Tuesday, 14th August 2007 – Ons Kabinet, Vught

I didn’t get the mussels and frites last night – the restaurant I had in mind was closed on Tuesdays – but I’m not complaining because instead I ended up at Ons Kabinet, in Vught (next to my hotel for the week), which was wonderful…

I opted for the three course Menu Jeune Restaurateur, and was served:

• An aperitif of sparkling water (my choice), with olives; croutons and red tapenade; tiny slices of tender chorizo; salted almonds and the tiniest, sweetest, crunchiest gherkins I’ve encountered anywhere.
• Homemade brown bread with butter and/or olive oil (I mostly left it alone).
• An amuse bouche of cod mousse and, in a separate bowl, a tiny disk of blue cheese and goats cheese, coated in crisp crumbs and fried, on a teaspoon of homemade garlic mayonnaise.
• A starter of a tiny piece of grilled mackerel coated in a honey sauce; three small pieces of tuna, still pink in the middle and coated in sesame seeds; and a lobster and fennel salad. With it, they served me a chardonnay/sauvignon blanc mix from Australia.
• A main of calf sweetbreads, again in a crispy outer coating, meltingly soft in the middle; a piece of rump steak so perfectly soft I could have cut it with a spoon; two green asparagus spears; two tiny, fluffy in the middle roast potatoes; a handful of white beans; a slice of wild mushroon on top of a spoonful of caramelised onion; a truffle sauce to die for. The glass of wine that came with this was a lovely, robust Spanish Tempranillo.
• An amuse dessert of sorbet of cottage cheese with a fat, round blueberry on the top. This was entertainingly creamy with a slight sour edge that cleansed the palate beautifully.
• A dessert of strawberry sorbet that was almost orange in colour; a porton of marinated strawberries with creme cru, sugar and vanilla; half a dozen perfectly ripe raspberries with a sabayon. A light red, Italian dessert wine, made with Moscatel, from the Asti region came with this.
• Afterwards, with the coffee, a coffee mousse in a shot glass with a langue de chat biscuit that was almost fluffy in texture; a piece of brandy snap; a tiny and ridiculously rich dark chocolate truffle; a white chocolate with a macaroon underneath it and a coffee bean on top; a tiny, tiny tartlet with dark chocolate mousse and an alcohol-soaked cherry perched above it.

I was feeling pretty grouchy when I went out. I felt a whole lot better when I came back! I was glad I stuck with the three course menu though…