Frederique

Today, Amsterdam, weather forecast: wet, wet, wet. Couch potato time! Sweatpants, red wine and a potato-​truffle pie of Frederique. A gorgeous deli with lots of fresh meals, desserts and salads based on family recipes. Modest prices too. Let there be food.

If you’r hungry and in a hurry this is the spot !! For 11 Eur you can eat plenty. The dishes a tasty and creative as a personal recommendation stick to the curry… Not strong and great meat. As a plus you have creative seats

Indonesian style fast food, but for a Italian. I can’t say that I am totally impressed with Frederique but I did enjoy the food and experience overall. It just seems to me that’s premade food, which you get scoops of, which are then microwaved should not be quite this pricey. Don’t get me wrong I’m all for grabbing a quick meal when I’m not in the mood to cook. I just feel the price to quality ratio isn’t quite there.

Food tastes reasonably good, but that does not make up for the fact that it’s microwaved. Don’t mix too many dishes as it ruins the taste. In the end you will probably end up eating somewhere else.

I had a bit over an hour before I had to go to my next job so I decided to have some Italian food at Frederique having previously heard good things about it.
While I was sitting there, in my mind reciting Sœur Sourire’s song but instead of Dominique using Frederique: «Frederique inique inique s’en allait tout simplement», I was looking around me and thinking… yeah… I like it here!
However, it’s strange that I like it because I have a pet peeve with how they heat food. They use a microwave!!! Whut!!! Did I just use the M-​word?! This evil machine that makes food taste funky, changes the textures for worse, dehydrates it and probably kills precious vitamins in our refined-​sugar-​rich diets can’t be too bad… right?
Well, I’ve allowed myself (and coerced my OCD) to accept it at this place, although I wish they would heat food differently.
So, they use the M-​word machine! Meaning: The food has been pre-​made. It seems that I’ve been giving you reasons not to like this place so far. but that’ll change. Hold your horses my pretty little reader who can’t be too eager to judge since you’re still reading this.
In spite of all of that, the food works. I mean, it really works. It looks good and it tastes good!
Now, is this the type of Italian food that feels light and fresh? No, it’s the homey type that fills you up with great taste! It’s Italian comfort food!
So what’s on the menu? It’s different every time, but when I went I had the mushroom risotto and two different kinds of pasta.
So how do you order? Well, first you pick what size container you want; Small at € 8, medium at € 10 and large at € 13 and then you can have them put in it whatever they have to offer that day! I went for ½ risotto ¼ one kind of pasta and ¼ another kind of pasta. I went for the Large menu and I received a bottled drink of my choice with it and also a salad of my choice (I went for a chicken salad with honey mustard dressing).
The large container didn’t look big so my empty and hungry belly in cooperation with my greed chose the large container just to realize after I had received my food on a plate (yes, you get it on a plate if you choose to sit and eat) that I ordered way more than I could handle.
Next time, and boy will there be a next time, I will order the small one (alright wiseass, if you think you can handle the large menu, don’t say I didn’t warn you).
SO! The food’s pretty good. The setting and atmosphere is very good and the service is very friendly and attentive. Their location is also very convenient. They’re across from the Albert Heijn located at the end of an alley of the Albert Cuyp Market. You know the one, right? Right!
Now go eat!

How can I combine the words Gezellig and Super F-​ing Lekker?
Gesflekker?
Gezesfingker?
Gezelperfukker???
Oh wait… why not just say ‘Frederique’ since this this place is both Gezellig and SFLekker!
Picture this folks… It’s a grey yet optimistic Friday afternoon. The unmistakable scent of vlaamse frites and the sound of crunchy van dobben greet you as you enter the Albert Cuyp market. After supporting the local food artisans with your purchase of golden orange Old Amsterdam cheese with a brief yet vital pitstop for a freshly made gooey stroopwafel, you become slightly despondent when you figure out that you need to stop by Albert Heijn to pick up some other items. Before you enter the realm of commercialized and processed foods otherwise known as the kingdom of AH, you notice a small and almost hidden haven out of the corner of your eye.
‘Wat is dat?’, you ask yourself with your limited Dutch skills…
‘Fre… Frederique? Qu’est-ce que c’est que ca?‘
And before you know it, your curiosity has sent messages to your brain causing your body to migrate into the direction of Frederique…
This was the setup for my first time at Fred’s and I’m so glad I found this place! When you walk in, you’ll be greeted by a fresh assortment of salads, meats and of course lekker desserts all homemade with talent and love. Of course the assortment changes every week but between rucola stampot, Moroccan beef stew, creamy risotto… it’s hard to choose… BUT!!! Let me give you a little teaser of what we had on this fateful Friday afternoon at Fred’s.
1. Shredded yam, potato and cabbage quiche — Ewww you say? THINK AGAIN! This was one of my favorites! I don’t know if homeboy Freddy put some drugs in here, but it was my faaaavorite and packed with flavor!
2. Truffle oil quiche muffins??? — I honestly don’t remember what these were called and quite frankly I don’t give a rats ass because they were amaaazing! Again, this little muffin punched the F out of my face with a fist full of flavor! Yeeeeowwy yet yummy!
3. Poached pear — It is almost Christmas time and I can’t think of a better thing to shove in my naughty mouth than a nice and perfectly spiced pear… Fred totally anticipated this and made my Christmas wish come true
4. Applepie — I mean… I’m in NL so for sure I need to eat this! I will admit it wasn’t my all-​time favorite, but it was still good and the crust on the bottom was barely cooked. Ooey gooey apple pie in my patooey? Yes please!
If that wasn’t enough to entice you, the place itself is RAD! RAD like Ridiculous And Dreamy! Of course you can get anything you want to go, but if you stay, there are two comfy cozy coves for good food and good times! The top floor has an AWESOME painting which I will NOT take a picture because you should see it yourself. And the bottom floor has a sweet table with chairs and swings?! C’est magnifique if you ask me!
As you can tell I just can’t shut up about this place, but let me just tell you that I’ve been back since my first magical encounter and talked to some fun and ambitious dude who turned out to be the owner! Homebody made us this creamfully sinful lasagna accompanied with a bottle of prosecco. We also left with a bag of hare leg that has been marinated in herbs and red wine and cooked at a low temperature for 8 hours. Popped that bag o’ rabbit in boiling water for 15 minutes and boom! Tender as F rabbit meat falling off the bones and into our critter hunger mouths.
One last tip before I completely lose your focus… Freddy sells boxes of Port… yeah… Like a box of three ports for 30 EUR. I mean… I bought one for myself and I’m sure I’ll be back next week to buy another box for … well… myself because I drink a lot and want to come back and eat everything else here!!!
CHEERS Freddy and see you again soon!!!
Love,
Dennis