Rotterdam: a history of tablecloths
BREAKFAST AT THE NEW YORK HOTEL
Let's start where the European life of many immigrants ended. The old headquarters of the Holland American Line, a transport company that connected Rotterdam with North America, today is an oasis of brick among the cold aluminum. For 20 years it is a hotel that turned out thanks to its location, its outdated aesthetics and the history that it treasures within its colorful walls. The fact that it is one of the few buildings that recall what Rotterdam was like before the bombing of World War II makes people look at it with affection and pamper it. Or what is the same for gastronomic-routine purposes, that they take the taxi-boats that connect any riverside point of the city with the Wilhelmina pier for breakfast in a vintage atmosphere but with a gamer.
Breakfast at the New York Hotel
COFFEE BY THE CAPE
Katendrecht, or more popularly known as 'the Cape', was always the black sheep of Rotterdam , the neighborhood of the blush, of the bad boys and the hopeless girls. Its decline reached such an extent that the Nazi captains forbade their soldiers to set foot in this neighborhood. But, like Europe's war ruins, the Cape is coming up with youth, creativity and a reverence for a good espresso.
Crossing the bridges to get here is worth only a visit to photographer Paul Posse's bar . The most hipster photographer among the hipsters in the city occupies a soulless warehouse with recycled tables, eighties photographs and a very delicate espresso that he accompanies with brownies (from the non-hallucinogenic, eh?) and conversation. He talks about his passions, why he has been wearing Levi's 501 his whole life, of his aesthetic and practical obsession with vintage bicycles and his new business: a restaurant that will be located adjacent to his studio for cool networking. Essential. Then there is the rest of the neighborhood, still propped up, where cafes like Zeeuwse Meisjes They lead the way with their delicate touch and decoration.
Posse Espressobar, Paul Posse's bar
MARKET APPETIZER
The urbanity and modernity of Rotterdam shines with whole families riding on a single bike (seriously), fifties barbershops and regular flea markets. The one that has the brightest is that of the farmers in the area , which is located in a different park each month. The atmosphere is the antithetical to the Spanish flea market. Here is the really good, the best, the most lovingly cared for. There is even live music and people get their supplies sitting on straw prisms! Here one can gobble down a genuine biscuit from the sailors of the Maas , drink an infusion made with the finest herbs and even try what are considered the best fries in the place, those of Haute Friture Fritez, a van that is usually at all the open-air soirees in Rotterdam. However, to be on the safe side, it is better to look for her every day on her official Facebook.
Rotterdam-style flea market appetizer
LUNCH AT DE JONG
The first look at the De Jong restaurant proves again that Rotterdam likes to sanctify the old . The whole town knows that Jim de Jong is one of the most up-and-coming chefs in the country, but he doesn't care and doesn't care about looking better or moving elsewhere. His cozy restaurant, located under an abandoned train station, is enough for him and he has more than enough . He shines with his young menu, with his cheerful character and with an outstanding formula where the vegetarian temptation exists, it is not ignored. Logical considering that the Netherlands is a country of greenhouses and family farms.
De Jong, vegetarian talent
PASTA AND WHISKEY
The desktop has a clear destination: the north. In the Oude Noorden neighborhood, the percentage of shops dedicated to gourmet and cooking is extremely high . And all for a matter of commercial chance. Going through Zwaanshals and Zaagmolenkade streets from top to bottom allows you to find cafes and shops as cool as ** Lof der Zoetheid **, the ultimate tribute to contemporary homemade confectionery. Here they venerate tea time thanks to the work of the De Ruyter sisters and their maxim of treating the oven with honesty and sacralizing the homemade.
A few meters away is the store whiskybase , an online platform where the world's largest whiskey collectors exhibited their cellars. From there came the idea of creating a physical place to find from Japanese and Taiwanese creations to bottles that are close to 5,000 euros . The place is picturesque, full of oddities and passionate about this drink. You can even taste some rarity that helps to understand that whiskey has a universal aftertaste and intentionality.
Lof der Zoetheid pastes
OF BEERS IN DELFSHAVEN
The small port of the city of Delft (today administratively linked to Rotterdam) is the only area of the city that remained more or less intact after the bombing. Aesthetically it is a candy of canals, houseboats and a windmill which is still in operation where gourmet flour is manufactured and sold. The terraces open onto centuries-old streets or on wooden ships that live a second youth. **The only surviving brewery after years of rebuilding the city opens in one of Delfshaven's most beautiful buildings. De Pelgrim ** (so called because it was the beer of the Protestant and Calvinist pilgrims who left this port for the New World) is a brief journey through history through the eyes and a more complex one through the taste of its beers.
FAR AWAY DINNER
As much as Rotterdam loves itself and shows off with local products, the cosmopolitanism in its veins is inevitable. The different cultures that coexist in the city have also planted their seeds on the tablecloths of the place, succeeding with foreign but quality cuisine. In other words, here the milonga that “in my country we do it like this” is not valid. Either you try or you fail. A couple of examples that prove it. El Rodin is a dimly lit French bistro ideal for couples . But the starters arrive and the continent ceases to be the important thing to give prominence to the content, with a menu that has all the ballots to disappoint (for that reason of recreating such a competent and well-known gastronomy) but that does not. Two thumbs up to the Dutch.
The second alternative is the Asian Glories, the best Asian in the whole of Holland. As simple as that. The noble class of Amsterdam and The Hague take their expensive cars to park in front of this place. His appearance is disconcerting because he seems to be nothing more than a Chinese with a grand name. But here its owners, of Malay-Chinese origin, have focused on surprising. Forget everything tried so far in the Chinese neighborhood. The Dim Sum are a spectacle, their knives with Chinese noodles inside are a complete surprise, the lacquered duck knows what it has to know and, above all, that Chinese hamburger with prawn bread shows that no one here has been satisfied with being the anecdote. Here they want excellence.
Bistro Le Rodin
FIRST SYBARITIC DRINK IN HARTMANSSTRAAT
The street Hartman's , in the heart of the city, is the sanctuary where Rotterdammers have learned to venerate the first cup as a gateway to a good night or as a finishing touch to a good evening. Be that as it may, the fault lies partly with Ray, a Dutchman who lived for 10 years in Malaga, where he learned about the noble art of G&tonic. Thanks to his combination, the boys from good families have put aside wine and beer in his temple: labru . Attached to him is Tiki , more gimmicky than effective thanks to its Polynesian decor.
The temple of cocktails
THE PARTY = WITTE DE WHIT
But THE PARTY with capital letters is chewed on Witte de Whit, a street without rest or dissimulation . The neons welcome us as if they were perennial Christmas decorations where words like 'cool' herald a long night. Rotterdam's fondness for summer is such that as soon as the weather respects the revelry is made in the street, where the music of the DJs reverberates until the law allows it (2 a.m.). Sport is simple, rotate from bar to bar, from an improvised bar to a tree-lined terrace with a glass in hand . Later on, gambling den environments like the Witte App or the NRC testify that they know how to have a good time here.
Rotterdam is a party