SOUP IN AMSTERDAM (7 march 2004)
Faculties that are not used tend to deteriorate. This is particularly true when people are getting older. Elderly people who spend most of their time watching television tend to lose the faculties of both movement and creative thought.
This is one of the reasons why my sweetheart and I go for a walk a few times a week. Another reason is that Amsterdam is a great city for walking around.
A walk from our home to the railway station takes anything between one and three hours, depending on the route we take and how many shops or markets we visit during our walk. Needless to say walks on Sundays tend to be shorter than on weekdays.
But however wholesome some movement may be, it can be quite pleasant to have it interrupted by a llittle rest at a restaurant or café. But of course, restaurants are not too keen on welcoming guests who only sit down and use their toilets. So we usually combine business with pleasure by having a cup of soup.
Our favourites are a few Chinese restaurants that serve excellent wonton soup.
wonton soup
If you want to know the addresses -- well, there are several excellent Chinese restaurants that serve this dish which is often as delicious as it is simple.
Two of our favourites are Chong Kee at Kinkerstraat and Golden Chopsticks at Damstraat.
By the way, it's not only the soup which is good at these restaurants.
But sometimes we try a new restaurant. This can be somewhat risky, especially when it concerns a place where we have never been before.
Recently we tried restaurant Mevlana at Nieuwe Zijds Voorburgwal. I must say the lentil soup that we ordered was not very expensive, just three euros a cup. I agree lentil soup should contain lentils, but this soup tasted of nothing else. The soup was served with ground red peppers and lemon, but the cook could have added a little more herbs and spices, such as cumin, garlic or coriander leaves.
Mevlana
Not a very lucky choice either was the Stokkenbar at Sint Luciensteeg . My sweetheart ordered mushroom soup, and peasoup is what I opted for. I must say they looked pleasant enough and both were served with slices of baguette. Moreover, mine was served with bacon and butter. But it's unclear why I didn't get a knife or fork with it.
two cups of soup at the Stokkenbar
But a definite problem was the taste. The mushroom soup mainly tasted of cream. The mushrooms must have been added later.
And my soup was quite thin and watery, definitely not made according to one of the good old Dutch recipes for peasoup.
But we won't allow ourselves to get discouraged from trying out new restaurants from time to time. After all, what would life be without taking risks?
