Finally, someone is giving potatoes the respect they deserve. A taste of 'The Dam' down the backstreets of the Northern Quarter has arrived with the opening of Smaak, a new Dutch and Belgian-inspired Frites House.
A Potato Lover's Paradise
There is a long and eclectic list of famous people who love potatoes, from Dolly Parton and Graham Norton to Anthony Bourdain. But Marge Simpson perhaps said it best when she described the humble yet versatile vegetable as 'neat'. It is a view shared on a deep, almost obsessive level. Cut me and I bleed chippy chips. I also have a special place in my heart for the end-of-night McDonald's run and the silent taxi ride home inhaling nuggets and chips.
If I cannot find one in close proximity, then your bog standard kebab shop with fluorescently lit tables and chips covered in a blanket of questionable, waxy grated cheese is where you will find me.
Recent trips to both Belgium and The Netherlands have provided further education. Both make incredible fries but they cater to different tastes. Belgium are the masters of tradition. These potatoes are thicker cut and usually double fried with a crisp exterior and melt-in-the-mouth, fluffy potato interior. The Dutch are inventive, we all know that — they gave us the microscope, the eye test and Wi-Fi after all. They also gave us a slightly lighter and crisper chip with an irresistible golden-yellow hue.
Smaak: A Homage to the Humble Potato
You can imagine mine and fellow potato lovers' delight then at the news of a brand new Dutch and Belgian-inspired Frites House opening in Manchester's Northern Quarter. Tucked away down Back Turner Street, Smaak is a 'Het Friethuis', meaning fry house. But it is not just a chip shop, but a homage to the humble potato. Fans of Belgian and Dutch cuisine will also be glad to know there are plenty of schooners and stroopwafels too.
And if you are carb loading for a big run, this is your place. The brunch menu alone would write you off for the afternoon — but not in a bad way. Belgian waffles with fried chicken, oven-baked Dutch pancakes slathered with blueberry compote and vanilla mascarpone, and Riefkook, traditional hand-pressed fried potato fritters topped with house-glazed thick bacon, house pickles and mustard seeds are just some of the dishes to contend with.
All-Day Snacks Steal the Show
It is the all-day snacks I am most interested in though. And that is where I began. Hand-cut, locally sourced potatoes are served Dutch style in a number of ways. Known as patat or frites on the continent, I went for the Truffle Frites (£7.95) with house truffle mayonnaise and parmesan. They were a thing of beauty. Thick cut and crispy, they were served up in a paper tray in a nod to the traditional paper cones you see around Amsterdam. I enjoyed their lack of uniformity; some were a little bit scraggly, ugly even, but they delivered that unmistakable crunch and soft finish. The truffle mayonnaise meanwhile should be studied and the recipe patented asap.
I also made a mental note to try their 'War Fries', known as Patatje Oorlog, on my next visit. The prospect of mayonnaise, peanut satay sauce and diced raw onions makes me think I may have been eating chips wrong for all these years. They do also have spicy fries with spicy mayo and cheddar plus their Belgian fries with house ketchup, mayonnaise and raw onion. Sauces are made with love in-house here and that was clear to see, each one elevating every single dish I tried.
Bitterballen and Riefkook Delight
Next up, the Bitterballen (£7.50), which are essentially breaded, deep-fried meat-balls of joy. Other flavours are available of course and in the interest of seeing if their cheese selection was up to scratch I went for the Gouda, Edam and parmesan-filled Bitterballen with a sublime mustard sauce. The best things in life have been chucked in a deep-fat fryer. A truth realised with the cheese bitterballen. Their satisfying crunch giving way to the soft and gooey interior. Velvety and intensely savoury, the almost roux-like texture of the cheese and slightly salty flavour was perfectly offset by, once again, the accompanying sauce. A tangy and grainy mustard dip cut through the richness and served as a reminder never to underestimate your sauces and dips.
Leaning into the carb-fest, the smoked salmon Riefkook (£15) was also ordered — in the interests of research of course. It is essentially a potato rosti in lieu of bread and if you are into that ASMR thing of scraping your utensils across your food (like a child) then you will have a field day here. I am not, so I simply ate the food in front of me. 'Comforting, crispy and fried to perfection' should have been my catchphrase for this excursion, but it was true of all the dishes, including the Riefkook. A little extra sprinkling of salt would have been welcome but the generous swirl of crème fraiche topped with salmon roe and chives helped it over the line.
Drinks and Final Thoughts
The old 'It is five o'clock somewhere' adage unfortunately does not apply when you are on your lunch break, so I settled for a flat white. Why be merry when you can be over caffeinated? A Stroopwafel caramel latte was considered, but my stomach had expanded so much at this point, I feared what further carbohydrates might induce. At the very least a food coma on company time.
Had an alcoholic beverage been on the cards there are schooners a plenty. A house pilsner, Lindeboom pilsner and Brugse Zot Blond, plus La Trappe, Boon Kriek and Vadette IPA, plus plenty of bottled options. When I asked about non-alcoholic beers the server frowned, which was the correct response.
Overcaffeinated and carbed up I left bolstered in my opinions about potatoes, chips and good old fashioned comfort food. On every street corner in Amsterdam you can find this kind of street food, but the way it has been served up a backstreet in the Northern Quarter is still a novelty. A welcome addition to the city centre lunch scene, my new tagline may soon be 'cut me and I bleed Dutch fries'.
