Restaurant Gebr. Hartering is a small place with most of the tiny, closely spaced dining tables on the first floor but with a few tables on the floor below. The wood tables are covered with a cloth runner and napkin and set with tasty olives. Service is exceptionally friendly and helpful. They offer a la carte as well as 5 or 7 course tastings, where the 7 course adds a beef rib steak for 2 and cheese course. The first 3 courses are served family style. The noise level is significant with so many people having a good time, many in groups of 4.
An amuse bouche of kohlrabi with miso paste and hazelnuts was quite good. It was like the crisp sweet kohlrabi was served with a dip of buttery hazelnuts.
Raw marinated mackerel was adorned with chili oil and served with purslane, rhubarb and endive. The acid in the dressing cut nicely through the strong tasting mackerel.
Loin of veal was roasted and then seared and then thinly sliced. It was served with rocket and capers and a sauce of anchovy and onions. The sauce worked perfectly with the tasty tender meat. It gave a real depth of flavor to the veal. An excellent course.
Calamari was grilled and served with ink sauce, coriander and kimchi. The ink sauce was buttery and worked really well with the coriander. The cilantro taste was aided by a nice spice up of the squid. Perfect textures, moist and amazing with a lovely ink sauce, were further enhanced by the sweet and sour turnip slices. Great plate!
Pork rib roast with a sauce of lovage and flower of wild garlic was plated with white asparagus and butter. Also hidden underneath were potatoes. The sauce was good but the pork was dry, as this cut often is. The potatoes were well roasted with a crispy edge and the asparagus had a slight bitterness. A mixed course.
The beef prime rib was from 2 year aged Belgian milk cow and plated on grilled thyme and lemon. It was served with a side salad with a dressing of red onion and fermented fish sauce made with the guts of the mackerel. The thyme and lemon were very aromatic and added a nice taste to the chewy meat, cooked a perfect rare. The dressing however was a tad to fishy for me to enjoy even though the lettuce was beautiful.
The cheese plate had Maroilles cheese, French blue cheese and Comté cheese. Interestingly no Dutch cheese was included. They were served with a thin toast with no additional oil on it. The blue cheese was wonderful as was the Comté. A nice variety of tastes and textures.
Pistachio ice cream finished the meal. It was sweet, smooth and had lots of crumbled pistachios around it. It was terrific!
