Our Man in the Province Went to Zwolle
He ate out several times a week, always looking for the tastiest herring, most enjoyable wine, juiciest hamburger or best meat thermometer. But six months ago, Marcel Langedijk left Amsterdam for the Province. Is it possible for a lover of good food and drink to hold out there? This time: to Zwolle.
I lived there, in Zwolle, in a majestic bank building on the equally majestically named Burgermeester Van Roijensingel. The apartment itself was small, had barely any view and could only be reached via a hundred and fifty steps, but I was young and happy there, and Zwolle was a fun city.
The lean years are over
By now I am less young and Zwolle has become a very-very-fun city. Not only because the people of Zwolle are good folk, the city is picturesque, it houses a Herman Brood museum and important rappers come from there (Sticks! Typhoon!), but also because of its food and drink scene.
In my day – we are talking about the cheerful nineties – things were still a little sparse in that department, but the lean years are over. And not only thanks to De Librije. That is in a category of its own, moreover, and that is not what we are talking about today. Today is about the small places, the little spots with unexpectedly delightful bar snacks, that establishment with an always cheerful proprietor.
There are plenty of those in Zwolle, as became clear last weekend. I was there with some good friends I have known since my youth. In search of beer, drinks snacks, lost memories and, later on, a simple yet nutritious meal. The choice was abundant. The weather was beautiful and it was Saturday, and the terraces were full, but not too full; whichever terrace we chose, we could sit down. Try doing that in the big city on a beautiful-weather Saturday.
Charly knows ribs
Because of our shared love of Irish beer, we started at Sally O’Brien, a pub that opened its doors more or less when I left Zwolle, sometime at the end of the last century. Inside it is dark and brown, there is a pool table and televisions showing sports; outside there is the terrace. Right next door you will find terraces belonging to other establishments, which we did not get to because of the heat, our laziness and the good-tasting pints of Guinness – although I hear good stories about Het Refter, in terms of food, drink and staff alike. We had snacks with the Guinness. In succession: an ENORMOUS cheese board (young, aged, herb cheeses, Zwolle mustard, for € 6.50!), a huge bowl of tortilla chips with chorizo, cheese and aioli (€5!) and Charly’s ribs with homemade Guinness BBQ sauce (€6.95 and the winner). No idea who Charly is, but he/she knows ribs.
Honourable mention
Because I am allowed to use a maximum of five hundred words for this piece and Zwolle’s food and drink scene deserves more than five hundred words, I will return to the Overijssel city in greater detail in the perhaps not even very distant future. For now, I would like to give an honourable mention to the wine list of the establishment that not for nothing calls itself Het Wijnhuis and recently became an ambassador for Champagne Barons de Rothschild (a generous glass of brut for €14.50). And to the pastrami sandwich (€7.50) at Vito’s. And, finally, to Bistro Bonne Femme, where, tired but not defeated by the Irish pints, we had our meal. Here too, we were welcomed with every courtesy and allowed to take a seat on the terrace without a reservation. The highlights, as far as we were concerned: flammkuchen with smoked bacon and the pork ribs (that marinade!). Certainly, it was a terrible day on the vegetarian front, but that is the only drawback – and one we caused ourselves. That, and the hangover.
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