Toast à la Libertine

Marjan loves brioche. Especially toasted brioche that isn’t sweet but slightly salty. And generously topped with savoury rather than sweet things. Her new Amsterdam neighbourhood spot, Libertine Comptoir de Cuisine, does exactly that.

Forget the somewhat pretentious name. Because this second Libertine—after Libertine Café Café—is anything but a snobbish narrow establishment with a small bar, large wall neon and an open kitchen you walk past on your way to the tables. The first thing that catches your eye isn’t the notably modest amount of vintage hip décor pieces—at least by owners Casper Reinders and Steven Pooters’ standards—but the supply of fresh brioche loaves waiting to be topped.

French toast

The brioche comes from local bakery Mama Bakery, run by Karel Goudsblom, who bakes it lightly sweet for Libertine for the French toast (wentelteefjes) topped with fruit, cream, Nutella, mascarpone and/or pecans in the morning, and somewhat saltier especially for the afternoon toast.

And it turns out that such an airy, crisp brioche is the ideal base for the seriously underrated fried mushrooms in our country (€6.50, with spinach €8), the chicken liver mousse with caramelised onions (€9.50), and the lobster New England style (€18.50). Eggs Benedict with ham also works well on brioche. Elsewhere on the English-language toast menu: steak tartare and Philly cheesesteak, among other things.

Try the baked mushrooms on brioche toast

There is of course no reason not to order toast in this toastroom headed by French chef Stephan Robert. But if you’re more of a yoghurt-and-granola person in the morning, no problem. Except that you’ll be missing out on something.

Hash browns

The toasts are filling, but if you want something extra with your savoury lunch, you can order hash browns, spinach, salads or baby artichokes on the side. Or oysters (3 fines de Claire for a tenner) to start, followed by lemon or chocolate cake and/or cheese.

One thing: serving food on a board has been pretty 2014 for quite some time. But the once-trendy greaseproof paper on which the heavily topped toast is placed on that wood is simply irritating: if your poached egg runs onto it, just try getting that egg yolk into your mouth. What a waste! Moreover, after a few bites the paper is so saturated with moisture that you’re bound to unknowingly eat a piece of it at some point.

Veal kidneys, please

That doesn’t change the fact that Libertine C. de C.’s toast is highly recommended, and I can only hope that the following toppings will soon also appear on the menu: monkfish liver, veal kidneys and, à la vol-au-vent: veal or mushroom ragout.

Libertine Comptoir de Cuisine, Berenstraat 22, Amsterdam.

Image: Marjan Ippel