De Ruif (The Hay Rack) is situated at the edge of one of the Netherlands' national parks, de Veluwezoom. It's popular with walkers, but in the evening it is more of a traditional restaurant. They serve mostly French cuisine, but also some local classics.

We visited not with just the two of us, but also with my parents to celebrate a birthday. We selected our dishes from the three course set-menu.

My wife chose a seventies classic, the shrimp cocktail. In this case, it came with brown shrimps instead of the more usual prawns. It was well-dressed with Marie Rose sauce, and came with some lettuce and a lemon to squeeze. For my starter, I picked the "watermelon" carpaccio, although it came with three types of melon (watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew). The chunks were served on top of long strands of flavourful and thinly sliced parma ham.

After our main, we both opted to go with the swordfish. This was served with a red risotto, a dressing, grilled baby tomatoes, and some vegetables. The portion sizes were on the larger side for both starter and main, but we still found some space for pudding.

I selected the Aperol Spritz Sorbet, which turned out to be massive. But it was all the right kinds of sweet and bitter and juicy. My wife chose the Limoncello Tiramisu, served with a strawberry on top. This dessert was creamy, light, and refreshing.

After all these courses, we were properly satisfied. We will likely be back, as there are not too many options in the area for dining out. But perhaps we won't have three courses again.