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.
LondonEats 
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What a pity I only discovered your blog today – I would have loved to meet you while you were in Amsterdam!
The apple pie served to you in café de Jaren was not right – the crust is not supposed to be soggy at all.
Here in the Netherlands, the apple pie from Dudok (a cafe restaurant in Rotterdam) is the most famous. And Arden has some really yummy variations as well:
http://uitdekeukenvanarden.blogspot.com/2008/10/appeltaarten-bakken-bij-dok-cookware.html
(If you want some recipes translated, let me know)
Will follow your blog from now on!
PiWi
Hi PiWi – thanks for tips. I want to try making one of the proper deep apple pies, so I will give one of these a try. Rather surprisingly for a Brit, I know Dutch – I’ll give these recipes a try and see how they go. If things go bad, then I’ll check my translation with you 🙂
The tip on Rotterdam is good too – I will be there at some point, so I will keep it in mind. Always good to have local tips when you go travelling.