Parkheuvel, Rotterdam (16 Apr 2010)

Whilst preparing my trip to a conference in Rotterdam, I thought that being once the busiest port in the world (only superseded by Shanghai couple of years back), surely Rotterdam is a hub for haute cuisine since there are plenty of business big spenders who are eager to have their palate fulfilled. Having done a bit of search online, I came across "Parkheuvel" which is a 2 star Michelin restaurant situated in Het Park, next to the bank of River Nieuwe Maas. It is said to be the culinary gem of Rotterdam (Two Dutch young fellas who I came across in the tram were so envious when I told them that I was going there for lunch). The restaurant used to be a 3 star Michelin restaurant before the change of chef in 2006, and under the current chef Erik van Loo, it suffered a big drop in reputation and lost two stars in the subsequent year. The restaurant has since regained one of the lost stars, and seems to be on track in regaining its 3 star status.

Rotterdam is a small city, and without a car, the restaurant itself is not an easy place to reach. Instead of splashing out on a taxi (apparently a starting cost of around 7 euros), I took the combination of the tram and a relaxing stroll along the river bank. One would usually think its a nice idea, I mean, river views usually are pretty good right?.... However, this wasn't exactly the case for Rotterdam - the view was, "modest" shall we say.

Having arrived at the restaurant, I found that my girlfriend had already arrived and ordered a glass of mojito (apparently not very nice) . As I was off alcohol for lunch, I ordered a virgin cocktail which tasted very nice and refreshing. While we were waiting in the lounge, we were presented with some amuse bouche. The combination of snacks were ok, nothing really disastrous nor memorable. We ordered the 3 course lunch menu of the day (quite pricy it has to be said in comparison to the lunch menus offered by restaurants in the same calibre in London).

The waiter first brought us the pre-starter which was a strip of salmon laminated with a layer of crispy toast on top, drizzle with some chili oil. The texture worked well with the contrast between the crispy toast and the tender salmon. A nice start for the meal (7/10).

Next up was the starter - "lobster tail on top of lobster mousse filled cannelloni, lobster mousse filled tomato sorbet and lobster sauce/oil". The lobster was fresh and succulent with the pasta equally good. The combination of tomato sorbet and lobster mousse worked very well for me (8/10). However, my girlfriend found the lobster to be undercooked and said the lobster had the "squid" texture.

The main course was "pan fried bream with seasonal white asparagus, morel mushrooms and peas". The fish was perfect crisp on the outside and tender inside. The veg were all very seasonal and accompanied the fish nicely (9/10).

After the mains was the pre-dessert which was some madeleines - golden crispy crust on the outside and spongy soft the inside. Probably the best madeleines I've tasted - though would be nice if they can a second round of it when we had the tea. (8/10)

For pudding, we were presented white chocolate ice cream served with a combo of mandarin themed dessert which included marinated mandarins, mandarin mousse sandwiched by crispy pastries and a mandarin flavored foamy/spongey cake (or maybe it was a marshmallow). Anyway, i was not a big fan of the dessert, the ice cream was ok, but the mandarin themed plate just was not my cup of tea and I am quite picky on my desserts. (4/10).

To finish off the meal, we ordered some darjeeling tea and was accompanied with more bite-sized sweeties and chocolates.

Overall, I would say the food was good and lived up to its 2 star Michelin accolade, but was let down by the dessert. However, with the lunch menu priced at 50 euros per head, I would say it is slightly overpriced - though I later found that service charge was included in the price shown. One thing I have not mentioned was that the service was excellent which was a plus, and there was comfortable space between adjacent tables which is different to many of the michelin starred restaurants where you are expected to sit elbow to elbow with other customers.