Today is quite exciting as LondonEats goes international. I am currently in the Netherlands and this presents a great chance to cover a few places that are quite different from London. The weather here is great, very conducive to a stroll though the streets in the spring sunshine while dodging the famous Dutch devil cyclists.
One of the most famous culinary exports from the Netherlands is Dutch Apple Pie, so when I saw this on the menu at De Jaren in the centre of town, I went for it straight away.
This was completely different from what I was expecting. I had an image of the usual apple pie in my head, but instead it was about 5 inches tall and filled with lots of sliced apple. This was one of those moments when you think you are getting one thing, but are pleasantly surprised to get something even more exciting than you had thought.
However, today is also a first as I can’t say that I actually loved it all that much. There was a lot of apple and not too much crust, which I think is the right way to make an apple pie, but the crust was soggy and seemed a but undercooked from all the juice from the apples, and it could have done with a bit more cinnamon. I like to mix the apples with a little brown sugar, a generous pinch of spice and some salted butter before putting them in the pie shell, so I though this lacked a little something. The pie was also oddly warm on top but cold at the bottom, and I am not really sure why this happened. I find sweet dishes are often best served at room temperature!
So on balance, it was a nice cafe and had good coffee, but I think I need to look elsewhere for an apple tart fix next time I come to visit. Hopefully my version of an apple pie will also be up here in the near future.
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