Alright. So there is a theme here. This restaurant is also located in the De Pijp neighborhood. Nevertheless, this is my top choice for late night dining and cocktails in Amsterdam.
Bar Fisk is a fish bar (fisk happens to be the Scandinavian word for fish) with an extensive drink list and a menu full of small plates perfect for sharing.
With it's high seating, warm tones, and greenery, the bar feels coastal, like you are chilling out somewhere in Barcelona, while the service is meant to embody "the ever-lively, no-strings attached hospitality of Tel Aviv markets," according to the website, that is.
The music gets turned up as the restaurant fills and the night gets older. There is an ever-present hum, a buzzing, coming from the people enjoying their drinks. Our voices somehow never compete with the music. You can still hear the person across the table from you.
The service is just as promised, our waitress connects with us instantly, knowing just what to recommend, but she is also, at times, difficult to flag down. The restaurant is busy, but she remains perpetually cool, laid-back. She never lets on that she is at work. In fact, when we were finished eating, I wanted to try this old fashioned with arak in it mostly because I had been wanting to try arak for a while. She tried talking me out of it, but my curiosity got the better of me, and I went ahead and ordered it anyway. She was right though. I didn't care for it, its flavor resembling that of black licorice. She thought it might have been the anise in the old fashioned, so she disappeared and reemerged with a tray of 3 shots of the transparent liquid; she was going to do one with us. We cheersed and tossed them back. Truthfully, it wasn't any better, but we were pleasantly surprised that she joined us.
For the food, we ordered the sea bass served with chickpeas, brown butter, chili, and herbs, the scallops served with Jerusalem artichoke, rosemary, and pine nuts, mussels in a cured lemon sauce with white wine and tarragon, calamari with cauliflower, tahini, and oregano, polenta chips with a lime mayo dip, and a salad with parmesan and smoked almonds.
The scallop dish was probably my favorite thing we ordered for its combination and range of textures, but everything was delicious. The fish was fresh, the ingredients well-paired and bursting with flavor.
For the drinks, Tyler ordered the gin mare which consisted of grapefruit, grapefruit tonic, thyme and rosemary, and I had the coriander mojito, which was a mix of lychee, mango, ginger, lime, chili, and coconut foam. Before this drink, I had been rather uninterested in cocktails, having always preferred whiskey to anything sweet or fruity. But this drink was so yummy and clever that I sort of felt inspired. I'm now on the hunt for cocktails that incorporate spice, especially chili peppers, to contrast those typically sweeter elements.
Overall, from the drinks to the service, this was one of the best restaurants and best seafood restaurants we have ever been to, and we would definitely make this part of our itinerary again.
