, they served us Norwegian cod in anchovy butter, “candy” fudge snails, poached spinach, a citrus gel and a parsley spread. Honestly, this dish wasn’t my taste – it had slimy textures, with a mucus-y feel, and needless to say that I didn’t even taste the snails fudge {even I have limits…}.

Definitely not my cup of tea, but it’s definitely an elite dish that might fit people with a more developed taste palate than mine.

The fifth dish was a piece of local deer meat, accompanied by winter vegetables and wine sauce with strong taste and full of layers. The meat itself was wonderful and soft and the vegetables were prepared in different textures and were delicious.

For dessert, we were served one of the desserts from the restaurant's regular menu and an additional dessert made especially for Valentine’s Day.

The first was a sticky toffee cake accompanied by figs, green apples and Calvados {apple brandy}, which was really great. Unlike other toffee cakes, this dessert was very balanced and not too sweet.

The Valentine’s Day dessert consisted of chocolate mousse, crunchy twills of honey and cherry flambé with chocolate stems along with basil flavored ice cream. A refined and delicious dessert, but I didn’t love the basil flavored ice cream.

And as if the desserts weren’t enough, along with the macchiato we received a variety of high quality chocolates for an especially sweet ending 🙂

There’s no doubt that the meal at the Michelin restaurant was completely different than a meal at other restaurants – the refined and sophisticated flavors expected from these kinds of restaurants {and the small portions in accordance}, the luxurious and festive atmosphere throughout the day and the impeccable professional service. It’s an expensive treat for foodies and people who want to celebrate a special occasion with a luxurious atmosphere. If you're one of these and planning a trip to Amsterdam, reserve a table at Bridges – best to reserve a table by the large windows that will provide you with a spectacular view of the street and the nearby canal, or in the inner courtyard of the restaurant, if the weather is right.

Have you already been to a Michelin restaurant? If yes, what did you think about the experience?

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