Test Sleeping: Restaurant Jansz. / Hotel Pulitzer Amsterdam
Hotel restaurants, once the neglected child of the hospitality industry, have suddenly become the only places where we can still go out to eat. And completely safely, too! The only disadvantage is an advantage: you have to stay the night. In the coming weeks, we’ll be test-sleeping in hotels. In search of the best restaurant hotel, but also to give the hospitality industry a helping hand. Today: Restaurant Jansz. and Hotel Pulitzer Amsterdam.
Special! 25 different canal houses
Through an ingenious network of corridors, I walk past the bar, which is already open. I sensibly take the stairs, which soon leads me to a dead end in a maze of steps and doors. Sex Museum, 1.3 kilometres North-East, Nieuwe Kerk, 650 metres East: colourful signs send me in the wrong direction. Then I run into the concierge. ‘Can you find your room?’ he asks, laughing.
He gives me a valuable hint, and a little later I step through double doors into the Cosy Suite. A movable minibar with a cocktail set and a television, a sitting area with sofa bed, a desk with mirror, coloured pencils, a kettle in the shape of a teapot and a cafetière (which is a fancy name for a French press).
I open the curtains and look out over the courtyard of the 25 different canal houses that together make up this hotel. Then I quickly head to the bar and order a cocktail. The beautifully dressed and coiffed couples around me are delighted. They’re going out to dinner shortly.
Garnished with a generous amount of caviar
‘We’re serving alcohol until eight,’ says the waiter in the restaurant. ‘It’s not that we’ll take the glasses off the table at exactly 8, of course,’ he reassures me. ‘But do order in time.’ The menu features classics. Caesar salad, hanger steak, salmon with black rice. I start with a prawn cocktail with avocado, garnished with a generous amount of caviar and a quail’s egg. The flavour is velvety smooth, and the prawns are bursting with freshness.
My glass of wine is empty at five past eight. It’s too late for another glass, so I drink water. The main course is steak tartare with mustard and an egg yolk, served with fries and a green salad. Despite the dressing, the salad leaves are feather-light; the tartare is full of flavour, and the fries are crisp. I hear my neighbour talking about chocolate fondant and briefly consider having dessert, but decide that the rest of the evening should be devoted to health. I need to protect myself from eternal temptations.
A closed bar…
After dinner, I walk past the now-closed bar to the hotel room. The curtains are already closed, the bed has been turned down and slippers are waiting in front of it. Peace. The little bottles from the minibar wink at me, but I make a cup of tea, get under the large duvet and immediately fall into a deep sleep. I dream about a complex network of corridors. The signs keep changing, and suddenly I’m outside. I knock on the bar window and shout: ‘I live here!’ But no one hears me.
Eggs Florentine
Let yourself be tempted
Jansz., Reestraat 8, Amsterdam
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