Going Dutch on King’s Road
My Old Dutch Chelsea 4/5
221 King’s Road, SW3 5EJ
Price Per Person: £15
Best: £5 Pancakes all day Monday
Worst: Long waits on Fridays and weekends
The place is far from fancy. The chairs are wooden, stupidly hard and not surprisingly, uncomfortable. The waitresses are not exceptionally nice and a lot more could be said for the ambience from the second you walk in. The lighting is somewhat harsh and on a Friday or Saturday, it gets loud. Very loud. It is not the kind of mildly interesting noise you get at a Belgian beer house, but one more reminiscent of the dissonant waking call for an early morning hunt in the Paleolithic. The people stop being people and they become one thing only: incredibly powerful and driven eating machines, because it is in the food that the strength of this place lies. While it is not refined in the slightest, there is a kind of delicacy and frailness to it that makes it appealing despite the initially intimidating portion sizes.
Beginning where the beginning begins; drinks. The wine list is seemingly unconvincing, but there’s actually a gem in there. I am not usually a fan of rosé and have trouble classifying it as a real wine, but their Domaine d’Astros is nothing short of brilliant. I tried it last summer in Cannes and it is better than I remembered it to be. They also do some awesome thick milkshakes, albeit in a pitiful 3 flavours.
The starters list looks pretty decent, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll be pretty tempted to try the kaasballen, deep-fried balls of mozzarella and cheddar, onion and breadcrumbs. They’re not half-bad, but truth be told their nachos are clearly superior. They’re just as cheesy as they need be and the home-made creams and sauces are brilliant.
You did not walk 25 minutes to Chelsea to have starters and drinks though. The pancakes are the appogee of this place. Imagine a pizza. Now, remove the soggy tomato sauce and replace the base with a scrumptuous, massive pancake. Add bacon, cheese, chicken, chives, olives, haloumi, sweetcorn, sundried tomato.... Drool. Eat. Continue eating. Possibly repeat. Any combination of ingredients is possible. Creative flairs are highly encouraged and strange concoctions are not frowned upon. If you can still stomach pudding after all of this, try somewhere else; desserts here are not the best.
Were I suggesting this restaurant to either one of my parents, I’d probably be rating it 2 stars; mostly due to less-than-ideal service and general feel of the place. Given the quality of the food, uniqueness, quantity and, most important for students, Price:Quality:Portion Size ratio, it provides absolutely unbeatable value. This is especially true on Mondays when all pancakes are reduced to £5. For most dishes, this is actually less than half price. I hope you enjoy our humble recommendation.
