Perfect for a night in front of the TV."IMPRESSING THE IN-LAWSVasse Felix, Cabernet/Merlot 2001, from Western Australia, Australia, £9.99 from Majestic"If Dad is a bit of a wine buff, take this It is a big, rich, dry red. But put it with anything a little oily, or pizza with its tomatoes and spicy toppings, and you won't notice the trademark drying tannins - in fact they help make the food taste better. A touch of sweetness means it is great with anything sweet, sour or a little bit spicy. I loved the tuna sashimi with soy jelly and wasabi foam, and the chocolates-on-a-stick.The Mansion Hobbemastraat, 2, tel: 00 31 20 616 6664 This Draculean mix of Nobu, Hakkasan and the corner Chinese is a black-netted, crystal-chandeliered, theatrically lit mansion. Delicious and cheap."NIGHT IN WITH FRIENDSMontana, Sauvignon Blanc 2005, from Marlborough, New Zealand, £6.99 at Oddbins"Everyone loves Sauvignon Blanc Clean and fresh, it smells like passionfruit and gooseberry. A goodly cross-section of Amsterdam drops in to fuel up on burgers, risotto, pasta, and steak and chips.Email Terry Durack, restaurant critic of the year, about where you've eaten lately at t.durack independent.co.uk. EVERYDAY DRINKING Torres, Vi?smeralda 2003, from Penedes, Spain, £5.50 at Tesco "Fantastic with Vietnamese or Thai food, anything where the ingredients are fragrant or spicy.
The beautiful crowd go for new-style sashimi, steaming dim sum baskets, Cantonese duck rolls and lobster and noodles.Brasserie Harkema Nes, 67, tel: 00 31 20 428 2222 Housed in an old tobacco warehouse in the heart of the city, this vast, French-style brasserie has been popular since it first opened back in 2003. If this is any indication of the level of industry training, then I'm not surprised by the quality of the recent openings around town. Memo to self: buy a bicycle.15/20 The College Restaurant, The College Hotel, Roelof Hartstraat, 1 Amsterdam, tel: 00 31 20 571 1511Scores 1-9 stay home and cook 10-11 needs help 12 OK 13 pleasant enough 14 good 15 very good 16 capable of greatness 17 special, can't wait to go back 18 highly honourable 19 unique and memorable 20 as good as it getsLunch daily; dinner served Monday to Saturday, €78 (£53) for three courses for two, plus wine and serviceSecond helpings: More happening restaurants in Amsterdam Envy Prinsengracht, 381, tel: 00 31 20 344 6407 Bert van der Leden of the Supperclub and the design team Concrete have combined to create this very new, very hot wine bar and restaurant, dishing up small plates of beautifully finessed flavours. Just imagine what it's going to be like in two or three years when these kids graduate. That's one small minus in a night of plusses: perfect pacing, solid technique, and a harmony of flavours that would leave many a trained chef gawping.Given that 80 per cent of the staff are students, I'm in awe of their professionalism. It's a great dish, taking gastropub flavours to an elegant level, with a pool of bacon-studded jus supporting a film of mash the texture of silk.Also good is a miniature Dutch apple pie drenched in a perfect custard, and a wooden box of house-made chocolates and "old Dutch cookies" including a divine, pink-iced millefeuille vanilla slice that is everyone's childhood rolled into one.The only real miss is a starter of saut? wild oysters, wrapped in bacon and served in their shells, in which overcooking robs the oysters of their juicy plumpness and their point.
A craggy, golden croquette filled with melting, mature Stolwijkse cheese is slowed-up fast food, and a pale scoop of Zeeland mussel sorbet is weird but wonderful, like icy cold mussel essence.The wine list is not so rich in Dutch references, but has a decent array of middle-range European wine with new-world offerings, including a plummy, spicy Black River Malbec from Patagonia (€37.50, £25).The hit of the night is "veal liver heaven and earth"- thickly sliced, pinkly cooked liver topped with saut? apples and a slab of sweet, black, blood pudding. A long, narrow gullet of a kitchen runs alongside one entire wall in River Caf?tyle, and one can just make out head chef Pepijn Schut and his black-capped brigade of seven students and one sous chef. I conquer my fear of death-by-apprentice and put in an order.What follows puts me to shame. Take the "Neerlandsch Pallet", a Dutch platter of little mouthfuls that are both rustic and radical. A miniature square of oxtail terrine layered with a frosting of mustard jelly is an earthy joy, while a shot glass of verdant apple infusion with corn wine is about as appley as apple gets.