Aan de Poel (**)

In Amstelveen, a suburb of Amsterdam, is Stefan van Sprang’s restaurant. The restaurant has been operating since 2008. It has had two Michelin stars since 2012. It’s been a long time since I was last here, I went to aan de Poel with a friend.

Upon arrival, the valet parking is waiting in the parking lot. There is free valet parking here, which is nice. However, it is a short walk from the parking lot to the restaurant, but there is something about not having to walk even that distance. We park the car in front of the door and report ourselves. We are guided directly to the table.

As an aperitif we start with a glass of champagne from Guy Charlemagne. A delicious champagne that goes well with the parade of amuse bouches.

Immediately after the champagne, three appetizers are served at the same time. We start with an apple with olive amuse bouche. The apple is processed into a firm substance and the olive made is filled with liquid olive. A delicious amuse bouche.

Then a vegetarian version of Beijing duck pancake. Fried oyster mushroom with julienne cut vegetables sprinkled with hoisin sauce.

Finally, a profiterole filled with truffle. The first bite is great, lots of truffle flavor, but if you chew longer, at a certain point you mainly taste mayonnaise. This is a shame.

After we have ordered the menu, we receive the last amuse bouche of peas with string beans. A nice one.

There are two menus at Aan de Poel. A seasonal menu and a 7-course signature menu. We would like to taste the chef’s signature dishes and see delicious ingredients, so we decide to order this menu. We also want a matching wine arrangement. Stefan indicates that the service can also serve better wines if they have those bottles open. We are curious what will be done with this.

The first dish is steak tartare with caviar and langoustine. The langoustine is briefly fried and has a beautiful pink color. The steak is made from beef loin and is seasoned with chives and very finely chopped onion. The tartare has a very tasty taste. Belgian caviar is on the tartare. The caviar flavor is not sufficiently recognisable, which is a shame.

The matching wine is a Chablis 2022 made by Moreau. The wine goes well with the dish. A nice combination.

As a second dish we get a kind of mille feuille of foie gras with yellow fin tuna. There is a foie gras mousse on a crisp bottom and fresh tuna on top. Next to this whole are very crispy fried cubes of pata negra ham. I found the dish tasty and it was served on a very nice plate.

This dish was accompanied by a 2022 Albariño D Fefiñanes. The wine-food combination was once again good.

Next comes the dish I was most looking forward to: lobster with macadamia and curry. A fair amount of lobster is on the plate, topped with a ring of cake with fried macadamia nuts and mayonnaise with an edamame bean on top. The curry syrup is served at the table. When I start eating I taste how sweet this is, this is not a spicy curry, but a sweet curry. I think this is a shame. There are a few spicier ingredients in the curry, but the sweetness predominates. The cookie is also sweet and that is why I personally think it is a lesser dish.

As a matching wine we get a Limoux from Toques & Clochers, again a wine from 2022. Tasting the wine separately is tasty, but it is insignificant with the dish due to the predominant sweetness of the dish. This is a shame. We give this back to the service.

As fourth dish we get smoked eel lacquered with yakitori sauce. The eel is sweet, the yakitori sauce contains a lot of sugar, which also makes the eel sweet. This is the chef’s intention, but again too sweet for me. We think the chef has a thing for sweets. The dish is tasty, but I think it could have been a little less sweet.

Because it is a sweet dish, we get a dessert wine with it. This time a 2019 Sauternes from Chateau Piada. The combination is again good.

We then have to wait 30 minutes, with a glass of wine already poured for the next dish. The break is too long. We were just about to ask when the food is coming when the risotto with black summer truffle was served. At the table, a generous amount of truffle is shaved over the dish after a wonderfully smelling Madeira sauce is first poured over the risotto. The whole thing smells really good and makes my mouth water. When I start eating I taste a lot of Parmesan cheese and little risotto and the risotto I taste is over cooked. Risotto should be served al dente, but this is completely well done.

When clearing the plates, we indicated that we did not like this dish because of the amount of cheese and the overcooked risotto. The waitress apologized and asked if we wanted another portion. Because we already had to wait 30 minutes for this dish and because we took the 7 course menu, we decided not to. Sander de Jong came to the table to apologize and asked what he can do for us. We asked for a more exclusive wine with the next dish. He will take care of that. This is service.

The wine with the risotto is a Pinot Noir from Burgundy from Domaine Pierre Boisson from 2020. This was an upgraded wine based on our remark early in the evening and the sweetness of the lobster in combination with the wine. This wine goes well with the dish.

Then we get wagyu steak. The meat is roasted pink and tastes very good. The red wine sauce served with it is very tasty. The meat is quite tender. The meat comes with a roll of julienned vegetables.

As wine we get a 2011 Valpolicella Ripasso “10 anni” from Cà dei Maghi. This was a more special wine that we were offered by Sander. This wine goes well with the dish.

We get a pre-dessert of blood orange with chocolate and citrus in nitrogen. Good in taste.

Dessert is a tarte tatin with vanilla ice cream and extra caramel. The vanilla ice cream has a very good taste, wonderfully creamy. The tarte tatin base could be a bit crispier, I think it was left a little too long, the extra caramel may also make the base a little softer.

A Riesling Trockenbeeren Auslese 2020 from Kracher is served with dessert. This is a very good wine, especially with ice cream.

8 different friandises are on a cart, we can choose a number of them. One even tastier than the other.

The service is polite and nice. A few mistakes are made, which are corrected. What I don’t like is that the host Robbert Veuger comes to tables when he knows the people, but at the tables where he doesn’t know anyone he doesn’t show his face. This is a shame.

The interior is very beautiful, many dark colors (black ceiling, dark walls, black pillars with beautiful fresh flower arrangements). It looks chic, classic and modern at the same time. I think this is a nice ambiance. In the summer it is wonderful to eat outside at the Poel van Amstelveen.

We notice that there are many returning guests and also families. This creates a relaxed atmosphere.