Restaurant An

Last week I had a very pleasurable diner at Japanese restaurant An on the Weteringschans in Amsterdam.
It's a very plain but charming restaurant, decorated with beautiful Japanese tea pots and china pieces.
I was very hungry and also a little greedy so I ordered quite a lot. I had the Omakase Menu and my friend, who always orders some kind of crispy chicken, had the Chicken Katsu. We also had their Shojin Age (tempura veggies), spicy tuna maki and their seasonal dish Nasu Dengaku (grilled aubergine with sweet miso). Everything was super fresh and extremely tasty!

Omakase means "I leave it to you", so I had no idea what what I would be getting. The Omakase set consisted of miso soup, rice, teriyaki salmon, stewed hijiki with yuba, courgette in sesame sauce, pickled cucumber, simmered daikon with sweet miso and chicken karaage.
I loved everything! The karaage was super crispy and juicy, the daikon just melted away in your mouth and the salmon was full of flavor and cooked perfectly. A true party in my mouth :)
I didn't try the chicken katsu, having far to much on my plate already, but it looked delicious! Nice and crispy on the outside, super juicy on the inside. I didn't hear any complains coming from the opposite side of the table, so I'm pretty sure it tasted as good as it looked.
The tempura vegetables were delicious as well. I just love that moment when you bite in to your tempura and all those lovely flavors and textures come together. The sweetness of the veggies mixed with the salty dipping sauce and that crispy outside... Hmmmmm!
The spicy tuna maki really surprised me. Usually I don't like spicy tuna sushi, because they serve you some kind of spicy tuna salad full of mayo. Ugh! But this one actually had fresh tuna in it and a drop of spicy sauce on top. It was the first time I actually liked a spicy tuna maki!
I had once tried to make nasu dengaku myself, but wasn't 100% pleased with the outcome. So I was really curious to find out what I did wrong. Theirs was super soft and tender. The miso was very sweet but hearty at the same time. I enjoyed every last bit of it. Next time I try making it myself I'll be sure to keep theirs in mind.

Do have a look at their diner menu or lunch menu and be sure to visit them soon!