I always thought this location looked so cool, and I always wanted to take a look. This week it finally happened: a dinner at the new Restaurant REM, at the Houthavens. Now I do live in Amsterdam, but this is a neighborhood where I actually never come. I had it in my head that it was quite a small restaurant, but that turned out to be quite different. In fact, the restaurant is really at a considerable height – luckily I could manage with my fear of heights using the elevator.

But once you're up (and safely inside and the fear of heights is no longer present), you really have a beautiful view. Depending on which table you're at, you have a special view over Noord or Centraal.

We started with a Blanc de Blancs from Maastricht, because a good start is indeed half the work. At REM Restaurant you can choose from four, five, or six courses. I had hardly had lunch and neither had my +1, so we went for the full six courses — and that turned out to be a really good choice. I had the vegetarian menu and can really recommend it; especially the white asparagus was really delicious, just like the dish with the tuber and the tomato carpaccio beforehand. Six courses always sounds like a lot, but in terms of portions, this was just right.

My +1 (also my lovely Amayzine colleague Ella the All-eater) had the ‘regular’ menu and was ecstatic about the skate wing (which I unfortunately couldn't taste due to my fish allergy) and the same goes for the rabbit and the duck. Add to that the fact that they also had her favorite orange wine on the menu, and I had a satisfied dinner partner across from me.

All in all, really a special location where you can also eat really well. We were both positively surprised by the quality of the dishes. A big plus is that the vegetarian menu was also really well developed (and very tasty). I had thought this location was really cool for years, so I secretly had quite high expectations for a dinner at this new hotspot. Were they met? Oh yes.