Restaurant De Olifant — Restaurant in Stichtse Vecht

As an Italian woman living in the Netherlands, I am always skeptical when it comes to trying out an Italian restaurant. Today, during my birthday, I dared with my man giving it a try with this not so Italian named restaurant De Olifant. Immediately happy about a parking present for the Cara on the back of the restaurant, we came with 10 minutes delay, but no problem about that from the host. Lekker! We sat outside, view on the Vecht, a gentle breeze and sunset sun rays through the trees in from of us. We took two glasses of wine of the house to start the celebration. Quite tasty red wine, not too strong not too light, sweet but not too much. Good start. We ordered a lot, from bites to antipasto to maindish of pasta. Really full of taste the dish with Burrata and grilled watermelon. Ingredients I was singularly familiar with, were matched in a surprisingly was totally new to my palate. I loved it. Too bad that the Burrata itself was a quarter of Burrata, and as a good Italian knowing the Burrata I was expecting a huge white ball of that awesome fresh cheese in my plate hehehehe. The calamari fritti, they were soft and well cooked. I liked the crunchy coating and the sauce with them. Calamari themselves had not the taste I am used too but I come from the south of Italy, I understand that this would be pretty impossible .. then the main dish for me was cannelloni with smokey salmon. The plate was again delicious with ingredients together that I never tried, but created a very enjoyable taste. I could say the same for the zalm, I could expect a bit more taste from it but after all the plate had a balanced feeling in my mouth. My man took all related to cheese: parmesan balls, truffel rice croquettes and a main dish of Fiocchi formaggio e pere. It was a creamy gorgonzola sauce for a pasta filled with peers and cheese. The sweetness of the peer was an awesome surprise. Yes I stole bites from the plates of my man to try out everything!!!!! And in the end...tiramisu and coffee. I personally don't like amaretto in the tiramisu but I have to say it exceeded my expectations. Mascarpone cream was very soft and tasty. Only note that maybe I know that can be improved is the coffee... Ups. The taste was not bad, but it didn't have the consistency of an espresso ;-) In the end, I am happy I discovered this place close to my home. They don't claim to prepare truly Italian original dishes, they add a personal and original touch and make it, for me, much more enjoyable than chasing Italian standards in very classical dishes. Personnel extremely friendly and accepting my comments... I understand I am not an easy customer but I am happy on how my birthday dinner went :-) not the cheapest place to eat but when you eat properly... You don't really care, do you??? I am now full and satisfied!!!! Keep up...

We're travelers passing by, looking for a place to sit down have a beer and work online. We arrived at the place asking if they were open, they weren't but then when asked if they minded if we sat at the table for a moment, big surprise... The first time I ever heard the dryest answer "I mind." There's no problem turning down requests really, I just hoped for anything more worthy of people who work with...

Afgelopen dinsdag hebben wij onze bruiloft gevierd bij De Olifant. Omdat het een officiële trouwlocatie is, hebben wij onze gehele bruiloft daar gehouden. Eerst de ceremonie en daarna een buffet afgewisseld met stukjes en activiteiten (11.00 - 16.30) Toen we op zoek waren naar een trouwlocatie voelde het hier al gelijk goed. Heel gezellig ingericht en aardige en meedenkende eigenaren. De dag zelf was top. Alle gasten hebben genoten van de drie gangen van het buffet: heel uitgebreid en alles zo vers. We hadden gevraagd of een flink gedeelte van het buffet vegetarisch kon zijn. Dat was zeker mogelijk en ontzettend lekker uitgepakt. Ook de zelfgemaakte bruidstaart (naked dripcake) zag er super mooi uit én was heel lekker. We waren die ochtend best gespannen maar de eigenaren hebben ons gerust kunnen stellen en de hele dag meegedacht en meegeholpen. Toen bruiloft was afgelopen zijn wij nog een stukje gaan varen over de Vecht via de rederij waar ze mee samenwerken. Dat was ook erg mooi en gezellig. We hadden ons de dag niet mooier kunnen voorstellen. Echt een aanrader om hier een een feest te houden of gewoon een keer lekker te...