Restaurant Review: My Old Dutch (Holborn, London)

Poffertjes with ice cream and whipped cream

On the 6^th of March it was my 19^th birthday, and of course I had to celebrate this with my friends from uni. The night before my birthday we went out to Ministry of Sound, where Far East Movement was performing that night (and sadly it wasn’t that great…). On the day itself I took my friends out for dinner. This is something I’ve been doing every year for about 3 years now, as I think most people enjoy going out for dinner and it also gives you the opportunity to chat with each other. This time, it also gave my friends the opportunity to try some different food: Dutch food!

London, being as multicultural as it is, is actually home to a Dutch restaurant. This is something I still find quite surprising as the Dutch cuisine is not very famous and we don’t have many typically Dutch dishes. But we do have pancakes! This is also the main dish served at My Old Dutch, a Dutch-inspired restaurant with three locations around London (Holborn, Chelsea and Kensington). We went to the one in Holborn, as this is only a short tube ride away from our uni. A while back I also went to the one in Chelsea with a friend, so I more or less knew what to expect from the restaurant.

As I said, My Old Dutch serve pancakes. Pancakes for dinner? Yes, pancakes for dinner. In The Netherlands, we quite regularly eat pancakes for dinner (or at least in my family we do, and I think other families do too). At My Old Dutch the pancakes are Dutch, which means they are very big, the size of a big plate. Hence, one pancake is very likely to fill you up (and if not, don’t worry – they have desserts too!). The menu is quite varied, with a choice of sweet and savoury pancakes. In addition to pancakes, they also serve poffertjes (Dutch mini, puffy ‘pancakes’), various starters, salads and desserts. Not the whole menu is traditionally Dutch, I believe they also serve American-style pancakes, but it has certainly been inspired by Dutch culinary tradition.

Some of the pancakes. Yes they do sometimes look like pizzas but they really are pancakes! (sorry about the quality/strange angle of the photograph, it was taken by my friend and unfortunately I don't have any better ones)

As a starter we ordered ‘bitterballen’ (Dutch meat-ragout balls) and ‘kaasballen’ (fried cheese balls). These were both very good, although the spiciness of the mustard to go with the bitterballen surprised some of my friends. Following this everyone had a pancake as a main course. We all had different pancakes, and I had a pancake topped with a compote of berries and scoops of vanilla ice cream. It was a delicious pancake, and in fact so large that I could not finish it! The only thing I was missing was a bottle of ‘stroop’ (syrup) on the table. I was surprised that we did not get this with our pancakes as there had been one on the table in the Chelsea restaurant. After the pancakes some of us weren’t full yet (there are a couple of big eaters, haha) and had a dessert. I shared Dutch apple pie with one of my friends. I was surprised that this apple pie did actually taste like a Dutch one does, although I personally would have liked it even more if there had been raisins in it as well. Some of the others shared plates of ‘poffertjes’ with ice cream and chocolate sauce and they told me they really enjoyed it!

The murals add to the atmosphere, although they do not remind me of Dutch people/The Netherlands.

All in all we enjoyed our night at the restaurant and our Dutch-style meal. The interior is also inspired by The Netherlands. Even the plates our pancakes were served on had Dutch drawings of the seasons on them. I think the atmosphere of the restaurant is best in the upstairs area. We were brought to the basement and the atmosphere there was not as nice as it was rather massive, and the lamps above our table did not work so it was fairly dark.

I like:
- The restaurant provides me with a taste of home in London.

- The pancakes are the way you would find them in a Dutch pancake restaurant – very big!
- They serve some other Dutch foods such as bitterballen and poffertjes.

- Good value for money – a pancake costs around 8 or 9 pounds, depending on the topping you choose.

- My Old Dutch have a 10% discount for students! So don’t forget to take your student card.

I less like:
- The atmosphere could have been better – the lights need to be fixed.
- There was no ‘stroop’ on the table, something you find in every single Dutch pancake restaurant! I suggest putting a bottle of stroop and a can of sugar on the table so guests can add this to their pancake.

- The waitress added the ‘optional’ service to my bill without asking. Now I was happy to pay the service but if the service had been bad I would not have wanted to pay extra. If a service charge it is added to my bill without asking I feel like I cannot refuse and simply have to pay it.

- The online reservation system does not seem to work very well. I made an online reservation, and even received an email the day before reminding me of my reservation, so I assumed everything had worked out. However, when I came into the restaurant they only had a hand written system and my reservation was not noted down. I came in with 8 people and was lucky it wasn’t busy and we got a table immediately, but imagine if this happens when it is really busy! So the restaurant needs to either link their reservation systems or discard one of them to avoid problems.

All in all, I would visit My Old Dutch again and recommend it to anyone who is looking for a slightly unique meal with a taste of The Netherlands.

My Old Dutch Holborn can be found at:

131-132 High Holborn
Holborn
London
WC1V 6PS

More information can be found on their website: www.myolddutch.com

x Loes

Recommended Blog: The Londoner

From now on I will regularly share the blogs I enjoy reading, so that you can start following these lovely bloggers too!

The Londoner

My first recommendation is The Londoner. Rose, a girl currently living in London, is the person behind this blog. As the name already suggests, a lot of her posts are in someway related to London. This is also the reason I started following her blog. I think I found her blog about a year ago when I was looking for people blogging from/about London. Rose always has some great tips when it comes to things to do in London! And although her restaurant suggestions are a little too expensive for me it is always fun to look at the gorgeous pictures she takes of the food.
I enjoy following The Londoner because Rose's writing style is really nice, it's laid back but professional as well. Furthermore she always includes great pictures, usually ones she took herself, in her posts. Of course Rose also leaves London once in a while, and then she will blog about her adventures elsewhere!

So if you love London and lifestyle blogs, have a look at www.thelondoner.me! (:

Are there any blogs you would like to recommend to me?

(P.S. I wanted to include a photo in this post but I couldn't save and upload any pictures from The Londoner, so I'm sorry it looks so boring!)

Hello 2012!

Hi :)

I haven't blogged in ages. I am so busy with school, because I am in my final year. But I decided that I should try to post something once a week from now on. I would like to work in the media in the future so it might be useful to practice by writing some articles/posts! I will write about different topics, ranging from beauty to cooking to travelling, and eventually try to find my favourite thing to write about. But I will start off in this post by looking back at 2011 and welcoming 2012, a year that will bring many changes.

2011 went by really fast, it feels like it was January 2011 just a month ago. I did a lot of amazing things throughout this year. I will take you through my year in chronological order, stopping at the most amazing events that took place in my life. Some months have been skipped because nothing really interesting happened in those months.

Mosque in Marrakech

March - At the beginning of this month I went on a school trip to Morocco. We spent a few days in Marrakech, followed by a few days in the Atlas mountains. Both parts of the trip were amazing, and I certainly want to visit Morocco again. I also celebrated my 17th birthday in Marrakech!

July - In July I went to England for 10 days with my parents and brother. I wasn't there just for a holiday, I was visiting universities! I visited Royal Holloway University of London, University of Reading, Oxford, Cambridge, King's College London and Queen Mary University of London. It was a busy but fun trip because I visited some cities I had never been to before.

August - At the end of August I started my last year of high school. It's a busy year, and it feels like I have too little time to do too many things. That's the reason I didn't blog much since August.

October - In October I sent in my university application to UCAS and also got my first offer from Royal Holloway for Spanish with German. I also handed in my Extended Essay in this month.

 Oriel College, Oxford

December - I went to Oxford for 3 days for interviews at Oriel College! It was a great experience to go through this process and the interviews were quite enjoyable. Eventually I got rejected though, which means I will be going to London.

As you can see it's been a busy year. 2012 won't be any different for me, especially with my exams coming up in May. Here a few big things that will happen in 2012:

March - On the 6th of March I will be turning 18! Unfortunately this is right in the middle of my mock exams and therefore I will have to celebrate the weekend after.

May - In May I will have my IB exams! I start on the 2nd of May with English paper 1 and finish on the 18th of May with Biology paper 3. I'm already looking forward to the last day, when it will finally all be over!

September - At the end of summer I will be moving to London to go to university! I still need to pick which university I will go to (either King's College or Queen Mary) but I am already really excited. This also means I will be moving out and I won't live with my parents anymore.

A very exciting year as you can see, with a few big things to look forward to! I will keep you updated on all important things that happen this year :)

One question to you, my reader: what type of post would you like to see on my blog soon?

Loes

David & Goliath

"We make stupid stuff, so you don't have to."

David & Goliath is a brand which was founded in 2000. They make different items, including clothes (ranging from sweaters to pyjama pants), with a sense of humour. The items have prints of well-known David & Goliath characters, and often also have funny sayings, for example: "Boys are stupid, throw rocks at them.". The brand focuses on girls and young women, but they are also starting to make things for men.

I really like the range of characters and sayings that are printed on the different items sold by David & Goliath. Sadly there is no David & Goliath shop in The Netherlands. So when I was in London, I just had to go there! I ended up visiting both the shop at Covent Garden and the one in Carnaby Street, because at Covent Garden they didn't have the items I liked in my size. Both shops are amazing, so if you are ever in London (or any other place where there is a David & Goliath shop), walk in, even if it's just to laugh at the funny items they sell. You can see the items I bought in London in my England shoplog, which you will find a few posts down. 

Here are some more items that I like:

 

 What do you think of David & Goliath? Do you have any David & Goliath items?

England :]

Here are some pictures I took during my holiday (which was a busy one, because I was doing a university tour) in England!

Taken from the boat from Dunkirk to Dover.

A street in St. Albans, I thought the houses were adorable!

The ruins of a Roman theatre in St. Albans.

A house by the ruins of the Roman theatre. I thought it had a kind of magical touch.

Royal Holloway, University of London in Egham (a small town close to London). What a gorgeous building!

Royal Holloway again :]

Windsor Castle. We didn't go in, because it was really expensive. But it was nice from the outside as well :]

A really long road (or whatever you want to call it) by Windsor Castle.

Lady Margaret Hall, the college I visited at Oxford. I love the gardens surrounding the building!

Corpus Christi, the college I visited at Cambridge. Again, an amazing building.

People punting on the Cam. We got lots of offers to go punting as well, but we didn't go because it was raining and we were busy with other things.

King's College London, located right next to Waterloo bridge on the Thames <3

King's College London again.

The Thames and the Big Ben.

The Big Ben again, we just finished dinner and the light of the sun was gorgeous!

The London Eye. The red box/cart/whatever made taking pictures so much more interesting :]

The London Eye and the Thames.

Enjoying the sunshine on Trafalgar Square!

In M&M World on Leicester Square, what a crazy store!











Sorry for the huge amount of photographs, but I didn't want to leave any of them out. All photographs (except for the ones with me on it) were taken by me. Please do not use them without my permission.

Which photograph do you like best? And what did you enjoy most when you last visited England?

Shoplog England

I spent the first week and a bit of my holidays in England, and of course I did the necessary shopping! I didn't spend much time shopping for clothes, because my brother (who says I've been in a clothing shop for hours when, actually, I've only been in there for 15 minutes) and dad were with me and my mum. But I still bought some nice things. Here are some pictures:

David & Goliath pyjama pants! The left one has hearts in different colours/styles and the right one has little big bens, red busses, guards and clouds (I just had to buy this one!).






 



Two David & Goliath T-shirts, with London theme of course :]

Poster of the map of the tube (ignore the books, I had to make the poster flat xD).



Bag with I <3 London, for the schoolbooks that don't fit in my normal schoolbag, and tea in little red bus tins.

 

Close-up of the tins with tea. The left one contains 'London tea' and the right one English Breakfast tea.

 

Book with high tea recipes <3
And the book 'Make The Most of Your Time on Earth' with 1000 travel experiences in many different countries.

 

These cupcake cases are so cute, I just had to buy them when I saw them :]

 

Some books to help me prepare for university and some to help me with my extended essay. From left to right: a book with poems by Federico García Lorca (including English translations!), a book with Spanish short stories (again with English translations), a book on how English became the world's language, a biography about Kazuo Ishiguro, an autobiography of Evelyn Waugh (I'm doing my extended essay on 'The Remains of the Day' by Ishiguro and 'Brideshead Revisited' by Waugh), and a book on linguistics. I think you can guess that I want to study something with language and linguistics?

I always send cards to my friends when I am on holidays, and I also always buy some for myself. This time I bought two in Oxford and one in Windsor.

 

After a lot of problems (I ordered it from Amazon.de but they sent me an e-mail twice saying that it would come 2 weeks later, and I searched for it in music stores in The Netherlands but they didn't have it anywhere) I finally got my copy of Dirty Work, All Time Low's new album! :]

Some magazines! Seventeen (an american magazine, which you've probably heard of in ANTM), National Geographic Traveler and Jamie (Oliver) magazine :]

Besides this we also bought a box of cadbury roses (amazing chocolates!), but I didn't take a picture of those. And my brother got a ferrari from my dad. Too bad for him it's a model xD

What kind of things do you buy when you go on holidays?

5 Must visit cities

Last week I told you which cities I would like to visit. Now I would like to recommend some cities to you. These are my five favourite cities, and I would recommend them to anyone who loves visiting (and exploring) cities!

1. Hamburg

 

Picture from: http://thesewallsthatsurroundme.tumblr.com/post/2073098622#notes

Over the seven years in which I lived in Hamburg, I slowly fell in love with this city. I find it hard to describe why I love this city. The city has a nice atmosphere, and I really feel at home there. If you want to see the whole city at once, climb the Michaelis Kirche, which gives you a gorgeous view over Hamburg and its harbours. Besides this, Hamburg is also has nice shops, and after shopping one can relax by the Alster lake in the middle of the city. Oh, Hamburg is also a gorgeous city around Christmas (see picture)!

2. London

Picture from: http://happilyeverafter-startshere.tumblr.com/page/54

I have only visited London 3 times, of which I don’t remember the first two times because I was too young, but I have fallen in love with this city. At the moment I am even considering studying in London. I don’t know the city very well yet, but I think I can feel at home there. During my last visit I especially enjoyed Camden Markets, which I really recommend to anyone who likes alternative markets!

3. Marrakech

Picture by me

In March, I went on a school trip to Morocco and we spent two days in Marrakech. This city is very different from the first two, but that also makes it very interesting. Morocco is only about 3 hours flying way from The Netherlands, but it is a very different world. I found it really fun to go shopping in the souks and  haggle over prices. If you want to see a large part of the city in a short time, I recommend taking one of the horse carts, they can take you around the whole city.

4. Valencia

Picture from: http://beautyineverything.com/5270964554

Again, a city I visited on a school trip. Last year, I went on a Spanish trip to this city. We had Spanish lessons in the mornings, and did sightseeing in the afternoons. On one afternoon we walked to the Ciudad de las Artes y la Ciencias (a science center/museum) through the park that has been created in the dry river. Besides this, the loud (cracking) fireworks that took place every day because of the Fallas (a week of partying in Valencia, I’m not sure what the reason was), were also a highlight. And don’t forget to eat a lot of tapas and churros (fried dough sticks), since you are in Spain!

5. Venice

Picture from: http://a-spectrum-in-the-mirror.tumblr.com/post/6635695183

Like I said in my post about cities I would love to visit: I simply love Italy. I visited Venice about 6 years ago, and I think it’s a wonderful city! All the water with the gondolas in it, and the bridges, give it a romantic touch. I would love to visit this city again and I really want to see the Venetian carnival sometime, the costumes always look so pretty.

Did you ever visit any of these cities, or are you planning on visiting one of them?