Maastricht by Helen Ochyra
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My culinary exploration begins at the Bisschopsmolen bakery, a 12th-century water mill complete with functioning water wheel. I select a delicious apple-filled pastry from the spread of local Limburg pies on offer, washing it down with a delightfully creamy coffee.
Set up for the day, I wander through the charming cobbled streets to the oldest wine imported in Holland, Thiessen wine boutique. This cavernous cellar is an oenophile’s dream. Established in the 14th-century and with a bottling heritage dating back to 1742, its credentials are undoubtedly vintage. Here quality is everything, and revered European wines such as Bordeaux and Burgundy rule supreme.
With five Michelin-starred restaurants in town, quality cuisine is firmly on the menu. But if it’s historical kudos you’re after, the clear choice is Château Neercanne. The short drive to the château is the perfect romantic way to start dinner, passing verdant rolling hills, atop one of which is lauded local winery Apostelhoeve, home to Europe’s northernmost red wine grapes.
On arrival I’m served a glass of Mailly Grand Cru in the atmospheric Roman caves, now the wine cellar. On the wall are the etched signatures of the world’s leaders, left here in commemoration of the lunch they had here after signing the 1991 Maastricht Treaty. Upstairs, in the opulent dining room with its traditional furniture and fine views of the Unesco-listed Baroque terraced gardens, I start with the langoustines “robed” in fine strips of crispy local potatoes and served with courgette chutney, a dish created specifically to impress those very same European leaders.
The restaurant’s signature main course is a decadent melt-in-the-mouth cheek of veal served with black truffles – it may be the richest dish I’ve ever eaten.
Everything we are served is of the freshest and highest quality possible, and presented with just-the-right-side-of-oppressive silver service. Even the tea is ordered from an almost laughably extensive selection of leaves and comes with a pleasantly surprising bonus – a coffee pie filled with apricot mousse and topped with meringue and strawberry sauce. I leave with a waddle.
The following morning breakfast is unnecessary so I simply head to Coffee Lovers Café for a quick pick-me-up cappuccino. Housed in a 13th-century former church it’s the ideal place to while away a few hours while I wait for my appetite to return in time for lunch.
Fortunately my stomach is suitably grumbling by the time I arrive at the Harbour Club for lunch. A modern restaurant, sleekly decked out in stylish red, white and dark wood, it has a flickering fire and lovely views of the harbour. The set lunch menu is limited to two choices – meat or fish. I’m told that this streamlined approach is employed to ensure the utmost care and attention goes into each dish, but it does result in a narrow selection which can’t please everyone. Fortunately, not today – the meat is duck, and the liver, fillet and wing emsemble is richly delicious.
I am staying at the Beaumont Hotel and decide to have dinner in their dining room on my last night. It’s a local affair, as chef Rick Bartelink sources all his produce form the immediate area, including the beautifully tender meat for my rack of lamb which I’m told was springing through the nearby Geul valley just a few days ago.
The menu here is ever-changing with the seasons and everything I’m served fits perfectly with the almost-warm spring weather. A lighter dinner, it leaves me hungry for local treats again the next morning so before leaving I pay a visit to Olivier Bonbons chocolate shop, buying a lovingly wrapped box of handmade chocolates for the road. Fortunately one of Maastricht’s treats can be boxed up and brought home, for the rest you’ll have to visit.