Choux — Restaurant in Amsterdam

Exceptional place with all the serious chops of a michelin restaurant but without the snobby stuffiness. A+.

Came here for a celebratory date night on a Tuesday evening and were blown away. From beginning to end the service staff treated us with the kind of self-assured-but-not-arrogant yet friendly service that only comes from lots of training and experience. Though we had several servers tend to our table throughout the 2.5 hours we dined, our primary server (wish we could remember her name) was such a pro. One of those experiences where you felt you in were in the most capable hands, where nothing could possibly go wrong.

The food was insanely good. Feels weird to call it simply "food" when each course was more an all encompassing revelatory experience than just, like, eating. We literally closed our eyes during bites. We've eaten asparagus a million times in our lives, for example, but our first course of green asparagus with thinly sliced pickles and "the first strawberries of the season" had us thinking we were trying this alien vegetable with an unreal crisp texture for the first time. Hard to put into words how good this dish was.

I'm already forgetting to mention the amuse bouche of broccoli florets with some kind of crispy cereal attached to the buds we were encouraged to eat with our hands - an amazing start. The following courses included a mushroom zabaglione, an incredible scallop sashimi dish, a main course of egg yolk in a purse of something I'm forgetting with chanterelles - all wonderful. We are so glad we opted for the extra course which consisted of french toast layered with whipped cheese in a puddle of truffled syrup, brought out to us by one of the dessert chefs - we thought we were tripping it was so good. Wish we had a pic of the dessert course because it was also exceptional, but we gobbled it up too fast.

We weren't drinking alcohol at the time but to our surprise they had that covered too - every single course came with its own zero proof pairing made in house. The last one - their approximation of a red wine, with a base of beet juice - had a complex, savory quality that reminded me of kvass and was utterly delicious and I wish they would share the recipe with me?

Only slight critique is the decor, which in our opinion doesn't match the creativity and care of everything else.

Incredible place, will...

High Hopes, Kombucha Notes: An Amsterdam Dining Adventure at Choux

Upon the glowing recommendations of friends and colleagues, Choux in Amsterdam made its way to my must-visit list. For someone who values quality and doesn't balk at spending for an exceptional dining experience, I believe anything north of 150 Euros per person should be extraordinary.

Our evening started on a promising note. Warm welcomes? Check. But then, a little hiccup: instead of the customary escort to our table, we were given the "choose any" directive. Granted, there were open spots given the early hour, but it was somewhat jarring to later see fellow diners in a game of musical chairs.

The ambiance struck a chord between modern simplicity and a trendy open-kitchen setup. Not ultra-modern, not ultra-cozy, but comfortably in between. Our waiter, though prompt, seemed to skip a beat when it came to the act of pouring water. Perhaps a modern dining nuance?

Our choice of a non-alcoholic apéritif hit the right notes. We ventured off the fixed menu, adding an extra course. But then, things seemed to pick up tempo. Course after course rolled in, making the culinary journey feel more sprint than marathon. The dishes? Visually delightful, but with a curious undercurrent of sameness in taste that wasn't quite the flavor symphony I was geared up for.

Our drink selection, the non-alcoholic pairing, was a tad monotonous. Picture this: a multi-act play where every act is... kombucha. The resulting taste? Predominantly tangy. And the much-celebrated drink and dish pairing? It felt very underwhelming.

While our waiter was attentive, deeper dives into our dishes or the beverages seemed to catch him off-guard.

By evening's end, while no particular dish faltered, the combined experience felt kind of meh…, especially given the price tag of over 350 Euros for the two of us.

In conclusion, while Choux is often hailed as a culinary gem, my evening there didn't quite shimmer with the expected...

Choux was in overall a great experience. The staff is very friendly, attentive, and kind… although some of the people who served our table seemed a tiny bit distracted. one side of the table asked for more bread and the brought it to the other side, also similar experience with one of the drinks, but being a table of 6 I think it’s not such a big deal. The food in general is definitely innovative and delicious. The menu changes based on season. When we went, we had the 5-course menu and the theme was apparently “all green” in color. The ingredient of the season was asparagus. Amazing. The menu included a lot of emulsions. In most cases we couldn’t quite figure what the ingredients were and we were everytime surprised with how different the taste was from what we would expect. Definitely an experience, but I dont know if I’d come back.

I would have loved to give a 5 star review, but the only reason of why I dont do it is because of not being able to identify all the ingredients kind of reduced the enjoyment of the experience. In an oversimplistic way, everyone who attended dinner would say we had amazing sauces with oyster, some fish and asparagus(which is not a fair evaluation), but we sadly cannot overjoy of telling why the experience was so good… it felt not memorable.

This group of friends who came for dinner, we love going to different high-end restaurants around the world to take pleasure of incredible cuisine, and we’ve been to cheaper places where the menu seems way more simple but with one ingredient they turned the whole table in awe of how great one single ingredient can taste. Choux unfortunately felt more overcomplicated and fuzzy…or maybe too high-end for only connoisseurs to make truly the best out of...