Walking in to ‘t plenske, we were warmly greeted and sat in their lovely glass courtyard area – which i’m sure would have much more allure to it in the summer months. The clientele were somewhat of an older generation, and extremely starey – i felt as though i’d walked into a room naked. We took our seat and ordered a glass of chilled champagne. Some bread shortly arrived at the table, all well cooked but not particularly exciting – the black olive tapenade on the other hand was something special.
Lunch here at ‘t Plenske really is a good deal. For 26.50 euros you’ll be spoilt with two huge course which use top quality ingredients. The first of our starters to arrive was a rillette of juicy, stringy venison. It was very rich and had bags of flavour. Some candied pear was a little overwhelmed by the venison but in small mouthfulls – it worked very well. A crunchy grilled crostini was the perfect accompaniment to the dish and although it wasn’t amazing – we were certainly satisfied.
Simple things are sometimes the best and that was exactly the case with this starter of salad leaves, cherry tomato, boiled egg, stunning juicy shrimps and a heavenly vinaigrette dressing. The dish was well portioned and every bite was so refreshing. Simple effortless cooking, is sometimes all you need – as long as the ingredients can showcase it all off. Which is exactly what this salad did.
Mains came in the form of huge portions – after my own heart i think. A real winter warmer of a dish were some slabs of well hung, Argentine beef steak which were oozing meaty flavour – though a little tough on the occasional bite. A layer of soft courgette was topped with some very creamy mash and sublimely cooked mushrooms. One of the best parts of it all was the dollops of purple mash on the side. A lovely dish which back here in the UK, would be the perfect Sunday roast. A final coating of truffle juice turned this dish in to the love of my life.
Head chef Jaap van Wyck is a master when it comes to cooking fish – well at least this dish made him one. A wonderful, glistening white piece of juicy catfish was cooked to absolute perfection. Some crunchy romanesco cauliflower, spring onion, dill and crispy bacon made it a pure pleasure to eat. The mustard sauce was good – though maybe could have done with a little more punch to it. It was all washed down with some of Maastrichts local wine, which i must confess i have a little soft spot for.
We skipped desserts here at ‘t plenske and instead ordered some coffee giving us the chance to sample some of their petit fours instead. The coffee was OK, but was a little on the bitter side. The nougat was soft and chewy – with a nice milky taste to it. Cookies were nothing out of the ordinary but the pate de fruits (those sugar coated jelly squares) were some of the best examples i’ve eaten to date.
‘t Plenske is a truly lovely restaurant. Service is informal, yet attentive and the restaurant does have a nice vibe about it – even if it was a bit starey. There are of course much better restaurants in the city, but for these prices, quantity and quality you’ll be hard pushed to find such a great bargain. Perhaps a Bib Gourmand from the Michelin guide is in order?
7/10
