The Solo Scale:

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What happens when you want a Michelin star dining experience, but don’t want to fork out a lot of money for it? Typically, that means you might settle for a bib gourmand, which hasn’t earned a star but gets a distinction for fantastic food. If you’re in Amsterdam, though, you can get the Michelin star experience for a decent price. That would be at Zoldering.

If you’re going there solo, you should anticipate sitting at the bar. Even when I was making reservations, I didn’t have the option to pick any of the tables. However, I found the bar very comfortable. It was a little tight at times, but people fluctuated in and out and by the end of the night, I had the seats free on either side of me.

One other note — I visited in August and it was hot in here. They had the door open for a while, but unfortunately it began to rain and they had to close it. The temperature started to climb, even with fans running and A/C doing its best to keep up. I suggest layers to deal with temperatures of all swings.

At the bar, you get to witness the flow of the waiters, the pouring of wine, and the general activity. Something I noticed quickly is that anytime a new bottle of wine is opened, the waiters sample a small sip before spitting it out. This is primarily to ensure the quality is good. It’s a super fascinating small touch. However, it makes sense. After all, Zoldering is primarily a wine bar.

To begin, you’ll choose your water (still or sparkling). This is refilled throughout the night. Then, there’s a bread service. The bread is sourdough and the butter was absolutely delicious. It’s a nice starter as you get settle in with the wine list.

The next best treat about Zoldering? The wine by the glass price is truly affordable, and the wines are still really good quality. I chatted a bit with my waitress and let her know what I was thinking for food and asked for her guidance on a wine to start. She suggested a glass of Les Pampres Blanc from Mas Laval, which was light, a little acidic with just a faint mineral taste, but ending on some fruity notes. It was also only 8 Euros for the glass.

I began my meal alongside the wine with a couple of light bites.

First was a stuffed zucchini flower. It was super cheesy (rich blue cheese on the inside) and it was lightly fried, so it retained a lot of its natural flavour. This paired so nicely with the recommended wine.

With that, I did two pieces of the carbonara toast. This had a nice jammy yolk and was topped with the prosciutto. On top of that was a generous addition of rich pecorino and pepper on top. The pepper gave it a nice kick and I was in love with the jammy eggs.

Then, it was into the main! For this, I also got a new wine — a spicy and herby dry glass of Mencia as I would be switching over to red meat.

For my main, I ordered the steak tartare. This comes with a cured egg yolk and had perfect seasoning. On top was a crunchy crisp layer that broke up the smooth texture and on top of that was mustard seeds and sprouts. Even though my previous dishes had been tasty, this was absolutely the best thing I’d eaten all night.

However, my meal wasn’t over yet. The benefit of small plates meant that I still had an appetite for a cheese plate. You can order cheese individually, which is a nice touch, so I went with three varieties after confirming the portion wasn’t too large.

The cheese did come with some crispy bread, but it was absolutely unnecessary. Each of the cheeses were absolutely rich in flavour and stood on their own. Obviously, a great glass of red wine goes well with it, as my Mencia proved.

The meal wasn’t over yet, because I still wanted to try dessert. Specifically, one item had caught my eye. That dessert is a beignet vanilla ice cream sandwich with blueberry spread. The vanilla ice cream was homemade, with visible little flecks of vanilla bean and it absolutely was the best part of this. The beignet wasn’t overly sweet (as is the general case when dining in Europe), but the blueberry preserve in the sandwich gave it a nice acidic tartness.

In general, I probably could have done without the dessert or the cheese course. However, while I was extremely full, the bill was really reasonable given the quality of both the food, the wine, and the amazing service. Overall, I absolutely loved my visit to Zoldering. It’s one of the most affordable one-star Michelin experiences I’ve ever done.

For more information and to see what’s on, check out their website and book your visit today!

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