Fancy going: Rouhi, the Rituals restaurant (yes, the shower foam one)
Rituals has a huge building near Kalverstraat in Amsterdam where you can buy all the shower foams and bath oils you could possibly wish for. In addition, or actually: downstairs, Rituals has its own restaurant: Rouhi. This year, Rouhi made its debut in Gault&Millau and was awarded an 8- by Het Parool. Is Rouhi really just as delicious as the scented sticks on our desk? Time for a visit.
Food for the soul
You’ll find @restaurantrouhi on the ground floor of House of Rituals on the Spui, where Café Esprit used to be. They call it ‘Food for the soul’ themselves, and usually I’m not that into those obligatory phrases, but I’ll let it slide, because the concise menu looks promising.
Interior
Rouhi consists of two sections: the front area, where you can eat at the bar or at one of the tables next to it, and an area with large windows overlooking the Spui, furnished in a more intimate style. Plants hang everywhere, which turn out to be plastic, by the way, but they still create a pleasant atmosphere. There are velvet benches for several people and chairs upholstered in different fabrics.
Delicious bread: bonus points
We start with a cocktail and a mocktail (they come with big-city prices—€12.95 and €8.95 respectively—as we’ve come to expect by now) and also order the sourdough bread with butter and za’atar (for €5). The bread is very tasty, with such a lovely, crispy crust. I always consider good bread a useful gauge; if a restaurant can’t serve good bread, I always worry about the dishes that follow.
Lovely, concise menu
French chef Renaud Goigoux, who previously worked at restaurants including Rijks* and Breda, and his kitchen team take inspiration from culinary discoveries in Asia and work with local seasonal produce as much as possible. The menu doesn’t offer an overwhelming amount of choice, which is pleasant. You can choose a five-course chef’s menu (for €56), and there are also five starters and five main courses on the menu, with a few side dishes to add.
We start with prawns (two for €12) with shichimi togarashi mayo, a spicy Japanese spice blend.
The Asian dishes excel in flavor and creativity, as it turns out; the other starters, such as the yakitori chicken (€11) and dumplings (€8), are delicious too. The chicken is wonderfully tender, although we did miss a little sauce, and we immediately order a second portion of the dumplings, filled with chicken and served with crispy chili, spring onion and soy sauce.
Cauliflower with furikake
If you eat neither meat nor fish, there’s a brilliant cauliflower dish on the menu (€12) with furikake (a Japanese seasoning containing pieces of seaweed, sesame and dried bonito flakes, often used to flavor rice dishes) and sesame.
Wolffish with beurre blanc
But the real showstopper is the fish of the day: wolffish (the fish with the large head and strong blunt teeth) with edamame and beurre blanc (€19). It comes with a fantastic edamame salad (in a beautiful wooden bowl, because they also excel at gorgeous tableware here). The fries with miso mayo (€5) are excellent, and there’s also a sublime little gem salad with an egg-yolk cream and—there it is again—furikake. At €5, it’s a truly fantastic side dish. The yuzu tart (€7.50) is also very tasty as a finale.
In short, Rouhi is highly recommended. The food is very good, the service knowledgeable, friendly and quick. Open Mondays and Sundays from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Rouhi’s terrace is open depending on the weather.
Rouhi, Spui 10, Amsterdam
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