So, I really had a great meal on Wednesday. And drank. Maybe actually mostly drank in terms of quantity, and I definitely felt that the next morning. But well, I just don't really have a backbone, especially when it comes to cocktails. And there were cocktails in abundance. You do the math. My backbone disappeared like snow before the sun the moment I got that first drink in my hands.

I was actually dining at Branie, where distillery Hooghoudt organized a dinner. Its ambassador, Lennart Deddens, personally made the cocktails. Does that name mean nothing to you? Then let me add that he won the Best Bartender award in 2015, and then you probably understand even more why I eagerly and gratefully accepted all the cocktails. My favorite was the Look At That Mango, with among other things Absinthe; dangerous and also dangerously delicious. I ended up drinking several of those. Now that I'm recalling this, that medium feeling from the next morning is becoming increasingly explainable.

But well, luckily there was also food. And it was really unbelievably delicious. The dessert, a panna cotta of pandan, was just ridiculously good. But the salmon tartare, the beef tataki (god-like) and especially the veggie KFC, I could eat every day. I need to explain a bit about the last one: it's not chicken, but mushrooms. And seriously, I don't believe there's anyone who would taste the difference if you didn't know beforehand. It just tastes exactly like juicy, crunchy chicken wings like from KFC, but really a lot better.

I didn't know it was possible, because I was so arrogant that I thought I knew all the hotspots in Amsterdam by now, but I have a new favorite on my list.