The Spotify of food

In the seventies and eighties, almost every restaurant had one. A trolley with starters, desserts or cheese that moved through the restaurant dining room like an avant-garde food truck. A guaranteed hit with guests. In France. Not here.

In the Netherlands, they rarely did. The cart laden with starters, desserts or cheeses, wheeled to the restaurant table by the waiter, would probably have been an excuse for the inexperienced Dutch restaurant-goer to have the plate piled as high as possible. With a heap. Something that also regularly happened during camping holidays in France, much to the dismay of the French waiters. Who, well trained as they were, did not bat an eyelid.

White glove

That must be why, unlike so many other French restaurant trends, the trolley—from white glove to underplate—never really caught on in the Netherlands.

But now that we are much more mature when it comes to restaurants and know how to behave trolley-wise heurt (make a modest choice of no more than four items), the trolley can finally make its way onto our shores too. Just in time for the comeback of this rolling foodie paradise.

The trolley, the rolling paradise for foodies.

A true DIY feast, such an apparently limitless selection from which the restaurant guest can make their own choice, like a child with ten cents in a sweet shop. The waiter then cuts a civilised piece from the selected options and places it on a plate.

Lux

A few years ago, Milan Gataric of Italian restaurant Lux in Rotterdam brought Lux’s once-beloved antipasti trolley out of mothballs. According to visitors, it is invariably the highlight of the evening, as they report on restaurant websites. With fresh, seasonal items such as egg with anchovy mayo, bagna cauda and, above all, the hit caponata. According to Gataric, ‘the cart’, as it is known in proper Rotterdam dialect, stands for freedom of choice and a homely nonchalance.

We find more trolleys especially in the port city of Rotterdam, such as Fred’s friandise trolley, which is lauded far beyond the city limits.

G&t trolley

Citroën in the old Amsterdam Citroën garage has a liqueur trolley, Het Bosch a g&t trolley. And Roomservice at Olof’s, the successful Amsterdam pop-up by star chef Chris ‘Vermeer’ Naylor, had its cake trolley. Rumour has it that it will also make an appearance at Vermeer, which is due to reopen soon. Together with the familiar cheese trolley.

Quite rightly. The trolley is the Spotify of food.

Text: Marjan Ippel
Image: Shutterstock