Dinner at Restaurant Rodin Rotterdam

After trying out Café restaurant Floor (which was a nice surprise), I used my second opportunity to get the second 3-course meal for free with the Albert Heijn supermarket restaurant deal at Restaurant Rodin in Rotterdam.






The reviews were okay and the special menu with 3 choices for the first course and the main course and 2 choices for the dessert looked good too. Inside, I found a cozy restaurant with small wooden tables and chairs. Against the walls, there were very comfortable benches.

Drinks

I ordered a Schweppes Bitter lemon (not very special, so not pictured) and the other people I ate with ordered a hot green tea (Lung Ching loose green tea leaves and a special tea filter) and a cappuccino with a mountain of foam.

Appetizer

Right after we sat down, we were offered a plate of white and brown bread with an olive tapenade on the house. The bottle of tap water was complementary too. The crust of the bread had a slight crunch and although it wasn't freshly baked or warm, it was quite tasty. The olive tapenade had a good olive flavor without being too much, so you can generously apply it on the bread without worries. I also like that there was both a slice of white and brown bread for each person. You don't have to choose and you don't have to feel like a complete glutton when you eat two pieces of bread, while some were only able to have one from the bread basket.

First course

There were three choices for the first course and they all sounded very interesting, so we decided to have one each and one double.

Plucked confit duck with grilled brioche and rocket (in Dutch: Geconfijte, geplukte eend met gegrilde brioche en rucola)

There are two slices of grilled white bread, some "pulled" confit duck, a creamy sauce, few drops of balsamic vinegar, and a salad on top. I tasted some of the confit duck and although the meat is a bit hard, it was full of flavor.

Roasted hazelnut and cranberry bread with blue cheese and pear compote (in Dutch: Geroosterd hazelnoot cranberry brood, met bleu d'Auvergne en perencompote)

The roasted hazelnut and cranberry bread is a bit hidden under the leaves, but you can see a corner of it on the right. It tastes a bit like Christmas stollen (in Dutch: kerststol) due to the crunchy hazelnuts (in place of the nutty flavor from the almond paste) and cranberries (instead of raisins). The sweetness of the bread and the pear compote works well with the savory blue cheese cubes and sour balsamic vinegar. 

 

North sea crab terrine with a spicy avocado mousse and caviar cream (in Dutch: Terrine van noordzeekrab met pikante avocadomousse en kaviaar creme) 

This is the first course I ate and I was really happy that I decided to switch it last minute to this one instead of the duck. I really like seafood and the crab had terrine had a very fresh crab flavor and chunks of crab to chew on (I found a small piece of soft shell in it, so be careful). It isn't overpowered with herbs or a lot of mayonnaise and I really like the clean and simple flavors. The delicious lettuce was very crunchy and I used it to wrap some of the crab terrine. I think girls who watch their diet would appreciate this over bread. I was a bit worried about the spicy avocado mousse on the bottom, but it wasn't spicy at all and the avocado flavor was very subtle. The caviar cream however was very tasty. I wish I could just buy a jar of that to take home. It had a hint of caviar and a creaminess and sweetness of mayonnaise, but without the sourness of the vinegar.       

 Main course

For the main course, we got to pick between the beef shoulder steak (with ratatouille, pommes carres, and Dyon mustard sauce), the grilled salmon (with ravioli, spinach salad and beurre blanc sauce), or a falafel burger (with yogurt dip, harissa, and homemade fries). We all choose the beef shoulder steak, as it sounded the most delicious.

I think I got the short end of the stick, when I asked the beef shoulder steak to be prepared well-done, as I got the smaller/narrower parts of the steak. It wasn't too bad, as it has a nice roasted/grilled flavor and a hard crust. But I didn't get a lot of juicy meat. Someone else, who ordered it medium well, got a more beautiful piece of meat.

The ratatouille was mainly made of bell peppers and zucchini and seasoned with a light tomato sauce and Italian herbs. The cubes of potato were really crunchy and tasted like freshly made potato fries. Some of the ends were super hard like the small bits, which I often find at the bottom of a bag of potato fries (not a bad thing for me). The ratatouille tasted really good with the potato, but less with the steak. There was supposed to be Dyon mustard sauce on the plate and I think it might taste good with the meat, as it missed a good sauce.   

 beef shoulder steak (well-done)

Beef shoulder steak (medium well)

Homemade fries with mustard mayonnaise (in Dutch: huisgemaakte friet en mosterd mayonaise)

Since I really enjoy homemade fries, I also ordered two bowls of homemade fries with skin and a mustard mayonnaise (€4.50 each). The potato fries were thickly cut and inside, there was plenty of soft potato, but I prefer the fries to be a bit more crunchy. The crunch was a bit similar to oven baked fries. The mustard mayonnaise made the fries taste less oily, but I prefer a thick and creamy mayonnaise with a lot of flavor.  You could also order a side salad and a bouillabaisse (soup) as an extra course, but we didn't do that.

Desserts

 Limoncello cake and brownie (in Dutch: taartje van limoncello en brownie)

For dessert, we could choose between a piece of limoncello (Italian lemon liqueur) cake or a brownie. Because of the possible strong alcohol flavor, one of us choose the brownie and the rest, the limoncello cake. I think the lady fingers biscuits on the bottom of the cake was soaked in diluted limoncello, as it is the only part of the cake, which tasted a bit like lemon. The alcohol flavor isn't very strong, so it isn't anything to worry about. The top part of the cake tasted like an airy vanilla pudding and the strawberry sauce had a rich strawberry flavor (I think it tasted a bit like a strawberry smoothie and not syrupy or sugary at all). The small scoop of vanilla ice cream had a milky flavor and a hint of vanilla at the end. It is a bit watery and not creamy enough, but I like that you can taste the individual flavors and not just sugar. The crunchy, sugared almond flakes on the bottom were really needed in giving the ice cream a stronger flavor. The brownie was a lot smaller compared to the piece of limoncello cake, but it has a rich chocolate flavor. It is however a bit dense and I don't really like the texture of the brownie. I personally think that the limoncello cake is a better choice.     

What do I think?

The complementary bread and olive tapenade was a nice bonus and the first courses had an interesting mix of different flavors. But it seemed to go a small step downwards, after the first courses. The beef shoulder steak that the four of us got, all looked too different from each other. It could be my mistake to order a steak well done. It is a personal thing, but I also like my meal to end with a beautiful dessert. I asked if I could get a dessert of the regular menu - I didn't mind paying a bit more -, but they seemed to prefer me to stick to the menu. The waitress assured me that the desserts all had a scoop of ice cream and ice cream is always a winner for me, so I was okay with it. The desserts had hints of nice flavors (real and not artificial), but it wasn't delicious enough to blow me away.  

 The 3-course meal is valued at €29.50 and a bit cheaper than the meal at Café restaurant Floor (€37.50) that I had before, but overall, I liked the meal at Café restaurant Floor more. When you think that it is only €8 more (which is paying €4 more per person), it is nicer to eat there instead. The extra course (bouillabaisse, €6.50) could have saved the meal, but I didn't know what exactly was in it and if it would taste good, so I didn't take the risk. I was also willing to pay extra for a bowl of delicious seashells that the neighboring table was having, but we weren't offered the option to order from the regular menu and I didn't know what the dish was called.