Fine and sleek dining/clubbing in Amsterdam

I was in Amsterdam last weekend to visit a dear friend T. My friend is in his early 20s and into clubbing big time, whereas I prefer a leisurely night - in or out - eating and talking. Hence we had to think of a compromise for the Saturday night. Not maybe an easy thing to do, but we definitely ended up doing something that catered for all requirements. We went to the Supper Club. T. had been there twice before, and obviously knew that this style of 'clubbing' I would enjoy. Hey - all I had to do was to lounge on my back on a white sofa, listen to cool music and eat delicious food..

The huge dining/clubbing hall is all minimalist and white. Upon arrival, you get assigned either a table or sofa downstairs or a sofa up on the mezzanine level. People were very glamorous - but not pretentious. Music was hip and chill-out, mellow to start with. The huge screen at the end of one wall showed underwater images of naked women swimming (well, seminaked, if you consider a pearly thong an item of clothing). A black leather clad rock chick played classics on an electric violin between the courses. At the end of the party a dreadlocked and very yummy-looking Junior sang couple of great s(ingal)ongs. Overall very cool and fun and chilled out atmosphere.

During the long evening - we spent 5 hours there - you get served 5 courses. There is a set menu that changes all the time. This what we had on Saturday night:

To start with, a huge slice of fresh tuna rolled around sliced avocado and drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette, served with some crispy julienne salad.

Second plate: fish. White fish. Sorry, I have no clue what fish exactly, but it was extremely smooth and almost creamy in texture - not flaky at all. Really tasty, garnished with some crispy lotus root slices and served alongside smooth parsnip and potato puree.

For the third course, we were served soup. Although you can't order anything off the menu, they do have vegetarian options. And as I have a strong (mental) allergy to shrimps, then instead of shrimp soup I got a small glass of flavoursome tomato soup. I was obviously too busy savouring the soup, and totally forgot to take a photograph of it. The soup was served in small glasses - with chopsticks! You fish all chunky bits out of the soup with your chopsticks, and then drink the liquid. Mmmm..

For the fourth course - roasted lamb. I'm not a great lamb eater - it's not really common in Estonia (my grandma used to have lots of sheep, but these were grown for their wool rather than meat). But this was absolutely delicious, as were the mushrooms and the risotto. The meat was incredibly tender and juicy and I finished every last morsel of it. If it hadn't been to the fact that by that time it was midnight and I hardly ever eat after 8pm, I would have asked for my friend T.'s portion as well. Although I doubt he had allowed me - he finished his plate way before me. He's from a lamb-devouring country, you see..

For the dessert, we were served a quartet of hot intensely chocolatey chocolate pudding, accompanied by some vanilla foam as well as cold mini ice cream cocktail and some crunchy nut flakes.

I enjoyed the food - and the atmosphere, as well as the company of course - a lot.

Supper Club
21 Jonge Roelensteeg
Old Centre: New Side
Amsterdam
Telephone: 00 (0) 20 638 0513 (booking essential!)
Hours: Open 8pm - 1am daily
Entrance and food: €65 pp (excl. drinks & service)

PS I was a bit confused by the toilets in this place in the beginning though - there were two of them, labelled "Homo" and "Hetero" and both were unisex. But apparently it's not unheard of in nightclubs, so it must be just me who's ancient:)