Hotspot: Escobar
What? Escobar, hasn’t that been around forever? True, but they have a new chef. And what a chef: Venezuelan Fernando Paez Magro, who previously worked at Guts & Glory and Bar Centraal and cooks the stars of the Latin American sky.
We walked in and then
Were helped immediately by the charming staff, who later in the evening also kept us up to date on the latest football scores. Very nice.
Most expensive wine on the menu
How could it be otherwise: Nicolas Feuillatte champagne at €80 per bottle. But at €8.50 per glass, you can also enjoy a pleasant glass of bubbles with the Cava.
Cheapest wine on the menu
That’s the Monastrell from Spain’s Sierra Salinas: €4.25 per glass and €24 per bottle. Fine, but we preferred the Verdejo from Finca Constancia (€6.50 per glass, €35 per bottle).
Most striking dish
Burrata with pasta fritta and Moscato grapes. Chef Fernando is so in love with burrata that he created the hashtag #theburrataproject and can rightly be called a true burrata specialist. In the meantime, there’s already a new burrata project on the menu: burrata with blood orange, purple carrot and green peas. We haven’t tried that one yet, but it sounds at least as delicious!
Interior
Hip, colourful and above all much less ostentatious than you might expect in the Escobar household, BUT: there is a horse hanging on the wall. Yes indeed, a horse on the wall.
Intimacy factor
The dusty-pink walls and cosy corners do their best, but the acoustics leave something to be desired. In other words: by the end of the evening, you may well go home hoarse, because quiet chatting isn’t really an option.
Ideal for
Dinner with friends.
Music
Loud to begin with and even louder by the end of the evening.
We’ll come back for
Every burrata variation Fernando still has in store for us. Although the ceviche of watermelon, tomato and passion fruit and the arepa with mushrooms were also finger-licking good.
Value for money
You can’t exactly call it a budget spot, but you can make it as extravagant as you like. Starters cost around ten euros on average, main courses twenty euros, desserts nine euros and wine about six euros per glass—although, of course, you can also go for that champagne…
Escobar
Eerste Sweelinckstraat 10
Amsterdam
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