Borculo - Bistronomie Moulin

the beautiful terrace of Bistronomie Moulin on the waterfront

Saturday, 8 August
A belated Bday gift for our dear friend Ingrid: dinner @ Bistronomie Moulin and a night in the B&B of the restaurant in Borculo.

But first we visited Zutphen, a lovely 'Hanze city' on the river IJssel, which has lots of cool shops and a great atmosphere.
We bought goodies and had great salad, coffees and more. Enjoyed ourselves.
A few photos to illustrate:

the old bridge over the river IJssel in the background

exploring Zutphen

 

great shop for us foodies 'Pure Taste' 

Van Rossum's coffee shop we loved it: super coffee and great people

remnants of the ancient walls of Zutphen

we arrived at our destination: Moulin Bistrononie 

the terrace of the restaurant 

on the first floor of the building on the other side of the water are our rooms

our apartment opposite the restaurant

our table on the waterfront, wine and water arrived

cheers to a great evening

great food

Superb food (lobster and Kemper grouse in a coconut curry)

lovely wines (and water)

every great evening has to come to an end :-(

Sunday, 9 August 2015

Breakfast we made at our own apartment with all the goodies the restaurant put in our fridge and more.

We had made reservations for the 1 pm sails around Zutphen with extensive explanation by the skipper; we loved it

skipper William explains

 

It was a super weekend. We loved it!

Achterhoek revisted: Brummen, Tante Blanche, Museum More, cycling

cycling along the river IJssel

Saturday, 1 August: 
We started cycling at Doesburg along the river IJssel around 11 am and were back at 5 pm. This tour was interrupted by lunch and a 'beer stop'. Lovely scenery and weather.

'cow beach' 

Wall paintings dating from the beginning of the 15th century in a (now) protestant church in Hengelo, Gelderland. 

refilling (beer) at cafe ' het Wapen van Hekeren', lovely building

church of Hoog Keppel, Gelderland

As it's 'open church' weekend we are able to enter churches that normally are closed for the public. Very interesting.

We revisted (for the 3rd time) in Brummen hotel 'Het Oude Postkantoor' (a former post office) and had dinner at restaurant 'Tante Blanche' 

we slept in this room @ Het Oude Postkantoor

Now some ' food pics' of the several dishes @ Restaurant 'Tante Blanche':

1st course tuna in 3 different ways: we liked the tuna with nori and curry the best

spinach soup 

sea brass with risotto and fresh veggies

 Rosevall potatoes and tournedos with Roquefort cheese sauce, accompanied by a glass of red wine: super yummie 

dessert was superb: orange tiramisu

one for the road at cafe/restaurant Kromhout

Sunday, 2nd August

A day with culture & cycling. After breakfast we visited the exhibition 'Sharp Focus' at the new Museum More in Gorssel. For sure worth a visit. 

Of course I couldn't resist making lots of photos of the Modern Realistic art on display.

on the left the poster of the exhibition (self portrait of Charley Toorop)

3 x Willink

From Gorssel we drove to Lochem where we started our cycle tour in de Achterhoek. Lovely scenery, great weather. We decided to visit Borculo, where we will be staying next week; a preview ^-^

Borculo, Moulin Bistronomie

back in Lochem where we started our cycle tour with a well-deserved beer and 'bitterballen'. Look there's a guy behind the couch making a photo with his cell phone ....

Groet'n uut Grunn

Drinks after an afternoon of shopping  

Saturday, 18 July: 
A weekend trip to Grunn with our friends Femke and Gerard. 
After an afternoon of intense shopping and a few relaxing drinks at one of our favorite places in Groningen, the garden of Het Schimmelpenninck Huys, we headed for our main goal; restaurant In de Molen in Onderdendam. 
I had booked us dinner as well as the 2 apartments in the mill. The apartments are on the 1st and 2nd floor of the mill: so we only had to climb the stairs after dinner.  
It was a super dinner, great food, atmopshere, service. We enjoyed muchly and we will come back for sure. 

Restaurant In de Molen in Onderdendam 

charming Onderdendam 

smoking friends

In the restaurant:

4 amuses (appetizers); a promising start of our dinner

some of the lovely dishes of our 5 course dinner 

(also the friandises bottom right)

the awesome delicious dessert including basil ice cream and tomato coulis.

Sunday, 19 July

It rained cats and dogs. So after breakfast we decided to visit the Groninger Museum. This was a change of plan, coz initially the plan was to take a (hired) boat trip and lunch en route from the picnic basket Femke ordered from the restaurant. Shame the weather didn't cooperate.

breakfast in the morning in the restaurant

the attic of the mill (photo made by Gerard)

In the Groninger Museum:

Chinese artist Song Dong's exhibition 'Life is Art, Art is Life' '- Waste Not

A very interesting exhibition of this Chinese artist Song Dong. Especially the 'Waste Not' part on the attic of the museum was impressive. These items all came from the home of the artist's mother. Amazing what junk she collected: empty bottles, cans, shoes, clothes, you name it and it's there somewhere between the piles. 

Exhibition 'Werkman', overview of the work of this printer/painter, who was a member of De Ploeg

some of my favorite paintings from the permanent collection of the museum

When we left the museum it had stopped raining and we visited the super cheese shop De Kaaskop in the Zwanestraat, which we had spotted the day before. We stayed there for almost an hour shopping and tasting cheese. Great shop, I recommend. 

photo from website Kaaskop

Our last stop in Groningen was restaurant 't Feithhuis, a historical building where we had drinks and something to eat. 

It was a lovely weekend. 

restaurant 't Feith huis

A Thursday evening in Leyden

kir royale to start with and sitting at the waterfront (Bord'O)

Thursday, 16 July we had a lovely dinner at restaurant Bord'O in Leyden. This was my first time there and Peter's second.

The weather was nice when we arrived (on our bikes) and we settled outside on the terrace at the waterfront with an aperitif. Also the appetizers and the first course we had outside, but then it started raining and we had to continue inside the restaurant.

I loved the food, the wine (a lot of wines we recognized as they are from Brand and La Bordelaise, two wineshops in Leyden we frequently visit), the atmosphere, the friendly service and the personal attention of the chef. We will come back for sure, at this moment this is definitely our fav restaurant in Leyden. Some photos:

still outside on the terrace and admiring the first course and the great wine Peter ordered to accompany our meal

 

One of the 'friandises', a salted caramel, that accompanied the espresso coffee, was sooo yummie so I asked for one more  ^-^  

When we cycled home it started to rain and we fled into the new cafe De Waag in Leyden. This monumental building in the middle of town has been renovated and refurbished very nicely. It's worth a visit. Couldn't stop making photo's.

It was a lovely evening we enjoyed muchly! 

Totally refurbished monument 'De Waag' in Leyden

of course I couldn't resist and placed some pics on FB ^-^

photo made by Peter

view from the stairs