Amber Garden — Restaurant in Amstelveen

I have been meaning to try Amber Garden for a long time but it's out of my way so haven't been till today.

We booked a 5.30pm dinner and ordered the 4 course set for €62.50 / person

Chinese Imperial Tasting Menu 4 courses

Appetizer : Lightly Poached Canadian Lobster with Slow-cooked Oudemansiella Mushroom served with potato quinoa, truffle flavored caviar, pickled baby lotus roots and Sichuan pepper corn oil Entrée : Signature Amber Beijing Roasted Duck (half) served with Baeri caviar, pancakes, sweet soybean sauce and assorted vegetables Dual Black Angus Short Ribs Marinaded & baked short ribs with spicy cumin salt + Slow-cooked short ribs in sweet soy sauce served with Amber fried rice Dessert : Chilled Mango Sago Dessert Soup with fresh fruits

Total bill for 4 people with drinks came to €310.

Not cheap at all but easily, easily the highest quality Chinese food I have had in Netherlands and probably in my top 10 globally. I will definitely be going back... but there was one problem.

We arrived at 5.30pm but we did not finish our meal until 8.30pm.... 3 hours for a 4 course meal....

We ordered by 5.45pm and an amuse was served of mussel on rice cake. 15 minutes later the lobster starter was served. But the second course of duck took almost an hour to arrive. The waiting staff without prompting did recognise there was a delay in the kitchen and gave use a free wasabi prawn and sichaun tofu as an apology snack while we were still waiting. This was excellent service for the front of house. But the extended wait was quite grating and the final course of short rib and rice was also quite long in arriving.

Another table of 8 people arrived when we had finished our starter and had completed their dinner and left before we even finished our main course.

So it's not like the kitchen can't produce food quickly but more likely they had a run on the duck which is cooked in a different section.

Anyway the restaurant itself is lovely light and modern very spacious and comfortable. The serving staff are very professional and efficient but they are busy so not overly friendly which is pretty standard for a Chinese restaurant.

The food is excellent. The lobster starter was easily some of the sweetest and tastiest lobster meat I have eaten in a restaurant. The duck is perfection! super crispy skin and flavourful meat. The short ribs was almost melt in the mouth.

It is not traditional chinse food at all though, it is very much modern fine dining territory. I think they are probably aiming for a michelin star with a foam here and a spherification there, a gel, flower petals, dust powder and fine presentation crockery.

Prices are high but not overly given the quality. But the quantity served for this set is a bit on the low side. Although the food is rich if you have a big appetite this four course meal may leave you a bit unsatisfied. The amout of rice they served with the final course was very small! they could have doubled the size of it and it would have completed the meal satisfactorily.

Anyway to conclude 100% the best quality chinese food in Amsterdam. But not traditional, not cheap, not quantity not fast but definitely top quality and taste.

This should have been a 5 star review but due to the long delay going to dock it one star. This might seem a bit harsh but when you are charging high prices you got to deliver! especially if you are aiming for...

Restaurant Amber Garden: Amstelveen

Last Friday, the five of us visited Amber Garden in Amstelveen.

Amber Garden stands out for its gastronomic approach to Chinese cuisine, offering a refined dining experience in a spacious and elegant interior, perhaps a touch on the sterile side, but undeniably sophisticated. Although the set menus looked tempting, we opted for the à la carte selection.

We began with a variety of dumplings, accompanied by a Bourgogne Blanc Chardonnay from Domaine Chevy-Chouet 2023. The balance between the wine and the delicate flavors of the dumplings was simply outstanding, pure refinement in both texture and taste.

Our first red wine, the Nicó Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2022 from Tenuta Ferrante, was a delightful surprise: peppery on the palate, full of warmth and energy. It paired beautifully with thinly sliced seabass fillet, tiger prawns, and the Mapu tofu hot pot Szechuan-style, dishes bursting with flavor and precision. Truly impressive.

The second red, a David Duband Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2022, was interesting but not entirely our match. Original and elegant, yes, but it didn’t quite find harmony with the meat fried rice and the okra with garlic, the latter beautifully plated in a circular pattern like a small painting.

We made an inspired final choice for the last round: a Chiara Condello “Le Lucciole” Riserva 2018, which paired magnificently with the Peking Duck, a fabulous combination of richness and refinement.

Recommended by the waiter, the evening ended with a trio of desserts, mangosago, egg tart, and grass jelly, all delicate and delicious.

What makes Amber Garden particularly special is that culinary Chinese restaurants of this calibre are rare in the Amstelveen/Amsterdam region. Amber Garden elevates Chinese cuisine to a fine-dining experience enhanced by a careful wine selection, personally curated by the owner, I was told, herself an ardent wine connoisseur.

In short, it is a restaurant that bridges cultures through...

It is one of the highest rated Chinese restaurants in the Netherlands. My expectations were pretty high.

Atmosphere is good. But as the restaurant gets busier, I could smell cooking oil. The background music got a bit too repetitive. The service at the beginning was ok, although no offer of helping handing out our coats. That’s fine. But I’m not happy with the rest of services. I had to ask twice for cutleries. The spoons were missing at the table when we sit. When the soup came, the waitress didn’t realise there weren’t any spoons. Plates were taken away but didn’t offer clean ones. The guests next to us had one waiter to remove the plates and another waitress holding clean plates to replace. Why treated your guests differently? I had to say that for the same range of restaurants, this amber garden offered me the worst service experience. No body even asked me if I’m ok with anything. The food was a bit of mix. Starters were good, Xiaolongbao and the duck soup. Fish was ok but clearly a localised version (not spicy enough and the source was watery). Braised tofu probably had the tofu added too late, which gave no time for the tofu to absorb flavour from the soup. Zucchini dish was average but the pork belly clearly fried well.

Overall experience was bad. I was thinking to book the Christmas dinner for the family. After this, nah, probably...