Café Roux
at
The Grand Hotel
Amsterdam

On my way to dinner at Café Roux, I discovered a corner of Amsterdam’s past. Passing under a honey-colored stone arch, I emerged into the courtyard of the once a 15th century convent. Standing on bricks, hundreds of years old, I’m surrounded by a gothic edifice covered with a classical baroque façade addition. The convent now poses as Amsterdam’s Grand Hotel and dinner at Café Roux is just one of her charms.

Disbanded during the Reformation, the convent became a royal guest house. In Holland’s Golden Age, the Dutch Admiralty put it to use and later it later became Amsterdam’s city hall. Each of these incarnations left its mark. The convent's vaulted ceilings grace the reception area with serenity. The Golden Age's sumptuousness remains in the grand staircase of marble and the gilded weather vanes—models of the Admiralty’s flagships.

The City of Amsterdam superimposed splendid art nouveau carvings, murals and stained glass windows during its reign. In 1926, a Marriage Chamber was added—in the Netherlands everyone must marry at an official site—an art nouveau masterpiece by Chris Lebeau. The room tells the tale of a couple meeting, courting, getting married and starting a family. Luminous stained glass windows of lime, purple and red depict the marriage ceremony. Murals with lush muted tones of saphire, celadon and gold tell the rest of the tale. The whole Marriage Chamber had been covered over during the Nazi occupation to keep it from harm.

A Karel Appel mural across from the entrance to Café Roux was also covered up. It is called Vragende Kinderen which means inquisitive children. They are wondering, perhaps, if they will ever eat at the Café.

My turn came at dusk when Café Roux glowed in pinks and golds. The art nouveau theme is continued with the sinuous flowing lines in the marble, glazed glass sconces and chairs framed with ebony. Café Roux faces the Oudezijds Voorburgwal canal and in good weather even moves outdoors—but inward—to the Grand’s inner gardens.

The yeast for this restaurant came from Albert Roux. He developed the menu and trained the staff. The chef and staff are kept fresh by moving them around the Roux restaurants. Not surprisingly, the staff is well-informed, multi-cultural, helpful and  a real measure of pleasure to the meal. Monsieur Roux is one of Roux brothers of BBC fame. His other restaurant is London’s La Gavroche.

In the French tradition, everything at Café Roux is made in-house. They have their own bakery and pastry shop. They cut their own meat and clean their own fish. From the start to the finish, they control the quality of the food.

Dinner reflected this care. I started with a cheese parcel featuring a creamy goat cheese which had just a little bite. It was wrapped in flaky phyllo pastry and finished with peppery basil pesto. My companion had a Napoleon of smoked salmon layered with mango and avocado; a work of visual as well as culinary art. The smoked flavor of pink salmon commingled beautifully with rich green avocado and spicy-sweet golden mango. I also tried the Soufflé Suisse which was a delicate cheese soufflé floating on a rich Gruyère sauce.

My main course, the guinea fowl with truffle and wild mushroom risotto, arrived redolent with rich and earthy scents. Guinea fowl is a pheasant-like bird originating in Africa with a flavor a bit gamier than turkey or chicken. The convergence of forest-flavored truffles and earthy wild mushrooms in creamy risotto was exceptional.

Even carnivores crave the vegetarian concoctions at Café Roux. The Polenta Rôtie was baked crisp on the outside while still creamy on the inside. Served with grilled peppers, onions, eggplant and summer squash, it was animated by a pungent, black olive vinaigrette. Another vegetarian indulgence was spinach Pappardelle—wide noodles with rippled edges—tossed in basil pesto and served with red peppers and artichoke puree. It sat on a lusty tomato sauce.

In a burst of dedication to my work, I tucked into three of Café Roux’s patisseries. A Tarte Tatin, mellow with mango rather than apple, had a buttery crust—light, crisp and just a little sweet. It sparkled with an intensely-flavored fruit coulis and marinated fresh green peppercorns. The creamy-dreamy ice creams were all Roux-made rich and fragrant with berries. Lastly, my chocolate obsession was slacked by the Truffle au Chocolat; a dark, rich and warm chocolate "cake" veiled by espresso cream.

Café Roux also offers a three-course prix fixe menu quite reasonably priced. Some Amsterdammers are so tempted by this value, they eat here nearly every night. How grand!