After driving two and a half hours to Valkenswaard last week to meet up with my cousin from Israel who was in the country a few days for business, we weren't super picky on what we wanted to eat and just entered the first restaurant we came across, that happened to be In de sleutel. Let me start by saying that I enjoyed the food, service and of course my company.
So why only two stars then? Price and promises. The food was far too expensive for what was basically a small step up from bar food as it's both a restaurant and a bar. Eighteen euros for a fairly small serving of pork loin with chips is rather ridiculous. The pasta however is reasonably priced and so is beer. Tea and coffee? Overpriced again. The real disappointment however was dessert. It tasted fine but the promise, oh the promise! A duo of chocolate with house made chocolate mousse and fondant. Emphasis on the house made. Not their house but the house of whomever lives in the food factory. I know a mass produced chocolate fondant when I see one and I know a mass produced chocolate mousse when I taste it! Honestly, it's not that difficult to make a delicious chocolate mousse, especially not when you're only serving one quenelle per person, you don't even have to make more than one batch for an entire service!
Anyway, HUGE pet peeve of mine: the promise of house made food and receiving something that was store-bought at a fraction of the consumer cost. Don't sell me store-bought food without being honest of it's store-boughtness. I really don't expect a restaurant/bar to make everything from scratch but I do expect that once that is what's promised, that's what I'll get for seven and a half euros! read more