Seinpost, Scheveningen
A business lunch in Scheveningen? I needed a view of the beach and boulevard, but most of the restaurants there are not really known for their culinary prowess. They’re places with loud music, half-naked people, deep fried finger foods, and cocktails. Not really what I was looking for, at least not for this occasion. But then I stumbled upon Seinpost, a restaurant above the boulevard, with a beautiful view of the beach, and most importantly, a Michelin star. Yes, this will do nicely, table for four please!
As we settled into our seats at the window, the conversation continued where we left off in the office. Don’t worry my dear reader, I won’t bore you with those details. In any case I wouldn’t be able to reproduce the conversation as I was busy calculating the effect a glass of wine would have on my productivity at the office that afternoon. I opted for water. We were having the two-course business lunch, in and out within an hour! Lunch started with two amuses. The first consisted of two small bites: tuna on some crispy fried noodle-like thing, and a juicy tomato in a crusty bowl with parmesan on top. Both were delicious, the tomato bursting with juices and flavor. The second amuse was fried smelt, croutons, mackerel mayonnaise, and pea soup. Though the peas looked suspiciously like broad beans. Whatever type of pea it was, it worked really well with the fishy flavors of the smelt and mackerel.
After the amuses we had our two courses. The first course was mini grey shrimp (Hollandse garnaal) with sole, heart of palm, and roasted tomatoes. The sauce was buttery and lemony, but very light and fresh. The sole was cooked perfectly, still soft and juicy. The heart of palm was very good and the roasted tomatoes had a sprinkling of fleur de sel on them to really bring the flavors out. Yumm! The main course was cod on a bed of sea lavender and string beans, and a sprinkling of black venus rice. There was another delicate sauce to go with it, I believe I tasted a hint of soy. Once again the cod was cooked just right and we all cleaned off our plates. I can imagine the flavors jumping out even more if you have a matching glass of wine to go with it…
It was a really good meal, and I was very surprised that we were the only people at the restaurant. Though I suppose most people opted for lunch out in the sun instead. As we left the restaurant I longingly looked at aforementioned half-naked people and thought about skipping the rest of the work day and joining them in their drunken sunburnt stupor. But alas, I did the ‘right’ thing and headed back to the office.