Fijne Valentijnsdag

Since today is Valentine's Day, I thought it would be a good time to take a break from telling you about our Paris adventures and share with you our early Valentine's celebration.

A few weeks ago, Mr. Traveler mentioned that there was a restaurant in a castle in Houten, which had recently been awarded a Michelin star. He suggested we make reservations for the Saturday before Valentine's since the restaurant is closed on Monday evenings. I glanced at the restaurant's Web site, agreed to the plan, and didn't hear anything about it until I mentioned a week later that we probably needed to go ahead and make reservations if we still wanted to eat at the suggested restaurant. At this point, I found out he had already taken care of it, and we had a reservation for 7pm on Saturday, February 12th.

Before heading to Kasteel Heemstead, we went to see True Grit at the movie theater. In the Netherlands, movies are typically shown in their original language with Dutch subtitles provided, so we didn't have to struggle through a Dutch translation. After the movie, we headed back to the house, changed clothes and made our way to the train station. We still had plenty of time to get to the restaurant, leaving almost 45 minutes before our reservation.

However, when we got to the train station, the train arrived early, but did not depart until 10 minutes after it's scheduled time. We made it to Houten with only a few minutes to spare and immediately called a cab. Unfortunately, though, the taxi company said that no one could be there for an hour. (Mr. Traveler had programmed the number for 2 companies into his phone, but we found out after dialing that both companies were part of the same overarching organization.) We walked around to see if there were any cabs sitting near the train or bus station. None were in sight, and the bus station was dark with no sign of a bus arriving soon. I suggested that we call the restaurant, let them know we were running late, and see if they had a suggestion of a different taxi service. They called a taxi company and soon we received a phone call that the cab would be arriving in about 15 minutes.

When we arrived at the restaurant, I snapped a picture of the building, and then we walked down the stairs, across the moat, and into the restaurant.

Kasteel Heemstead

The wait staff took our coats, instructing us to place our scarves in the sleeves (when you live in cold weather, I guess you discover some tricks for handling things like that), and sat us at one of the first tables near the door. Our waiter, then, offered us some champagne, but we opted instead for a Dutch white wine (I think it was a Müller-Thurgau). The waiter explained that the growing of grapes in the Netherlands is greatly affected by the lack of sunlight, which affects the flavor. Still, I thought that the wine was refreshing and, as he described, minerally.

With the wine, we received a small plate of appetizers: vegetable crisps (kind of like Terra Chips) with a curry mayonnaise and a skewer with a piece of salami, a pickle, and an olive. As soon as we finished this snack, another plate of appetizers arrived for each of us, including an oyster with cucumber sauce, a shooter filled with beef tartare, a shooter of soup, and a dim sum filled with goat cheese and chicken. When we finished these appetizers, the menu was finally delivered. We could either order the Menu “Kasteel Heemstede”, which included 4 courses selected by the chef; the Menu “Dégustation”, which included 7 smaller courses selected by the chef; or order a la carte. We discussed the options for a while, and even asked our waiter whether the 7 courses would be too much. He insisted that they would not be, as they were designed specifically to allow for eating 7 courses. Finally, we decided we would go all out and each get the Menu “Dégustation”.

As we waited for the menu, we enjoyed bread with the choice of olive oil or butter. The waiter also offered us more bread throughout the meal.

The first course consisted of 3 scallops, topped with scallop tartare in a shell. I have some pictures, but they just aren't very good because a) the lighting wasn't good for pictures and b) I didn't want to keep using the flash. So, imagine the food as much more vibrant and beautiful, and you will get the idea.

Scallops

After the scallops, we were served a small piece of salmon with "eastern vegetables" and an apple chip. The eastern vegetables ended up being a salad of beets, but I was surprised how well it went with the salmon.

Salmon

Next, we had what was called a "puff pastry" filled with lobster. I'm not a big lobster fan, and the dish was more of a wonton than a puff pastry. I didn't remember to take any pictures of this dish, but I was interested in the spoon that came with it. (Actually eat of our dishes came with their own set of unique silverware. We were fascinated by the variety of utensils.)

Saucier spoon (I believe) that came with the lobster

After the lobster, out came a piece of cod in smoked eel sauce. If this dish had appeared on an a la carte menu, I would have never have ordered it. Yet, it ended up being one of my favorite dishes. The smoky flavor of the eel and the fresh taste of the cod made for a great combination.

Cod with Eel Sauce

Then, we had the main dish, which was chicken with a tarragon sauce, surrounded by wild forest mushrooms and other vegetables. The chicken was extremely tender, but this was probably my least favorite of the dishes, as it just didn't have that "wow" factor.

Chicken - I'd already taken a few bites

 After the main course was taken away, the cheese was delivered to our table. It was a brie topped with celery and olives and served with a little mushroom shaped roll. While I don't care for celery, I had to admit it went well with the flavor of the cheese.

Cheese

Finally, we ended with a dessert, composed of orange flavored ice cream, a cone filled with yogurt and cream, an orange mousse, and some slices of orange.

Dessert

I really liked the dessert, because the taste was so refreshing. After dinner, we decided against coffee (as it was now almost midnight), but we noticed that the coffee delivered to other tables, came with another selection of sweets, once again displayed with an artistic flair.

I enjoyed the entire meal, because not only were all of the dishes very well prepared and plated, but the set menu also encouraged me to try some dishes I probably would never have ordered on my own. 

We finished our night by taking a cab back to our place, opting to pick up our bicycles from the train station in Utrecht in the morning, since we weren't sure whether or not the train was still running.

Despite the bit of a rough patch at the beginning with the taxi, we ended up having a nice and romantic Valentine's dinner. I'm sure glad we stuck with it and came up with a new plan when it looked like there was no ride in sight.