When we Dutchies think of Indonesian food, we think about really long rice tables with different kinds of dishes like white rice, egg rolls, marinated chicken or pork-belly, deep fried gamba’s, braised duck or beef, grilled lamb, sate ajam, sate kambing, gado gado and so on.
Fine dining experience
This sneak preview for Taste of Amsterdam 2015 was at RESTAURANT BLAUW: An Indonesian restaurant with locations in Amsterdam (Amstelveenseweg 158) and in Utrecht (1st location; Springweg 46). Most of the people who visit Blauw come for their delicious rice table and get treated to Indonesian specialties. But what you don’t know is that Blauw also offers guests a fine dining experience.
Especially for Taste of Amsterdam
chef Agus serves you haute cuisine
Indonesian specialties with a Dutch twist.
As one of The Taste Bloggers together with Sesanne of The Lion Kitchen and Lotte of Culi Amsterdam, I got to taste the fine cuisine of chef Agus of RESTAURANT BLAUW, read about all the deliciousness below. We started this culinary journey at 7pm and I left at 1am with an entire “spekkoek” (layered cake that’s well known in the Indonesian kitchen and a lot of work to make) and Agus’ homemade sambal.
Chef Agus is a wonderful talented chef who loves his home country Indonesia and is originally from West Java. He got so much knowledge about the authentic ingredients that are used in this cuisine and is happy to tell everyone about it. If you get the chance to talk to him at Taste of Amsterdam, you’ll notice his passion for cooking and the Indonesian cuisine.
Taste of Amsterdam specialties
During Taste of Amsterdam you get to taste Indonesian fine dining made by chef Agus of Restaurant Blauw. As bites together with your drink, you can choose the emping made of pressed nuts with a spicy and sweet sauce or an amuse of eggplant, tofu and kousenband which is a legume and looks like a haricot vert but has more spice to it.
The cod is a delicious dish where you can taste the Indonesian ingredients and made in a Dutch way. The Indonesian manner would be to cook the fish in the sauce and let it simmer for a while. Now Agus made the cod separately and added two different sauces to the plate: a spicy red sauce made with red pepper, tamarind and lemon grass and a sauce made of celery, leek and green pepper.
The crab soup with baked zucchini, a leek and mint leaf with Indonesian shrimp bisque is simple in its complexity. The different flavours pass your taste buds one by one and therefore this is one of my personal favorites. I love a well-made soup!
Other favourites are the duck with a mix of red wine sauce with star anise, cinnamon and soy sauce and a pinch of spicy wasabi mixed with coconut milk, the braised pork belly with soy, hoisin and sour pickles or the veal cheek that has simmered for about 4 hours and briefly fried in the pan with a sauce that contains about every herb you can think of.
And that’s not all! Agus also has come up with some amazing desserts. The amuse of the dessert is warm black rice with raspberry sauce and delicious pandan ice!
Food you must try
Definitely try the cod, the crab soup, duck with soy sauce, the braised pork-belly and the desserts. As a manner of fact, just try everything! And next to this fine dining, you can also enjoy Agus’ famous sate kambing which is sate made of goat meat. A big success at the previous Taste of Amsterdam!
RESTAURANT BLAUW – Amstelveenseweg 158 – AMSTERDAM
TIP: As a regular guest of STORY154 you receive a special Taste of Amsterdam discount. Follow this link and buy two tickets for €18 instead of €24!
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