A morning of tea, biscuits and reading/blogging. A really slow start which saw us not leave the house until lunchtime where I made a dart for the Albert Heijn to get some groceries. Jonts and Cait were at gym and messaged to say they were keen to come for lunch afterwards. I bought Mexican tortilla wraps, black beans, cheese, humus, avos, salad, mushrooms, chicken and some sauces and dips for wraps.
While everyone chatted and Ash prepared all the sides, I fried up the mushrooms, chicken strips and finished off the chilli beans. I then tossed the wraps on the pan for 2 minutes each and violà… lunch was served. We chatted plans for the 30th and 31st as Jonts had booked events on both nights for us and also chatted about dinner later on at A-Fusion, a southeast Asian restaurant, where we had booked a kind of “Christmas present” dinner for the 4 of us to enjoy instead of buying something small for one another.
What’s a meeting without a game? A missed opportunity I’d say. Not wanting this to be the result, Jonts whipped out the Monopoly Deal and we sat around the dining room table and played a few hands. It’s Monopoly themed but less like the original game in terms of the length of the game or goal to win. It’s also a card game with no pieces or additional elements like the actual game has. The first person to complete three property sets wins. We had some tea and biscuits and and then Jonts and Cait left to get ready for dinner.
I chatted to Ayra and my folks, Ash stretched and then we chilled before having a shower and walking the 30 minutes over to A-Fusion on the outskirts of Chinatown. The walk from De Pijp was beautiful along the canals with many apartments lit up in Christmas lights still, while restaurants and bars were buzzing with chatter heard each time the doors swung open with more people escaping the cold outdoors for the warm indoors. We sat down to smells of sizzling beef, teriyaki sauce and Asian flavours. The girls selected a bottle of Villa Blanche Chardonnay and we had some Asahi Japanese beers.
The style of Japanese and south East Asian cuisine is much like the Spanish tapas dining. Small sharing plates for the whole table to enjoy. And enjoy we did! We started with the a Flaming Sake & Two Times Tuna special rollsa and the Ebi tempura rolls. We then moved onto the Mama Wongs dumplings and Sticky Korean chicken before trying both the tuna tataki and Cambodian basil beef tatake. We also ordered some more Chardonnay before trying the Spicy Dynamite special rolls, Sze Chuan Crab and the “self assembly” duck pancakes. These were a lot of fun with the strips of duck, fresh greens and Hoi sin sauce to tie it all together. We also finished off with the Tom Yum chicken sticks. Instead of writing out the ingredients for each dish… I attach the menu below with the dishes we ate highlighted in blue.
Not allowing space for dessert, we settled the bill and headed outside to walk around Chinatown. The narrow roads are filled with bars, Amsterdam coffee shops 💨, restaurants, sex shops, vibey clothing shops and everything else in between. It’s chaotic yet special. It’s one of the things that makes Amsterdam, Amsterdam. Definitely more so for the youthful tourists on their first Contiki or European adventure. It must be mind blowing.
Feeling like a nightcap, I found us a famous cocktail bar in Singel about a 20 minute walk away on route towards the Rijks. Flying Dutchmen Cocktails focuses on neo-classic cocktails and features the largest backbar in the Netherlands with over 800 unique spirits. It’s also got some impressive accolades with Best cocktailbar and Top 10 Cocktailbar Europe to name a few.
The place bar is small and quaint but really beautiful. That backbar is actually mesmerising and quite difficult to take your eyes off. As it was our first time there we decided to order of the specials menu. Here are our orders:
- Jonty & Cait – Passionfruit Fix. Ketel One vodka, fresh passionfruit, lemon juice, Galliano Liqueur and vanilla syrup. “Not only Pornstars get to have all the fun. Our fixed answer to the modern martini”
- Ash – Boulevardier. Bulleit Rye Whiskey, Campari and Dolin red vermouth. “American whiskey at its heart and named after the magazine edited by the drinks inventor: Harry McElhone”
- Esti – Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. Chairman’s reserve rum, Falernum, Cointreau and Lime juice. “This Bermuda yacht club creation only got the prefix “Royal” after Prince Albert decided to become a regular”
I could have stayed for another and another but they had reservations coming in and we had lost our seats so we all decided to call it a night. We said cheers to Jonts and Cait and walked the short trek into De Pijp for some much needed rest. An awesome day but I’m stuffed. I don’t know how the Baron and his guests were eating and drinking like that everyday at the De Haar Castle back in the 19th century. Piggies 🐷
KEEP RIGHT PASS LEFT 