Bonboon

Recently, my mother-in-law came over from Dallas, and our dear friends visited from Paris. We’ve spent Thanksgiving together, but before all that…we celebrated Kendall’s birthday at Bonboon, a vegan restaurant in Jordaan.

Bonboon was Daphne’s (the owner) dream to prove good food is possible without involving animal products. They offer 4 or 5-course meals, that change periodically. Additionally, you can enjoy a wine pairing (for €32), or interestingly enough, a tea pairing (€16)!

We all chose the 4 meal course, and most of us got the wine pairing. One of our friends went for the tea, and she enjoyed that experience.

We started the meal with a zuchinni based amuse-bouche, that hasn’t really amused my bouche. It lacked flavour and depth – but at least it was fresh.

On to the starter! This was a green romesco with braised leek, pickled tofu, pickled mustard seeds,
basil-nori oil and fried capers. Besides being a little bit on the salty side, I enjoyed this. The pickled tofu did a great job as “cheese”, and the mustard gave a good kick. A good plate, to start with. We paired this with a Sauvignon blanc, which worked nicely.

Next, we’ve had the intermediate: a smoky baked potato with “chorizo ​Shio Koji butter”, pickled fennel, cashew cream and chervil. Well, here’s where they lost me. For the life of me, I can’t understand how a huge piece of potato with some (bland) flavours made the menu. To be honest, this is what I would expect at a tapas restaurant – small pieces of smoky potato. Completely underwhelming as a plate, and just not something that belongs on a fine-dine(ish) menu. Furthermore – the potato was cold in the middle. Asked around, and half of the table had the same issue.

It was paired with a glass of Patinegro, from the Barbadillo winery. This was a very interesting wine, and it managed to bring some flavours of the dish to light.

The main was a buckwheat galette with mushrooms, smoked parsnips, mushroom sauce
and Brussels sprouts slaw. Another let down. Basically, a savory pancake. The galette was mushy, with no texture contrast. The fried mushroom on top tried, but it was nowhere nearly enough. The sauce was tasty, tangy, and the smoky parsnip was definitely the best part of the plate. I forgot the pairing for this dish, but it was another successful one.

As our 4th course, we chose the pre-dessert, as we were about to have some surprise cake later on, for the birthday girl! This was a savory ‘cheese’ cake with agrodolce of grapes and black garlic, pepper and mint. Very interesting plate. Looked like a cheesecake (as you can see below), tasted nothing like it. The constant confusion between your brain and taste buds made this really fun to eat. It was tasty, creative – overall, really good. We paired it with a Riesling, on the semi-sweet side.

I left Bonboon pretty disappointed. I think it’s the first time I get so confused by a 4,8 google rating. With a changing menu, maybe this just wasn’t the best time to visit. My side of the table agreed, that overall…this wasn’t it.

Pro points: the hosts / staff are incredibly sweet and friendly. The atmosphere is relaxed and inviting. It’s an open kitchen, so you can see it all happening – I loveeeee when that’s the case. The prices weren’t crazy: €52 for 4 courses in Amsterdam is pretty good. The wine pairing was great – they all went really nice with our plates, even when I didn’t like the plate itself much.

I, for one, probably won’t return. If I were to take my vegan friends to a place that truly makes vegetables shine, I’d head to beloved De Kas instead (not a vegan restaurant, but can adapt).

Taste: 7

Value for money: 7 (maybe 8 with the wine pairing)

Location: 8 (Rozenstraat 12)

Service: 10

Website: https://bonboon.nl/en/