Ambar Surastri

Dear friends, more reviews, tips and recipes are posted via my Instagram while I’m on the road. I also created lists on Foursquare for you to save. Kitchen Script stays online! Need to figure out what theme I like and how my logo is going to be. Exciting huh?!

Steak lovers who can’t cook their own steaks (yet) behold! Learned more about the best meat and how to prepare it. Midtown Grill in Amsterdam invited me to visit their kitchen, to learn about steak and talk about the new menu. Now it’s time to share.

As a flexitarian I barely eat meat, but if I really want to enjoy good meat I rather go to a steak restaurant and order a piece I can identify as a sirloin, rib eye or T-Bone steak. Skipping sausages and minced meat. If you’re going bad, better make it good!

I’ve learned the following from a passionate butcher Mikel Pouw from Nice to Meat :

Preparing your steak is an art which needs a lot of practice.
01 Make sure your meat is ripen a.k.a. relaxed. Sounds weird huh? There are two riping techniques. The old technique by vacuuming your meat, which is called wet-aging or the dry-aging method (see the picture below) by riping chunks of meat for 35 days. Making sure the meat doesn’t absorb fluids and lose its weight, so it gets a better concentrated flavor.
02 Allow the meat to reach room temperature before you grill it. Grill each side twice for 3 minutes, with its fats on it until it caramelized.
03 Let the grilled meat rest on a plate and remove the fat if you don’t like it. While the meat rests it will absorb all it’s juices (the fat). Season then serve. Good meat doesn’t need sauce.

Midtown Grill has two dry age fridge where you can see beautiful pieces of meats.

Another thing is…how to eat your steak. Rare, Medium or Well done?
First there’s a difference in the kind of meat. European cows are fed on a grass diet and don’t have a lot of fat. This diet is introduced 5 decades ago adjusted to our life style, since we didn’t move much. Driving cars and working behind the desk lead to the conclusion that one didn’t need a lot of fats to burn. So why not make our cows less fatty?!

That’s why European beef is lean, therefore ideal to serve it rare or medium rare to prevent it to get tough. While fatty meat from American cows fed on a diet of corn, like the Black Angus, stay moist even when it’s medium grilled or well done. 

I’ve left out the whole discussion about whats good for you or not. Since you can question the whole meat industry and it’s cows living on a corn diet. I don’t promote you to eat a lot of meat, but if you do make sure you make a decision which fit your idea of eating responsible including less meat or at least know where your product is coming from. 

I was happy to hear that Midtown Grill being very transparent in telling where their meat comes from and on which reason their choice for using different kinds of meat is based on. Mainly on the well being of the animal, which also has influence on the quality of the meat too. And I can agree on that after the tasting of my Midtown favorites: the stew, the rib-eye and t-bone steak with herb butter and sautéed onions!

A valuable tip when you go to a restaurant, try to have a good chat with the staff and the kitchen. Learn about what you eat and the staff will appreciate it too! This leads to a better experience and eventually a better quality of the restaurant. I hear win-win!

Less than three weeks ago I received a call from Alrik Koudenburg, co-founder of Frozz, with the announcement that he wanted to realize a new concept with the same principles: healthy, good, comfort food. Are you up for this? I said hell yeah.

The founders Alrik and the sisters Ang had an enthusiastic idea to transform one of their Frozz Frozen Yoghurt stores into a noodle bar. Maintaining their core identity of Frozz: healthy, good, comfort food. 

In case you don’t know Frozz Frozen Yoghurt yet. Frozz sells ice cream made from 100% yoghurt produced by a Dutch farmer in Brabant. No powders, no E-numbers, flavor enhancers etc. Next to the fact that a cup is less than 100 Calories, you feel happy by the awesome designed identity and stores. 

Alrik Koudenburg, known from the cardboard Nothing office is responsible for the look and feel, the sisters Ang the business side of the company. 

For Oodlz, I was responsible for the project management and was fortunate to work with such a great team on a short notice. Besides this I helped out with the food styling of the ‘Choose a Favorite’ section haha. Looks delicious huh? The whole look and feel of Oodlz is not like Frozz, playful, but sleek and simple so the customer will get the create your own noodle concept in an instant. (ps: yes, we are replacing the lamps haha)

Like with Frozz, you choose a base, in this case you start with a portion of rice, egg, buckwheat or Udon noodles with a home made vegetarian or chicken bouillon which you can top with vegetables, meat, tofu and fresh herbs. You’ll get pure flavors from the broth without any adding of sauces or oils.

My favorite noodle of this moment is the:

• rice noodles
• vegetarian bouillon 
• fried tofu
• spinach
• choy sam
• fried garlic
• fried onions
• coriander
• spring onions
• and their home - made sambal!

A very clever idea for this time of weather. Don’t worry, you can still order the Frozzies. Perfect to have after your noodle. Longing for a XL Frozz as I write this down…. even when it’s this cold… See you at Oodlz?!

After emailing back and forth with Nawaz Kazmi about Pure Food Cafe Hills & Mills in Delft. I finally could make some time to drop by to taste their menu. A lot of press already covered a story about the cafe. So what more can I add?

It was a while ago that I visited pittoresque Delft. It’s like a miniature Amsterdam with canals and small houses which give you the necessary ooh, aah’s resulting in some Kodak moments. Hills & Mills is located in the heart of Delft and situated in a monumental building where there used to be bakery for many years.

The building has kept it’s characteristics after the renovation, but the added value lies in the experience. Nawaz his sister worked at the cafe that day and made everyone feel at home, at theirs. She could tell a lot about the concept, their selection of products, home made products without adding preservatives & processed sugars and the way how the family managed the business.

The Nan made according the families recipe from Pakistan is the signature dish made by mr Kazmi is delicious!

Their fathers domain is the kitchen. Responsible for all the creativity in the kitchen baking pastries, asian inspired veggie pots, curry and raw salads with bulgur or quinoa. What a sweet man he is! After 37 years of experience in the food & beverage, he decided to join forces with his sons who studied business economics and psychology. Seem to work, especially when I heard that the former baker unfortunately went bankrupt. A new way of entrepreneurship had to do the job, I guess. A father with over 30 years of experience trusting his kids to experiment with a new way of doing business also by using social media which fits their personality.

Nawaz, who’s responsible for the marketing, his strength lies in the way he approaches his (potential) guests by informing about food in a sympathetic way via their FB page. Without being too floaty like most of the healthy spots specifically targeting yoga heads ( I’m a yoga girl too tho haha). With this kind of attitude it’s easier to reach new customers outside the yoga slash hip conscious people niche, and introduce them how to eat healthy by making conscious decisions about what to consume.

Unfortunately Nawaz was on a vacation, but I like to have a good conversation about responsible entrepreneurship. Because its not possible to work with 100% organic goods, make all your products in house like their bread from Lekker, jams and the yoghurt for their frozen yoghurt. And how they make their decisions in finding the right balance in buying in locally produced, organic and seasonal products vs making money.

I’m curious how their business will grow from here on. Maybe being open for dinner during weekdays instead of just the weekends? So you can eat your breakfast for dinner?(The dishes on their menu are available the whole day) For now thumbs up for this place, the Kazmi team for their hospitality and living up my expectations. That there online presence is just like the real thing. Hills & Mills is ideal for family dinners, date lunches, business coffees and a bite while answering your emails a.k.a. WIFI availible :)

Stumbled upon Don’t fear the Kitchen. A blog where SF based graphic designer Katie Kingrumford shared her design process for her thesis. Loved the quotes by Julia Child and Truman Capote she selected and fits Kitchen Script perfectly haha Hit the button to check out her posters.

Healthy Happy friend Sam teamed up with My New Roots Sarah Britton for a dessert cooking session. I’ve joined their first class a few months ago and was psyched about it. We made colorful dishes which mouth waters the meat eaters too. Next week they’ll prepare desserts: easy, healthy, no baking required. Still spots left for Nov, 19th!

Travelled to Eindhoven to get inspiration by visiting Marije Vogelzang’s curated exhibition ‘De Etende Mens’ (the eating men). Happy to check out one of my favorite food initiators work and find out why it was extended due to succes. Hit it…

This exhibition is created from a design perspective. Since I’m into conceptual arts nowadays it seems hard to claim my attention when it comes to design or contemporary arts. Although I luurrv design!

After working with online curator and entrepreneur Nalden for years, where I did the contribution for, I’ve seen a lot of projects in the field of arts, design, architecture and fashion, experienced them and read a lot about it. Also being triggered by wonderful people like Anne van der Zwaag, Johan Kramer, Juha van t’Zelfde, Alrik Koudenburg and Sarah van Sonsbeeck I question a lot by seeing objects for the first time. What Kind of feeling does sombody’s work give me? Always hoping to see and appreciate a creatives idea via different perspectives like concept, visual, humor, execution or cleverness to enrich myself and share my thoughts with my friends and followers. There’s a beauty in all you know and sometimes artists still manage to make something which doesn’t give me a feeling at all haha

Getting back to the exhibition. There were a few curated pieces which cought my eye. Some far fetched, some very simple. 

I liked the artwork of Julie Green, Artur van Balen and Koen van Mechelen, because of the research and concept regarding recent developments and ‘news’ you reed in the media (or not). Addressing subjects you won’t hear about a lot. The fact these artists selected a topic which needs more research caught my attention. Although f.e. the execution of Julie Greens, The Last Supper, is super simple (drawing made on paper plates) the story behind it gives the object more value. And I love it when artists try to crumble my brain cells or make me laugh like with one of the objects by food designer Martí Guixé.

I find it very interesting why a certain topic fascinates an artist to use it as a starting point for a project, while beautiful executed wooden toys (ideal for gifts tho’) representing our problems regarding mass production of our food. Meaning cultivating soy and corn at the expense of the rainforest for our mass meat consumption. A major problem discussed since umm ages, which doesn’t do me a lot now anymore. So the work of Tomm Velthuis could be concidered as a nice design project to educate your kids instead of being ‘art’, which is ok btw haha (NOTE: I LOVE his earlier ratata project)

Another subject which got a lot of attention is the development of fake meat. Why would you eat that? IMOA eating fake meat just covers the meat ‘addiction’ problem we have.  Just give me a plate of green hoppers when I need animal protein, try to look for proteins in beans, discover protein rich vegetables you don’t know yet or reduce your meat consumption to a few days a week.

If you love food design and graphic design you need to check the exhibition out, until the 6th of January. Worth the extension due to succes? Yes, because Marije tries to discuss the food topic in different ways which is accessible for a big target group. The mass who need to get some info in their zone. 

Check out my insta feed and google some ssshh…if you don’t have the time to visit ‘De Etende Mens’.

Managed to make a raw porridge with dry ingredients from my pantry and it does taste OK. I got inspired by raw recipes I found online. The chance is very small that I can keep up with such a diet, but am open minded when it comes to food.

I’ve mixed the following ingredients in a bowl: Coconut water, chia seeds, broken flaxseeds, grated coconut, goji berries, cranberries, pecan, almonds, sunflower seeds, oats, cinnamon & syrup to sweeten things up.

The perfect thing with eating “raw” breakfasts is that it’s easy to make and you can use a lot of nutritious ‘living’ ingredients you can store in your pantry without worrying about your groceries to decay. Buy bulks with nuts, seeds, grated coconut, dried fruits, coconut water or packs of rice/almond/hazelnut milk, so you always have something to eat :)

No cooking required and totally safe for people who aren’t good with using fire while having a hangover. Ready in a few minutes. Warning: you need to get used to the taste and texture. 

Got another easy red lentil soup recipe made in a snap! I bought vegetable stock from De kleinste soep fabriek (the smallest soup factory) and boiled it with a cup of red lentils. Follow the instructions on both packages, serve your soup with fresh herbs like coriander and some yoghurt. Simplicity rules and it saves you time!

After training my biceps by grinding fresh roasted localy grown Arabica coffee beans, I mos def earned a fresh cup of coffee. If you like to know how the staff of Lakeview teached me how to roast coffee old skool style read more for the pics!

This is how Arabica coffee beans look like after the coffee berries are peeled. 
Because they aren’t fragrant yet it needs to be sorted and roasted first. 

Whole beans make the strongest flavored coffee and the broken ones mild.

200 grams of sorted beans will be roasted in this hot wajan for 9 minutes while stirring constantly. Lower the heat when it starts to pop like popcorn! You can smell the beans…

Cool the 200 grams of roasted coffee on a tray for about 10 minutes before you grind them.

Store the grounded coffee in a vacuum jar since the strong and fresh flavor will reduce with the day.

Nice to know how to sort, roast, grind and serve but I think I’m going to Two for Joy now haha since it’s less time consuming.

I don’t want to deprive you from this moment when I tasted the home made tamarillo sorbet from Lakeview Hotel & Restaurant, who invited me to learn about Kintamani and their local cuisine. Visit their culinary events and try their tamarillo sorbet or marmelade when you are around. And if you’re not, here is an ice-cream recipe you can try out.

My culinary endeavor continued in Kintamani, North Eastern of Bali where I got to meet tamarillo! Also known as the Dutch eggplant (terong belanda) or sachatomate (false tomato). A local fruit with little seeds and a unique taste a bit comparable with a guava or a golden kiwi fruit. Never tasted it before. If you have the chance to try it out: DO!

Eating vegetarian meals while traveling prevents me from getting sick. So finding, preferably low carbs, vegetarian food became a challenge. While strolling the streets of Ubud I bumped into Raw, Vegan & Vegetarian Cafe Soma. My goal that day was to find vegan or raw meals and be convinced that eating uncooked food could taste delicious too. Besides this, eating light and fresh foods will help me (and you too) through the day without worrying about a Bali or Expat Belly haha

I started with a modest portion of raw chickpea hummus with vegetables and flaxseed crackers on the side. After being quite full of fibers and an immune booster smoothie I had to order something for the sake of ordering and ended my lunch with a try before you die raw chocolate caramel cheesecake.

No idea what to expect and got a large frozen substance called cake which was difficult to eat. A sweet coconut and lemony sour ‘cake’ with a similar texture as parfait on a crust of nuts and dates topped with a caramel topping. It was tasty for what it was and it’s a good alternative for the dairy version. But when I really crave for cheese cake I rather order a version made with dairy because there’s nothing which can beat the smoothness and creamy texture of the OG version, even a soy product didn’t came close. Unless somebody can proof me wrong. HINT ;)

Unlike other vegetarian places I’ve visited before (where good service is hard to find. Honestly without ‘hating’, most of the vegan, raw or vegetarian places are initiated by hobbyist who don’t have the experience or the will to serve.) Soma isn’t hippy, hip, trendy or scanty. It presents itself like any other regular cafe with service haha which welcomes all kind of eaters! Love your meat? You’ll like Soma too.

Want to make your own raw cheesecake? Visit the rawtarian.

We need to bring the afternoon tea back! An ideal ‘time-out’ moment before you can pop the last emails before 6pm. Mos def something else than your coup-a-soup at 4. Serve the easily made fried bananas topped with young coconut flakes and palm sugar with your ginger, lemongrass and lime tea. The easiest way to re-introduce tea time!

Last week I had the opportunity to check out the Purist Villas in Ubud. A seven room boutique villas with a good kitchen. Training your tastebuds can unravel recipes, so always be inspired by what you eat, anywhere, everywhere. Here is the recipe.

I’m always curious about home made muesli and granola when I stay at hotels. And am totally not bothered by continental breakfasts or the same old english breakfast. Why? Because I’m into trying out new stuff! You should too haha How awesome is when you’re able to create all dishes you had in the past, the one with good memories?

Unlike how I like to eat my granola (with yoghurt or soy “yoghurt”) the one I ordered at the Purist was served with milk. After some stirring, before I added the milk, I saw the delicious combination of crisply baked rolled oats, sesame, young coconut flakes, sultana’s, peanuts with honey and cinnamon.

Easy to make with dry ingredients from your pantry, which you can replace with other nuts or other dried fruits, as long as you have the basics right. So, bake a tray full of granola at 180C for 40 minutes (toss it every 10 minutes) to put in your vacuumed jar, serve a few scoops with your milk and picture breathtaking Bali.

If you’d like to have a detailed recipe, check the granola recipe out from Nigella Lawson, Feast.

My dear friend Kim tipped me this organic joint for lunch. Why? The route by foot through the rice paddy to Sari Organik is amazing, the food is fab and the view absolutely beautiful. Tasty meals made from ingredients cultivated in their garden!

After quite a walk and seeing awesome things on my way there, I was lucky to get a table during the lunch rush hour with a view on the rice fields.

I was very hungry and treated myself with ginger salsa lemonade, a grilled veggie salad, a tofu falafel with home made pida, a Balinese crepe (dadar gulung) and a young coconut for me being a good sport by walking to Sari Organik instead of taking the scooter. After this meal I couldn’t eat anymore that day haha…

This place is most def worth to check if you like good food, would like to meet the locals and appreciate the Ubud rice paddies :)

Raw food is mostly considered as hippy and doesn’t taste any good. I’ve passed this raw food store called Clear Cafe in Ubud, Bali. Tasteful snacks with them vitamins! Add this location in your Foursquare list. 

Well, like with every cuisine: use the right ingredients and with some taste you’ll get far. As a fan of cooked food I’m very interested in raw cuisine too. This cuisine comes across as dull, but I’ve seen some people who are very creative with veggies, fruits and nuts. Most of the time I had this thought in mind: when cooking and eating raw, vegetarian or vegan it doesn’t mean that you should punish your tastebuds in order to eat conscious. Cooks, can you taste at all? I was very happy to experience this different up in Ubud, Bali where the ingredients are happy because of the exotic sun :)

After a walk through the rice paddy in search of Sari Organik I checked out the city center and bumped into this store. Raw crackers, cakes and chocolate bon bons which make you all say: WOW! Bought myself some treats: a vegan brownie, chocolate peanut bon bon and some curry crackers. A lot of vegetarian and vegan brownies are to sweet, to bitter, to dry or don’t taste any good, but this one is moist and is full of flavor best stored in a vacuum bag. If you are a chocolate lover, I recommend you to try this! The bonbons were tasty too and the crackers are good for a daytrip. The snacks last for a week, so I’m really in doubt to buy some snacks for friends at home…Well it, challenged me to try and make my own raw snacks!

Yep I’m going to place some orders from awesome graphic designed Cool Chile Co products. The graphic design caught my attention, but the smell of this chipotle convinced me to have some of this at home to cook with and to look at while standing in the kitchen haha. I love internet shopping…

Dessert time: Get your beautiful rums or whiskeys out of your cabinet! Tried this lovely one from Tres Hombres Rum from 2011 and served it with different Green & Blacks dark chocolates, moist figs and delicious pecan nuts for my guests. One of the most easy dessert options you have in your cupboards. Don’t worry if you don’t have time to create a nice dessert after work. Always make sure you have lovely spirits which fits perfectly with your stash of chocolates.

This recipe was a freestyle fish prep I made in my new non stick frying pan. The classic fish recipes are mostly made with lemon, but wanted to try something out with an orange for some sweetness. This post is a note to self :)

1- First I baked two cod filets in a bit of olive oil until it’s brown on both sides. Don’t use butter to bake the fish or else it will get burned giving the dish a brownish color which we don’t want.
2 - Throw in a tablespoon of butter when the fish is almost cooked through.
3 - Add a finely chopped clove of garlic, a handful of chopped parsley and fennel leaves.
4 - Stir carefully and squeeze half an orange over the fish.
5 - Reduce the heat and let the sauce caramelize a bit.
6 - Season with salt and black pepper and serve with veggies!

Next time you want to try it out, buy:
Two cod fillets
A bit of olive oil
A tablespoon of organic unsalted butter
One glove of garlic
Parsley
Fennel leaves
One organic orange
Salt & black pepper