Know Thine Enemy – The Netherlands

The World Cup final means that this is the end of the road for our Know Thine Enemy feature. With no more matches, there are no more opponents and therefore no more looks at the cuisine of other countries.

It’s been a globe-spanning feature taking in food from four different continents and detailing where it all can be found in London. It’s a shame that no Asian countries were able to make it through to the later stages. The challenge of detailing North Korean cuisine would have been irrestible but ultimately did not come to pass. Perhaps they will progress further in Brazil in 2014.

So to the final on Sunday which sees Spain take on the Netherlands. First of all, one point needs to be clarified. If I interchange The Netherlands, Holland and the Dutch during the course of this article, please do not think I am unaware of the differences between the terms. It’s just that I have been assured by a Dutch friend that it’s really not worth being so English and overly mannered about the possibility of causing offence.

So onto Dutch cuisine. Given that this is a very flat country with a lot of arable areas, it is no surprise to see a lot of Dutch cooking with a foundation of meat and vegetables. There is also a lot of dairy produce with the familiar Gouda and Edam cheeses. However, these are two that are the most well known and there is a great deal of depth beyond these. For a large selection of Dutch cheeses, head along to Borough Market on a Friday or Saturday. There you will find the Dutch Farmhouse cheese stall. Their Boerenkaas, literally meaning ‘farmer’s cheese’, has a very good reputation although the stallholders will be happy to recommend other cheeses depending on your taste.

The potato, or as it is known in Holland, the stamppot, forms the basis for a great deal of dishes. Sometimes it is combined with endives in the dish stamppot rauwe anijive. Other times it is mashed together with sauerkraut to create the dish Boerenkoolstampot, which is served up with curly kale and a rookworst (smoked sausage).

But for all these earthly dishes, Holland also takes its desserts very seriously. Its pannenkoeken are an early predecessor of pancakes. They are often much bigger than our pancakes, often reaching the size of car wheels. A good place to sample some of these is My Old Dutch, which can be found in Chelsea. Also try their bitterballen, which are a form of meatballs.

However, this would be an improper round up of Dutch cuisine without mentioning the beer. Amstel and Heineken are both Dutch products but there is more to Dutch brewing than these familiar faces. For a taste of something different, head to De Hems near Chinatown. I would particularly recommend the Tripel Karmeliet as well as Oranjeboom. And plus, if the Dutch win on Sunday, there’s no place you would rather be than with beered-up Dutch fans in the midst of celebrating taking the World Cup home.

My Old Dutch
221 King’s Road
Chelsea
SW3 5EJ

Tel: 020 7376 5650

De Hems
11 Macclesfield Street
Soho
W1D 5BW

Tel: 020 7437 2494