Snackspert’s week: ‘This is already the answer to McDonald’s McKroket’
Eke Bosman, better known as Instagram phenomenon @snackspert, ate his first frikandel as a baby, hates vlammetjes, has already devoured at least 1,000 burgers in his life, suspects he has more mayonnaise in his body than blood, and shares his best and worst snack reviews on FavorFlav every other week.
Better than bliss
Multi-course menu with snacks from Loaded Utrecht
The Michelin Guide comes out every year, and although several (large) cities have a few Michelin-starred restaurants, Utrecht misses out. And that’s strange, because I’ve mentioned before that Loaded in Utrecht might just be the absolute best place in this student city. And it deserves a star. You can go to the Poema, Tivoli or the Woo to pull a chick/boy with your drunk mug, but you can also simply go to Loaded to be thoroughly spoiled—in the best sense of the word. Just look at this. A multi-course menu with snacks. Insanely delicious. I’ll keep it brief this time (haha, no chance, mate), because a text that’s too long may be just as exciting as reading the Bible aloud. Right, the first one: deep-fried sushi, insanely umami, delicious Japanese mayonnaise. Beetroot salmon and kimchi on top; don’t change a thing. An explosion of flavour in your mouth. The second: a burger with caramelised onion and jalapeño sriracha—my goodness. As tender as the kiss of your beloved, that’s how delicious this party is. Just thinking about it makes me crave it again. Everything, really. On to the next: sweet potato fries with brown butter mayonnaise (lovely and rich, but damn delicious), a mix of turmeric spices on the potatoes, spring onion and almonds. You don’t see those in the photo because I’m allergic to nuts, but my dining companion said it was a fantastic combination. I believe her straight away. Finally, you get the tempura vegetables: broccoli, oyster mushrooms and carrot. Served with soy-sushi vinegar. This is how tempura should be. As if you’re sitting at the Japanese restaurant yourself. A party in your mouth. And vegan too. It. Couldn’t. Be. Better. The fifth photo isn’t a snack, but it’s nevertheless highly recommended: ceviche with avocado (topped with za’atar) and fermented tomato. What a combination. I’ll just say it again: this place genuinely deserves a Michelin star. I’m not joking. The way the chef combines ingredients here is magnificent. Unique. And yes, it may not fall into the fine-dining category, but I hope the people from Michelin drop by sometime. They’ll be amazed. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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?: Loaded, Utrecht
?: @loadedutrecht
?: roughly 7–9 euros per dish
FreaKINGdel Burger from Burger King
There hasn’t been such a major snack launch in ages. Burger King has come out with the frikandel speciaal burger (they call it the FreaKINGdel Burger themselves, but I simply don’t agree with that) and I have to say: this is already the answer to McDonald’s McKroket. At last, a major fast-food chain is doing something with frikandel. Because frikandel is just as important in your life as a heart: you can’t live without it. The frikandel speciaal burger comes with sliced (1.5) frikandel, a bit of onion (not in the photo, but it was on the meat), and some mayonnaise and curry. Just as a frikandel speciaal should be. Once I ordered it at Burger King, I couldn’t wait to put it in my mouth, but that took a while because it’s typical Burger King that you have to wait a ridiculously long time for your order yet again. By the way, a follower who tapped me on the shoulder in the restaurant also wanted me to mention this, so there you go: you’re welcome. Once it was delivered, I unwrapped it and saw pure bliss. Slightly burnt at the front, admittedly, but my hair isn’t always on point either (or it’s caught fire) and I look like I have a hangover, yet people still want to hang out with me. Fortunately, the rest wasn’t burnt, so that’s something. It’s the taste that matters, after all. And that’s perfectly fine. There’s genuinely nothing wrong with it, although it could use a few more onion rings; one thick one isn’t enough. But otherwise, it’s a truly tasty frikandel speciaal—just in burger form. In terms of value for money, it easily deserves four solid stars. It’s always fun to tear down something that’s being hyped to the moon, but I can’t be negative here. This is seriously tasty, especially at that price. Chapeau! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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?: Burger King
?: @burgerkingnl
?: 1.95 euros
Meh. Just, meh.
Spar’s cheese snack
The cheese snack. I always think of it as the vlammetje of the savoury pastries. I’d rather go for a frikandel roll, a sausage roll, and so on. But I also have to admit that the cheese snack is absolutely not disgusting—in fact, quite the opposite. In general, people would rather have melted cheese in their mouth than just about anything else, so something like this can never go wrong. There’s nothing wrong with Spar’s version either. And that may also be exactly what’s wrong with it, because it wasn’t particularly special. Just a perfectly decent little thing. Nothing to complain about. Like when someone at work puts on Tino Martin’s “Zij Weet Het” and sings along loudly, but you don’t mind because it’s actually quite a nice song. That’s what this cheese snack is like too. Fine. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
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?: SPAR, Amsterdam
?: @sparnederland
?: 1.50 euros
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