Nela — Live-fire cooking arrives in Amsterdam
Nela is one of those restaurants with a very clear ethos established right from the offset. Hari Shetty and Ori Geller have set out to build an eating experience based around live-fire cooking techniques, allowing the ‘purity’ of the ingredients to shine. A beautiful spot to chat an evening away, the setting is stunning and refined and in places the food is genius. In some others though, it feels overcomplicated for overcomplicated’s sake.
Expectations are set from the get go with the restaurant located inside a striking skyscraper in the business district of the Dutch capital. The design is quite remarkable and the heated drinks terrace is somewhere I could easily chat away for hours.
Upon entering you are instantly greeted by the large open kitchen that dominates the dining room. All of those trademark live-fire grills are on display alongside a busy pass and a remarkably quiet team.
Everything at Nela is undoubtedly designed for sharing with the idea being that this allows you to try as many different dishes and flavours as possible. If you ask me, this is the best form of dining and it’s often what I end up doing with friends anyway. Almost everything is in the form of small plates and a large group is undoubtedly the best way to experience the restaurant.
As ever, I asked the chefs to guide me with their top choices and, alongside a fantastic waiter, they were more than happy to do so. Service was highly personal and attentive and I’ve no doubt that whatever your likes and dislikes, the team will more than happily create a menu that caters to it. Alternatively of course, you are more than welcome to choose á la carte.
First to arrive was a selection of flatbreads, labelled on the menu as Lavash, with some house-made Guajillo Butter. More butter than Guajillo, the large chunks of sea salt were the star but I was left yearning for a more substantial bread than the fairly flavourless, crisp-like, Lavash.
The menu is split into several distinct sections with the first titled ‘Raw and Cured’. From here we had two tuna dishes: the first was yellowtail atop a pickled turnip and some burnt aubergine paste, garnished with okra, cucumber, and olive oil. I could totally seen the intent here and am a massive fan of the seemingly increasing use of turnip in cooking at the moment. Especially when pickled, it has a distinct flavour that balanced the freshness of the yellowtail really well. However, alongside the burnt aubergine and the other elements it felt slightly as if this dish was just trying to do too much.
I much preferred our other tuna dish. This uses toro tuna, and torches it along with some padrón peppers, white radish, and white balsamic. The volatility of spice inherent to padrón peppers adds some jeopardy but the radish and much meatier tuna counter it perfectly.
Now onto vegetables and a quick word on leeks. So often, these are completely ruined in kitchens across the country — think overboiled, slimy mush. At their best though, they can be stunning and Nela hit the nail on the head here. Cooked just long enough but still maintaining their consistency in butter and mustard, that potentially overpowering flavour is countered by Belper Knolle cheese for a sensational flavour combination. I’ve never tried this cheese before at all, never mind as a garnish, but I somewhat fell in love with it during my evening at Nela. It is almost cream-like to begin with and shavings melt in the mouth before undertones of garlic shine through.
Next came the meat and what you would ordinarily expect to fair best over a live-fire grill. Unfortunately, the beef tenderloin was probably the most disappointing thing we had on the evening. The jus and salsa verde garnish definitely elevate the meat but it was overcooked for me and chewy on the inside, as you can see in the second photo.
This was very much a three dessert between two situation (to be honest when isn’t) and we opted for Basque cheesecake, the ‘Chocolate Bar’, and the Nela tiramisu. The first of those was nothing short of a triumph — individually portioned with a gooey interior that struck that balance between satisfying and not too heavy, it was everything a Basque cheesecake should be.
The ‘Chocolate Bar’ was a little bit of an enigma to me (I can only apologise for the shocking photo). The ball of chocolate sorbet somewhat counters the intense richness of the bar itself but make no mistake this is chocolatey in the extreme. All together though, as long as you are sharing it feels just indulgent enough without finishing you off completely. The gold leaf on the other hand? It felt, as ever, unnecessary and gimmicky which is a shame in a restaurant focussed so heavily on letting its simplicity shine. If adding colour is the goal then a bright fruit wouldn’t go amiss and would help with some of the richness too.
Finally came perhaps the most intriguing dish of the whole evening — the Nela Tiramisu. Right from the off my eyes had been drawn to two words on the menu and those words were ‘Coffee Caviar’. I have never seen this before and what arrives is probably just what you would expect. Served in a caviar pot for effect, you are met with a layer of black, coffee-flavours balls. Essentially, as you can discover here, this is just achieved by a process called spherification, and the end effect is some rather uncomfortably textured balls that don’t spread their flavour throughout the tiramisu at all. Instead, you are left with one layer of ladyfingers at the bottom of the jar and a very thick layer of heavy cream. It might be personal preference but this is my least favourite kind of tiramisu — in fact you can read my complete thoughts on that in my most recent newsletter here.
Quickly touching on drinks, cocktails are very much the centre of attention at Nela. All are pricey but all are very strong indeed and thoughtfully crafted. Ordinarily, I’m put off cocktails by the childish fruity syrups that so many bars and restaurants add for a flavour more akin to juice than alcohol but these completely avoid that problem. The wine list is extensive too, if not slightly lacking in options by the glass (my Ribera del Duero and Sauterne were excellent though).
All in all, I’ve got huge admiration for what the chefs at Nela are trying to achieve. The concept is spot on, the setting spectacular, and the service exemplary. Inevitably, not every dish was to my personal taste and with a menu this long, others felt complex for complexity’s sake. When in Amsterdam though, anyone craving a lovely evening in a unique atmosphere with innovative food and drink would be amiss to skip it.
