Ouch, steakhouse Loetje gets a merciless review in Het Parool
Ouch, steakhouse Loetje received a merciless review in Het Parool this weekend (Saturday, 6 May 2023). The meat from South America is tender, the chicken liver is still just as delicious as it used to be, but that is the only positive thing in the review. The gravy and the fake steak in particular are heavily criticized – and not just a little.
Culinary journalist Mara Grimm wrote the review following her visit to the Loetje where it all began: at Johannes Vermeerstraat 52. When it was founded, 45 years ago, the intention was for Café Loetje to become a pool café. Then Ludwig ‘Loetje’ Klinkhamer made a fortunate mistake by putting his tenderloin steak on the menu. Before long, the place was packed with steak lovers, bathing in gravy, wondering why that pool table was in the way.
Loetje all over the country
At Loetje, four hundred to six hundred tournedos are now eaten per location, per day – Amsterdam alone has six Loetje locations, and in the rest of the Netherlands, from Zwolle to Vught, you can also take a seat at a Loetje location. And when the hospitality industry was closed due to coronavirus, Loetje’s steak drive-in was the takeaway hit. Loetje Klinkhamer has since passed away, and Loetje is now part of the largest hospitality group in the Netherlands: Restaurant Company Europe (RCE). And it has ambitious plans – there is even talk of Loetje locations in Germany.
The reactions are far from mild
What exactly was so bad, according to Mara? First: Loetje’s Biefstuk Bali 0.0. There had already been controversy about that. €24.50 for a piece of fake meat?!, people reacted, completely outraged by the high price of a piece of meat from the printer. And Mara is not exactly enthusiastic about the taste either. She would preferably mask it with Loetje gravy, but that is precisely where everything goes wrong. ‘The “classic Loetje gravy” we ordered with it turns out to be even worse: an unemulsified, pale pool of fat with so many loose black particles that it looks as though an ashtray has been emptied into it.’ (It gets even worse, read the full account of Loetje here).
Tastes differ
Jorine Sieperda, RCE’s marketing director, does not seem particularly impressed by the review’s grade of 4. ‘Although the world is changing, we still ensure that the success of 45 years ago is preserved, and we still stand for the same hospitality, the same high-quality tenderloin steak with the same gravy, and welcoming locations in which we invest heavily. At the same time, we are keeping up with the trends and are pleased that we were able to introduce the plant-based steak last year.’ This was her written response in Het Parool.
Also read:
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- Snackspert is ecstatic about AH’s Mexicano sandwich (but throws up over the tapas)
Source: Het Parool, image: Loetje/Brian Mahulette
