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Rollende Keukens

Last weekend was awesome, and not just because it was my first Mother’s Day. It was a long weekend in the Netherlands for Hemelvaartsdag, or Ascension Day, which meant our little family spent four whole days together. Yay! Even better, we had a great place to spend the long weekend: at Westerpark for Rollende Keukens, or Rolling Kitchens.

As the name suggests, Rollende Keukens is all about meals on wheels. At this yearly festival, dozens of mobile kitchens roll into Westerpark to create one giant open-air restaurant.

Of the food festivals and markets I’ve been to, I have to say this one was the most fun and full of character. That’s what you get when you have creative foodies repurposing everything from Volkswagen camper vans to Airstream trailers to surfboards and boats.

More (lots more!) pictures, and my Rollende Keukens favorites and regrets, after the cut!

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Posted on May 14, 2013
Category: Food & Drink, Life in Amsterdam · Labels: Amsterdam, food, Westerpark

Westergasterras

One of my new pleasures is taking Tala on long walks in Westerpark. I’ve been meaning to show Marlon what I’ve discovered while he’s at work, and to bring the camera too. This weekend I finally got to do both.

After a long winter, spring is finally kicking in and everything is in bloom.

During my first spring in Amsterdam, I was surprised by how quickly the flowers came and went. Now I make sure to take photos before they’re gone.

Walking past all the trees in bloom, we reached the Westergasterras, a restaurant housed in one of the old brick factory buildings beside the Gashouder, a gas tank that dates back to the 1900s.

The Gashouder looms large over the restaurant’s biggest draw: a large, spacious terrace that is perfect for sunny days. Westergasterras also has a cool industrial interior, with a big brick fireplace and metal pipes everywhere, but in spring it’s all about this terrace.

We stopped for a light lunch and coffee, plus one of the best sticky toffee cakes I’ve had in a while. I find casual dining in Amsterdam to be hit and miss, so it’s always nice to come across a place with good food.

I love discovering places like Westergasterras: so cool yet so laid-back, unpretentious, and most importantly, kid-friendly. There was a high hipster-to-stroller ratio, and all around the restaurant were toddlers wheeling around on loopfiets (balance bikes) or kids drawing on the ground with chalk.

A decent lunch, a cool new discovery, and another reason to love our neighborhood. Not bad for a laid-back Sunday. How was your weekend?

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Posted on April 29, 2013
Category: Food & Drink, Life in Amsterdam · Labels: Amsterdam, brunch, food, Westerpark

Let’s Do Brunch in… Antwerp

I’ve been grounded for almost five months and I’m itching to travel again! With the baby, our trips need to be short and easy, so I’m looking at cities within a short train ride from Amsterdam.

One of them is Antwerp, where Marlon and I went last year for a half-day trip. That just wasn’t enough to fully explore this beautiful, design-savvy city, and I’d love to return. When I do, I’ll make it a point to stop by this month’s brunch place, recommended by guest blogger Noortje Emmerink of Peppermint, who has lived and worked in Antwerp as a fashion designer and stylist.

Although I only met Noortje very briefly at the Meet the Blogger last year, it’s easy to keep in touch with someone in blogland. I’ve kept up with Noortje’s blog because of her eye for design, cool and colorful style and fun, light feel.

True to her style, she’s chosen a place that’s as cool, colorful, fun and light as her blog. Find out what it is, after the jump!

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Posted on April 28, 2013
Category: Let's Do Brunch · Labels: Antwerp, Belgium, brunch, Europe, food, guest post, Let's Do Brunch

Market day

Our little family is beginning to find its rhythm on the weekends. Mornings are slow and lazy, with everyone—including Rogue!—staying in bed for Tala’s first feed at around 7 or 8 a.m. After we have breakfast and coffee in bed, Marlon gets to do what he’s been itching to do all week: cuddle Tala and play with her while she’s still adorably fresh (read: not fussy or tired).

This frees me up for an hour or so of me time, in which I go back to sleep, enjoy a long hot shower, or take my sweet, sweet time getting ready to go out. Going back and forth over what to wear (not that my nursing-friendly wardrobe leaves me with a lot of options), blow-drying my hair, putting on eyeliner—all of that really relaxes me. Never underestimate the therapeutic power of clothes and makeup!

Then we head out for lunch and a walk, with Tala falling asleep in the stroller. I love exploring our new neighborhood and finding new things to enjoy. This week, we found the perfect chai tea latte and carrot cake at Small World Catering, a deli style shop and tiny (often packed) cafe on a street corner in the Jordaan…

… which we enjoyed in a rare seat in the sunshine, always a tough thing to find on a beautiful spring day. Tala graciously let us finish lunch and dessert before demanding her own meal. Look ma, no nursing covers!

Then we strolled down one of the prettiest canals in Amsterdam to the Lindenmarkt, which runs just behind the popular Noordermarkt. While the former is more of a regular neighborhood market, the latter is a farmer’s market with organic and specialty items.

Aside from being open on Saturdays, both markets have another thing in common: an abundance of tulips and cheese. How very Dutch indeed!

How was your weekend?

2 Comments
Posted on April 22, 2013
Category: Food & Drink, Life in Amsterdam · Labels: Amsterdam, food, Jordaan, market, Tala

Rainarai at the Westergasfabriek

Our first walk in the park as a family not only made me feel giddy and happy. It also made me hungry! Luckily, at the tail end of Westerpark is Rainarai, a restaurant and lounge that serves “nomadic Algerian” cuisine.

We decided to pop in for a bite and a bit of a rest after our walk and I’m glad I did. Finding a place like this just minutes from our home makes me feel like we moved into the right neighborhood.

At 2:30pm on a sunny Saturday, we had the entire place to ourselves and it was just great.

Aside from regular restaurant-style tables and chairs, I love that this restaurant offers “nomadic” style seating with low tables, cushions and rugs on the floor. So comfy, casual and colorful!

Rainarai struck me as being very baby- and kid-friendly. Wide shallow steps leading up to the door made it easy to carry our stroller in (a ramp would have been nice, though). Wide aisles made it easy for us to park our sleeping beauty right beside our table as we enjoyed a long-ish, leisurely lunch.

We had the €12.50 mezze lunch, something like a chef’s special that includes soup, salad, a few sides like a kofta and vegetable relishes, plus a main dish. That day, it was a baked tortilla-style roll stuffed with our choice of mackerel or lamb. Delicious, filling, hearty and I’d say pretty good value for money.

The service was friendly too, something not to be taken for granted in Amsterdam. Or maybe people are just nicer to you when you have a baby! The woman waiting on us that afternoon offered me use of the downstairs lounge if I wanted privacy for breastfeeding, and told me Tala was probably the youngest guest they’d ever had.

“I hope we’ll see you again,” she said as we rolled out the front door.

Are you kidding? Yummy food, baby-friendly and cool interiors, plus friendly service, all within walking distance from my house? “Oh, we’ll definitely be back,” I assured her.

“Then we’ll get to see her grow up!” she said with a big smile and a goodbye wave to Tala.

And that is how you win over the mommies, folks!

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Posted on April 10, 2013
Category: Food & Drink, Life in Amsterdam · Labels: Amsterdam, baby, food, Westerpark

Post-partum pleasures

One of the things I missed most during pregnancy was the pleasure of eating raw oysters. Oysters are some of my favorite things to eat; I was once part of a trio that ate five dozen (!) raw oysters during happy hour at Hog’s Island Oyster Bar in Napa County. I swore that one of my first post-partum meals had to be raw oysters.

Our first day home from the hospital, my wonderful husband remembered. He cycled to Noordermarkt and returned with half a dozen big, beautiful raw oysters from France plus eight smaller, sweeter local oysters. We had them for dinner that night, raw, on ice, with a squeeze of lemon. It was perfect.

I’m not a big drinker, so I didn’t really mourn the loss of wine during my pregnancy. But Tala’s first week home, we had a very special family guest who brought over nine bottles of alcohol, including champagne, Pastis, scotch (for Marlon), and several bottles from his private wine cellar. If there was ever a way to return to alcohol post-pregnancy, this was certainly it.

These are only two of the long-awaited post-partum pleasures I’ve been able to enjoy in the last two and a half weeks—and I have a long list of things I’m looking forward to. Some of them might surprise you!

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Posted on April 2, 2013
Category: Food & Drink, Motherhood · Labels: food, wine

Let’s do Brunch in… Tagaytay

It’s the first brunch post of the year! So I thought I’d do something a little special and take you to one of my favorite brunch spots, which I can only visit once a year when I’m back home in the Philippines. And that is Breakfast at Antonio’s in Tagaytay.

Tagaytay was always my family’s halfway point during frequent weekend drives to the beach—Puerto Azul in Cavite, and when that went downhill, White Sands in Nasugbu. Five years ago, Marlon and I were married there. It’s now way more developed than I remember (and more than I’d like), but for a weekend activity, a long leisurely drive to Tagaytay never gets old… not when what awaits you is a fresher, cooler climate and a beautiful view.

This classic panorama of Taal Volcano—a lake within a volcano within a lake within a volcano—is exactly the view from Breakfast at Antonio’s backyard.

The younger sibling of Antonio’s, one of the Philippines’ best restaurants and a yearly pick for The Miele Guide’s 20 Best Restaurants in Asia, Breakfast at Antonio’s serves all-day breakfast in a setting that reminds me of a weekend resthouse.

It could belong to someone you know: an older friend, maybe an relative. That is, if you have relatives who are really… successful (read: rich).

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Posted on January 27, 2013
Category: Food & Drink, Let's Do Brunch, Manila Girl at Heart · Labels: brunch, food, Let's Do Brunch, Philippines, Tagaytay

Let’s Do Brunch in… Berlin

Our last brunch date for 2012 is in a vibrant, creative city that I’ve been to twice, but only really fell in love with this year. And that is Berlin!

One of my regrets from last spring’s “working” visit to Berlin is that I didn’t get to try any of the many breakfast places I saw or read about. My impression was that Berlin seems to be wild about breakfast—an impression confirmed by enthusiastic Berliner Lena from Mina Moka. Lena is a self-confessed brunch addict and big city lover, which makes her the perfect person to be our Berlin brunch guide.

Happy brunching, and here’s to more delicious brunches in 2013!

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Posted on December 30, 2012
Category: Let's Do Brunch · Labels: Berlin, brunch, Europe, food, Germany, guest post, Let's Do Brunch

Filipino favorites at Sentro 1771

When Marlon and I first started dating, we were 22 year-olds whose typical date was a movie and dinner at Greenbelt 3, then newly renovated and thus the trendy place to be. One of our dinner favorites was Sentro 1771, which we revisited last week after catching The Hobbit at Greenbelt.

I *love* Sentro. I can’t believe it’s now going on 10 years old!

After almost two years of living in Amsterdam, it now strikes me as a bit strange to find an excellent restaurant in a mall. You’d be hard-pressed to find a mall in Europe, much less a decent restaurant inside one; it seems the rule of thumb is, the further away from a commercial establishment, the better the chance of a good meal. But Pinoy culture is different: the mall is the place to be. Thus some of the best, most loved restaurants are in malls.

Like Sentro. I’m pleased to find that the food—classic Filipino favorites with a modern twist—is still as good as it was when it first opened 10 years ago. That deserves major props!

I think it’s hard to make Filipino food (which is generally brown and messy) look pretty, but Sentro did a great job with these Smoked Fish Spring Rolls, a nice spin on the usual fresh rice paper spring roll.

Our favorite dish, Corned Beef Sinigang (beef short ribs in tamarind broth), is still as good as ever. And they still bring a small tasting cup of broth to your table, so you can adjust the sourness and spice to your preference. I’ve always thought it’s a great way to bring the feel of a home-cooked meal to a restaurant setting—after all, everyone makes their sinigang (and similar traditional dishes) just a little bit differently from everyone else.

Sentro’s coffee pie is one of my all-time favorite desserts, and a real must-have. This tiny slice combines a rich, dense coffee mousse with a moist but crunchy chocolate-cashew crust.

Sentro is really generous with the brewed coffee! Marlon couldn’t finish his mug (and what a lovely mug it is, too). I love that coffee is served with muscovado sugar.

For a restaurant that’s been around for 10 years, Sentro is doing spectacularly. It still has that modern Filipino look (love these lamps and all the warm wood), and more importantly, food that’s consistently delicious. So glad I got to revisit this Filipino fave!