Rotterdam cafes & restaurants

One of 66 Rotterdam Cafe & Restaurant reviews.

Recommendation: book the place for dinner with a group.

A Nous Deux is not a restaurant: it is a delicatessen, with French specialities from the Limousin region. However, rather than having to make do with take-away jars and bottles, it is also possible to arrange membership so you can book the place for an evening dinner with a group, in a single room with a large table that seats fourteen people. The decor is fairly minimal, but there is enough attention to detail that the atmosphere is excellent when there are enough people.

This is the perfect venue for a dinner with a dozen people, because not only does A Nous Deux have the kind of huge table that most restaurants do not have, but it is the only table in the place, which means there is no danger of suffering the terrible service that is so common elsewhere.

The food is traditional French cuisine, presented in a more home-cooked style than is common in French restaurants outside France. This is the Real Thing, and certainly a welcome change from places that give you a tiny portion with sauce artistically drizzled around the edge of the plate. On our last visit we had paté and a salad, followed by lamb with garlic, parsley and beans. The best was saved for last, though, with fresh nut bread and the kinds of cheeses that are worth driving hundreds of kilometres South for.

Our five-hour dinner, which included many bottles of a decent 2002 claret, came to about €60 per person, which is excellent value when you compare it to the other places in Rotterdam that have a similar level of food and service.