Koetjes en Kalfjes

I have come to rely on Unilocal a lot for finding good places to eat. I travel a fair amount and Unilocal really helps in unfamiliar places. But the ho-​hum Unilocal reviews almost made me skip this place.
Luckily I was in a pinch and needed a place for a quick dinner with a customer. We ended up having an excellent experience and the food was amazing! It was so good that we ended up going back again the next night even though we had plenty of time to be more choosy. Once again a wonderful meal…
That was two months ago. Today I happened to be at Gustav Mahlerplein again and decided to go back. Wow! The special was a Venison dish that was incredible! Their desserts are amazing too.
This place is superb. Go for the great food, don’t get hung up on the price.

Last week I had an after lunch dinner at ‘Koetjes en kalfjes’, a restaurant/​bar in the center of the business district of Amsterdam Zuid. When I came in I was welcomed by a host who was very friendly and guided me to the table that was reserved for me and some colleagues. The athmosphere is warm, not too businesslike and the public is also mixed, so you don’t have to be afraid to see only business people here. At the bar it is very easy going and in the back there is a small lounge area, which is very nice for a not too large group.
They have a nice selection if wines and the Sancere was amazing.
I started off with Oysters (offcourse!!!), that did combine very well with the Sancere wine. I continued with salmon accompanied with a bouquet of vegetables and rice enriched with a orange coconut sauce. Pleasantly surprising combination. But the finishing touch definitely was the splendid chocolate dessert with three flavors of chocolate and caramel… a sweet kiss that makes you beg for more ;-)
I didn’t expect this quality in a business area, but then why not? I would really recommend it, especially during the week, but I wonder how it is in the weekend, you would probably want to be more down town then.

This place might be decent if you work in one of the financial firms next door and have a lot of money to throw around to sit in a flashy business kind of place. Otherwise, I suggest you avoid it and go anywhere else.
I came here with some friends for lunch, and I tried to order a 14 euro burger. But it comes with eggplant, and eggplant mayo. I hate eggplant. I tried to order the burger without the eggplant, and with aioli instead of the eggplant mayo, and I literally had a 5 minute discussion with the waiter trying to explain the concept of what I was going for. He actually had to go get a piece of paper to write it all down! He actually wrote BURGER, NO EGGPLANT MAYO. NO COURGETTE. AIOLI after like 5 minutes of discussion, because holding all these directives in his head simultaneously was too much for him. Trying to make such a simple modification was obviously never going to work, so I finally gave up and told him to just bring me the asparagus soup instead.
The asparagus soup was some flimsy broth, not creamy, and there were slimy salty fishy asparagus slices floating around in it. There was also parma ham. That was kind of nice, but it wasn’t enough to save the whole soup.
This all happened at around 3pm, so the restaurant was completely empty. It wasn’t like they were too busy to make any changes or anything. But for 14 euros, I think I should be able to avoid having eggplant on my burger. Who puts eggplant on a burger anyways?
One saving grace is the caesar salad, which my friend said was the best caesar salad she ever had. I will admit it was presented in a very pleasing architectural fashion. But it’s still not enough for me to recommend this place to anyone.

Koetjes en Kalfjes is pretty easy to find since there is a giant cow right outside the door! It is conveniently located in WTC and an easy place to meet up with friends for dinner.
Overall the food is good but not memorable. The dishes were flawed in small ways but consistent. A safe place to bring someone and you will always get consistently good food.
Food: 3.5 /​5
I had the baked flounder for my main and the lava muffin for dessert. The fish was perfectly cooked and was nice and flaky. It had a mild taste and the accompanying creamed potato and pickled cucumber contrasted nicely. However, there wasn’t enough sides to go with the fish and the fish doesn’t really have much flavor.
The lava muffin was very delicious, especially with the chocolate raspberry ice cream. However, it was accompanied with a crème anglaise that had blueberries and gooseberries. These aren’t really meant for eating and are more decorative elements on the dish. I wish someone had told me that before I ate a gooseberry for the first time (they are super sour!).
We also had an order of fries and they were very delicious. Golden, crispy and accompanied by a honey mustard mayonnaise. YUM!
Ambiance: ⁴⁄₅
It is tastefully decorated and very pretty. There is also a «loft» with additional seating on an upstairs balcony like area. This is a great place for a business meal or anyone else you want to impress. It feels like a classy place.
Service: ⁵⁄₅
Maybe because it is located in Zuid and there are a lot of foreigners in this area but the service was impeccable. Our server was patient and attentive, checking in every now and then.
Value: ³⁄₅
It was about 35 euro/​pp for 1 main, 1 dessert (no alcohol). It is a decent price for a good meal.

Let me start by saying that I WANTED to hate this place. I really planned on going to bed angry and not even caring about how Koetjes en Kalfjes felt…
It turns out that we simply got off on the wrong foot. K&K offers a few «business lunch» menu options. All but one had seafood starters (of which, I’m not a fan) so I asked for the more expensive menu option (happy to pay the additional money) but I wanted to switch the seafood starter with the one non-​seafood starter from one of the other menus. To do this, i was told I’d have to buy each of of the items seperately, resulting in an extra 4 – 5 euros. It wasn’t the 4 – 5 euros that bothered me — it was the PRINCPLE of the thing!
That said, I ended up ordering a completely different starter of a goat cheese salad and the main I originally planned on — the entrecôte. I was thoroughly pleased with both of these. Warning, they don’t ask how you want the steak cooked buy mine was medium-​medium-​rare and it was perfection, tender & tasty — they way I like my meat! The salad was lovely, with the apple dressing being the highlight.
Service was strong and consistent and hey, it’s not that poor guy’s fault that he would have had to charge me seperately…
All in all, surprisingly good experience! Not a cheap one (60 for lunch for 3 courses and booze) but worth it if you are giving yourself a present and want to go back to work a little bit happier than when you left it. :)