Blue Pepper Restaurant and Candlelight Cruises — Restaurant in Amsterdam

I reserved a table for 2 on a rainy Monday night for my boyfriend's birthday. He had been craving a good Indonesian dinner and I wanted something special and unique for his special day. Blue Pepper did not disappoint. Even though we were only 1 of 2 tables in the house that night due to it being a Monday and a awful weather night, the atmosphere felt nice and cozy due to the very nice staff. They offered us 2 free glasses of champagne as I had noted in my reservation that it was my boyfriend's birthday. We each ordered the 4 course menu (one of each side) and it was fantastic. Everything was brought out in a timely way and each course was perfectly suited for the next. I loved the seafood soup. The rijstafel was great as well and very filling. Small portions of each little dish, but plenty of food for one-two people. We shared everything on the table and it was more than enough food. The beef was my favorite dish. Super tender and juicy. Between the main course and the dessert, they brought out a palate cleanser which consisted of a certain little flower that sparks the taste buds and some sorbet with blue gel. It was such a unique dessert and we loved it. We're still talking about it after the night was over. The night was capped off with a beautifully presented main dessert and my boyfriend's was brought out with a sparkler and "Happy Birthday" written out on the plate. Along with even playing a jazzy rendition of the Happy Birthday song playing in the restaurant. All in all, we had an awesome time and I would highly recommend this place for a cozy, elegant, and...

Small little bistro (mb seating 40) with wonderful indonesian food.Last night, dinner at one of my favorite Amsterdam restaurants, Blue Pepper. An Indonesian restaurant. It starts with a codfish avocado mousse with a splattering of fresh piquant peppers. The spiciness is cooked by the other items on the plate, a tropical fruit salad flavored with tamarind and a tartlet of grilled watermelon with white and black sesame seeds all served with a wine pairing of Pouilly Fume. The second course was curried fish baked in a banana leaf. Served with Javanese vegetables. Again, the fish was spicier, sharper and more vibrant, what i like to call bright, and the Javanese veggies cooled the fire right down. Third course was guineas fowl served with rice and a mild curry. Totally delicious and all the flavors meshed seamlessly with the fowl and the red wine pairing--a red Loire valley wine. Desert was grapes, a sumatran cake with cardamon and cinnamon, and sorbet. A nice half-bottle of sauterne went perfectly. I love this restaurant, and this time i thought as good as it always is, it was better. It called to mind a movie, Tortilla Soup, where Hector elizondo feel in love with his youngest daughter's cooking at the end of the movie. He had lost his sense of taste until her spicy renditions of Mexican dishes re-awoke his taste buds. My tastebuds are fine, but the brightness of the dishes on my palate was equally appreciated. The owner has always remembered me and his out of his way to make you feel like a guest...

Having heard about this restaurant for several years I was excited to be able to finally visit, and I was not disappointed! It is an intimate venue, with exceptionally well trained staff who are also excited about the food that they serve, and can talk you through each of the different flavors and pairings. The owner clearly has a passion for food and ensuring a fine dining experience, and is an excellent sommelier who made the perfect recommendation. I loved the starter plate which had a combination of different flavors in the form of small bites, the most outstanding of which was the fire roasted watermelon. We then enjoyed fish in wrapped in banana leaf and while I'm not a fish person per se, I loved the spicing and it was perfectly cooked. This was followed by roast guineafowl, a venison rendang which was delicious, and my favorite, a spicy shrimp with lemongrass flavoring. For dessert, I was treated to a totally new experience. On top of the mango ice cream, there was a tiny bud of a flower which I believe was called a Szechuan flower. I was instructed to chew on this for several seconds to release the flavor, which was like an explosion in my mouth. I was then told to take a bite of the ice cream. The effect of the flower was to cleanse the palate so that when I tasted the mango, it was like burst of intense flavor. Wow! I would highly recommend that if you visit Amsterdam you visit this restaurant. It was an outstanding introduction to Indonesian flavors...