On one of our pre-Christmas adventures to the Netherlands, we went to Breda, a small city in the south of the Netherlands. As my birthday is also close to Christmas, we usually also use this opportunity to get a nice birthday meal. This year, we settled on Puick, a small restaurant that offers a dinner menu Friday through Sunday. Dinner consists of a single tasting menu, which is served to all tables. It only offers a single tasting menu, which changes every two months. It’s also worth noting that whilst they will try to accommodate allergies and intolerances, they don’t accommodate dietary preferences. So if you’re vegetarian, vegan, or perhaps less adventurous with your food, we’re sorry to say that Puick is not the restaurant for you.

The short lifespan of the menu probably makes describing the dishes below a little superfluous, but at least it will give you an idea of the sort of thing they cook up.

The dishes that we got served were:

• Carrots with soy foam and speculaas spices

• A bao bun, filled with tofu cream, sesame oil, pumpkin seeds, lemon grass, and chilli syrup

• A raw prawn with red beet, lemon pepper cream, candied hazelnuts

• Parsnip with clementine slices, curry spices, cocos, and walnuts

• Black rice with oxtail, peppadew and pear

• Red beets, with red onion, smoked cheese, marmite, and hoisin sauce

• Sweet potato, with a kale curry, kefir, and peanuts

• A deer steak with atjar, broccoli, mustard seed, and almonds

And for dessert:

• A dark chocolate mousse, with olive oil and capers

• Gorgonzola, served with chestnut honey, trail mix, and pane carasau (an Italian flatbread)

We decided that having the wine pairing would make the drinks selection easier given the variety of dishes that would be served. This turned out to be a great decision, as we had some lovely wines that all went well with the food. There is also an alcohol-free “botanical pairing” option available.

Dinner at Puick was an eclectic and exciting mix of cuisines, flavours, textures, and ingredients. Each dish was excellent, and well explained by the team. Puick also offers a lunch menu, with either matching wines, or alcohol-free “botanical pairings”.

We really enjoyed our time at Puick. The dishes were delicious, the service great, and the atmosphere cosy and relaxed. If you’re up for an interesting tasting menu, we can heartily recommend Puick for when you're ever in Breda.

Carrots with Speculaas

1 / 10

Bao Buns

2 / 10

Parsnips and Clementines

3 / 10

Raw Prawns with Red Beets

4 / 10

Black Rice with Oxtail

5 / 10

Red Beets with Red Onion

6 / 10

Deer Steak with Atjar and Broccoli

7 / 10

Sweet Potato with Kale Curry

8 / 10

Gorgonzola with Chestnut Honey

9 / 10

Dark Chocolate Mousse with Capers

10 / 10

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