Delivery review: Choux’s takeaway meal
During this insane coronavirus period, restaurants are closed, so we’re happily dining out at home. Fortunately, many new and exceptional delivery and takeaway restaurants have joined in. And we’re testing them for you. That way, we can keep eating well and supporting our beloved hospitality industry. Today: Choux in Amsterdam.
Choux is one of those typical top Amsterdam restaurants that, oddly enough, always remains under Michelin’s radar, just like Scheepskameel and BAK. At Choux, the menu is dominated by original and intense flavour combinations and, above all, lots of vegetables; meat and fish come second here. Choux doesn’t deliver, but prepares ready-to-eat takeaway menus and custom-assembled wine packages. After two weeks of home quarantine, I’m hugely looking forward to the sunny walk to this lovely restaurant.
A well-oiled machine
‘Pump first, please,’ reads the sign by the door. On the standing table outside the restaurant is a large bottle of sanitising gel. The entrance of the red-painted restaurant on Amsterdam’s De Ruyterkade has been transformed into a collection point, where only one person at a time is allowed inside. A payment terminal is on the left, and a selection of wines on the right. People have only been able to collect menus and boxes of ordered wine here for a day, but it already looks like a well-oiled machine. People walk back and forth with dishes from the kitchen, placing them in the prepared bags, which are then collected during scheduled time slots.
Instruction video
The guests patiently stand outside in line, keeping an appropriate distance from one another. The bag contains a large number of boxes and sauce pots. In a video message, chef Merijn van Berlo explains in clear steps how the dishes should be served, apologising for the amount of plastic in which everything is packaged.
The menu
The first dish consists of kohlrabi filled with a Hansje cheese from local cheesemaker Mathilde, sunflower seeds, lemon thyme and lava stems, covered with radishes. When I drizzle the green dressing alongside the kohlrabi dumplings, as the video teaches me, a fresh scent rises that reminds me of the past: playing in the meadows.
The Lindenhoff veal sukade needs to come up to temperature in boiled water, and the potato mousseline and stuffed onions also need to be heated before being placed on the plate with the purslane and wild garlic. The meat and gravy are delicious, as are the fresh vegetables.
Liquid XTC
Dessert consists of hangop with biscuit crumbs, topped with a delicious mixture of raw rhubarb and raspberry with a highly aromatic blackcurrant-branch oil. The chef also calls that oil liquid XTC. The dessert is fresh and tastes colourful.
Can Choux join us at the table more often?
Yes, of all the home meals from the past few days, this was certainly one of the highlights. The dishes are beautiful flavour compositions. You can order via the restaurant’s website, indicating when you’ll come by so that everyone doesn’t storm the restaurant at once. The very complete three-course menu costs just 32.50, and you can choose a lovely bottle of wine to go with it.
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