Location: Ganzenmarkt 24, 3512 GE, Utrecht, Netherlands
Date Tasted: January 26th, 2020 (Sunday) (lunch)
Price: 16,5 Euro
Beverage: Sourcy Sparkling Water
Menu Name: Wiederund Carpaccio
Intro: Another cold (but sunny!) day in the Netherlands where walking was more a means to an end than a delightful discovery experience. Ultrecht has an absolutely lovely city center with bars/restaurants lining a canal with top-notch shopping either indoor in the shopping center or on the streets.
Presentation: 8.5/10. The presentation was closest to a beef tartare, they clearly used a food ring to form the stack. To be fair, this item was listed under the ‘salad’ header on the menu so it was given freedom to be more than a pure carpaccio dish. It was like two dishes in one, if you pulled the carpaccio out you could eat it distinctly from the salad and it was high quality, but it worked together perfectly as it was mixed.
Accompanied with two lightly toasted pieces of (pumpernickel?). I did not eat them but they looked swell.
Taste: Very good quality meat. The wow factor here was the scallion and pine nuts. Also capers interspersed with a very small amount of red onion. Capers are an absolute necessity when it comes to the flavor of a well put-together carpaccio presentation but seems harder to find than it should.
The dressing was less traditional than the normal EVOO/Balasamic, with a truffle mayo which seemed to have a dill vibe and was more creamy than oily.
Micro greens in addition to arugula. Couple of very finely cut tomatoes on the bottom that did not water the dish down like tomatoes tend to do.
Temperature – perfect
Size: Just right. In fact, even though I did not eat breakfast, I did not quite finish this for lunch.
Value: Fair to just overpriced. It was half a salad after all. 2 Euro less would have felt better as it was one of the most expensive things on the lunch menu. High labor assembly, I get it.
Overall Score: 7.5/10 – Would try again, even though it’s a non-traditional construction.
