As you could read in my previous “MondayMusings” blogpost, we were all alone last week. Both the boys were at summer camp. I did have some very mixed feelings about that. But one of the advantages of being kid free for a couple of days, is that we can go out for dinner at a fancy restaurant, just the two of us.

Now I don’t mean fancy as in ‘dress code’ fancy. But with two kids at 6 and 8, not every restaurant is just as suitable. And where do we love to go? To ‘Restaurant Broertjes’ in Dommelen (small town famous for the Dutch beer brand ‘Dommelsch’).

I have never done a review on the blog, but since I’ve started writing posts without recipes under the header “MondayMusings”,  there definitely is room for reviews now.

Restaurant Broertjes

Restaurant Broertjes is, like the name already suggests in Dutch, run by two brothers (broertje = little brother). One a gifted chef, who creates the most delicious and most beautiful dishes you can imagine. The other a great host, your wish is his command and he will pair food and wine just perfectly for you.

Most of the times, we choose the surprise menu, as we love to be, well, surprised. We chose the 4 course menu, but you can choose more or less courses. Ordering à la carte is possible as well. Advantage of a surprise menu: I don’t have to choose. Everything on the menu sounds divine. If I had to choose, I wouldn’t be able to order for a loooong time.

One of us usually takes the wine pairing menu. They know to wow us with excellent wines every single time, matching the food perfectly. Too bad I was the one to drive, so no wine for me. But I did taste every wine with just a little sip.

The menu

It all starts even before the first course is ready to be served, with an appetizer: a mini beef croquette sandwich. A what? A beef croquette (kroket) is a very typical Dutch deep fried snack, either eaten with french fries or in a soft bun. Well, this was on a whole other level. A mini bread roll with a mini ‘kroket’ made from braised veal cheeks, with mustard, all homemade. That mustard was so good, I could not resist running my finger through the bowl, getting every last bit of that mustard. With the appetizer also freshly baked bread, butter, sea salt, olive oil and marinated olives were served.

Then we had the first starter. What an art work. You almost don’t dare to disturb the picture. Well, almost…

I can never remember everything that’s on the plate. I’ll try to give a good recap. With the first starter, we had a shrimp rillette on a bavarois with black pepper, trout roll, marshmallows with green herbs, roasted garlic mayonnaise, pickled pumpkin, avocado cream. And let me tell you, it tasted as good as it looked.

As second starter, we got halibut (perfectly cooked), with a sweet potato cream and steamed bok choi. A combination of sweet and salty, with an Asian twist. The main course was roast chuck tender (also known as Jewish Fillet or Poor Man’s Fillet), with a cream of parsley root, purple spring onion, purple cauliflower and summer savory gravy.

For dessert, my husband usually chooses the cheese board. I love cheese too, but I am always so curious to see what they have for dessert. And I was not disappointed: dark chocolate pie, with a green apple sponge, green apple sorbet, raspberry mousse and green apple jelly.

It was a fantastic dinner. Everything was just perfect. To finish off, I wanted a cup of tea. Plain and simple, right? Not exaxctly. They even have a tea menu. I couldn’t choose! The descriptions of the different teas… everything sounded delicious.

I decided to go for the Jasmine Pearls. Hand rolled tea pearls. Deliciously fragrant tea, with a pure jasmine taste. The beautiful tea-sieve made it all complete. Of course, with coffee or tea, you also get something sweet. Homemade. Did I already mention everything is homemade? A mini-brownie. Chilled, it was almost like fudge. Too good…

All in all, it was a perfect night out. This was not the first and certainly not the last time we’ve been to Restaurant Broertjes. Only drawback, if I do have to think of one, is that they do not have a kid’s menu. I’m sure they have their reasons, but it means that we can not go as often as we would like. Our oldest son would probably gobble everything down, even though he’s just 8 years old. And our youngest (6) would have definitely eaten the starters. They both like fish and sea food. But a whole menu would have to be slightly adapted to accommodate kids. Once they are ready to eat a grown up menu, we’ll definitely go there more often.

And if you think, after seeing these pictures, that this restaurant is way too fancy for you and you are required to wear a three-piece suit, rest assured. The atmosphere is relaxed, the interior cosy and bistro-style. Everyone is welcome. I’m sure there are people, who don’t like it there. You simply can’t please everyone. And everyone has a different taste and you can’t argue about that. Would I recommend this restaurant? Ab’solutely! On the website of Restaurant Broertjes, you can find the menu or make online reservations.

Thank you for reading!

Rectification: it has been brought to my attention that they do have a kid’s menu. Guess I should have asked them (shame on me). Well, I stand corrected. Looking forward to our next visit. With the boys!

This is NOT a sponsored post. I get no compensation whatsoever. All opinions are my own.