Dudok

Dudok is a cafe in Holland which I am told is popular for their apple pie. People would come here to buy apple pie to take home, so had to try what it was all about!

Their main menu is in Dutch but you can ask for a copy of an English translated menu. Lucky the waiter worked out that apart from my Cousin we all did not know any Dutch at all and therefore brought out a few English menu for us.

We started ordering drink and I went for a tea which came with a plate on top that contained the tea bag, sugar and biscuit. But where was the milk? In Holland people do not add milk to their tea. I was told people in Holland would not think to add milk to tea. Apart from Chinese tea, I would add milk to earl grey, breakfast tea etc… The tea we got a light lemon black tea which did not have a strong lemon flavour but nor did it have a strong tea taste that you get with classic tea, earl grey or breakfast tea. So it was OK to drink without milk.

The food we of course order a slice of Dutch apple pie which Dudok was popular for in Holland. You had a choice to have with cream or no cream but it definitely taste better with cream. It made a great combination. Usually I think of apple pie as being warm but this one was cold. It has a pastry based in which inside had loads of chunky apples, covered with a crumbling top. It was not too sweet and the apple was not sour either.

Being in Holland, I had to try some Dutch pancake. We ordered a savory bacon pancake which came with a bowl of icing sugar and a bowl of syrup.  A sweet savory pancake to me at first did not mix but without it the pancake was bland. You have to put some icing sugar and syrup on the pancake and eat it together and you get a very different experience.

We also ordered an omellete which had some bacon, potatoes, tomatoes and courgette, This was a size of a plate, well a size of the pan they cooked it in. This was enough for two people as it also came with the choice of white or brown bread. This was nothing special, just another omellete.

http://www.dudok.nl/

FEBO (Dutch fast-food chain)

FEBO is a Dutcht food chain restaurant, which you can variety of Dutch speciality such as krokets (like potatoes croquette) and frinkadellen.

What so different about this fast food chain is that you have automatic vending machine. It is like an oven with food inside. All you do is put some money in the food you want that is inside this heated oven and out open your food.

You can a variety of food from the automatic vending machine but there are some that you will need to get from the counters such as drinks. But imagine wanting some snacks on your way home and want to beat the queue then it is the automatic vending machine.

I went to FEBO to try out the Chicken-frinkdale which my cousin said is the only place that does chicken made frinkdale. This is a dutch sausage which is normal made out of mixed processed meats but FEBO is the one place they sell Chicken-frinkdale. She said the only place she would get her frinkledale from to eat!

http://www.febodelekkerste.nl

The Westin Rotterdam Hotel

I have recently just come back from a short trip in Holland to attend a wedding. While there I tried to make the most of my time there to do have a look around the area. The first thing when arrived in Holland was to check out my 5 stars hotel. The one and only 5 stars hotel in Rotterdam.

The reception was nothing to be waoh about but once you walk-in you can smell the sense of White Tea that they use throughout the hotel. Even the hotel shower gel and body creams uses white tea aloe.

The overall hotel was modern, which suit me great. It has that new apartments feel that you see nowadays.

The bed are exactly what they called  “Heavenly Bed” after a long journey or a long tiring day wearing heels for the wedding, these bed make it so comfortable to relax and unwind. A great combinations to the sense of white tea aloe ^v^

 

The customer services from the staff was friendly but for the price I paid at a 5 stars hotel I expect to be provided with good service. There is one small point which deduct one point for me and that there was no toothbrush (what they called dental care pack). In the hotel information book, if you have forgotten any essential items like shower caps, toothbrush or  toothpaste etc you can call their express service to provide you with them. In the evening having seen the shower head was high and not adjustable that we requested for a shower cap, but never arrived that evening with two calls. I called again in the morning and added a toothbrush, it took a few hours (in which we had got changed for the wedding and had breakfast) before reception called to say that they had ran out of dental care pack but someone will be coming shortly to provide the shower caps. In the whole hotel they had ran out of dental care pack @_@

But apart from that one small point I had a comfortable stay, with a great room. It would have been great to have stayed a few more days sleeping in their heavenly beds 🙂

It is difficult to find places that are open for breakfast in Rotterdam and thought it made a great opportunity to try out the hotel restaurant VIS that serves buffet breakfast. It was an expensive breakfast, so in order to make the most you got to eat as much to make it all worth while. There were a range of food, hot and cold.

In the hot section there was choice of scramble or boil eggs, sausages, bacons, mushrooms, baked beans and potatoes.

There was a range of breads and rolls that you can toast, with range of jams and spreads to go with it. It keep it with a dutch feel because you got chocolate sprinkles/flakes (Chocolade hagelslag). In Holland they use them to put on bread to have for breakfast.

The sweetness of the Dutch goes on with a selection of cakes and croissants.

In the cold selection their is a range of antipasti and cheese. For me it was really too early, more for lunch or as a starter for dinner.

Although a slight hip cups with toothbrush it was a pleasant stay at The Westin Rotterdam.

http://www.thewestinrotterdam.com/