Definitely not an appealing location but surprisingly good food: Grand Café Valerius (17. May 2017)
Given we had had already several meals in the Landgoed, it was time to try something new. So we walked about 1.5 kilometers from the Landgoed and were – let’s say – ‘surprised’. There was some “bread with aioli” already on the table which was great given we were about to starve. But frankly, when I had arrived there, I didn’t feel much like eating. I mean, the place is like super run down – really not where you want to eat out. At least that was my first impression.
As a starter, we got a combination of various “Valerius All Times” like “Champignons au gratin with cheese” (EUR 8.25) and “Gamba Pill Pill with garlic” (EUR 8.75) and while I was super skeptical at first, I must admit that it was actually quite tasty. The mushrooms were good, the beef rolls were tasty, the salmon rolls were good, and the prawns were lovely. So, although the place definitely does not look appealing, the dishes were surprisingly so.
They even served one of their Dutch specialties, the “croquetjes” (EUR 8.75) which were lovely – stuffed with cheese and refined with walnut oil.
In terms of ‘variety and choice’, it was incredibly limited to a ‘vegetarian burger’, a ‘beef burger’, and a ‘chicken burger’. I went for the beef burger: “Chef’s Burger with tomatoes, cucumbers, bacon, egg, sauce” (EUR 16.50). And again, I still didn’t believe it was going to be decent but the dish turned out to be good again. Too much bread for the size of the patty but else, quite good. What was not so fine though was the way the meat was prepared, or to be more precise, they did not even ask if we wanted medium or medium-rare or any other kind of ‘grill level’ for our burgers.
The “French fries” on the other hand were very good and fit perfectly to the burger. With regards to the service, I can only say they tried, and they tried hard but somehow they were not made for that. We were a large group of 17 people – so admittedly not easy but it was so uncoordinated, so not structured that you’d almost get a headache so we started ordering ‘hedge beers’ (e.g. “Sol”, EUR 4.00) to never run dry (as the serving cycles were way too long).
Overall, I was positively surprised of the food offered in the Grand Café Valerius given I expected really bad food after being seated. But it is definitely nothing I would ever visit again.
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Contact Details:
Grand Café Valerius
Valeriuslaan 86
1985 EX Driehuis (NL)
Tel.: +31 255 520 086
E-Mail: info@grandcafevalerius.nl
Homepage: http://www.grandcafevalerius.nl
About the Author: Sven
I started the blog in October 2009, while living in Milan which I definitely consider to be one of the food capitals of the world. I was in touch with food since my early childhood (as my father is a former chef). Whenever I can, I travel the world to discover new places, to meet people but mostly to try local dishes and to find hidden gems! If you know a place worth going, please drop a line to: info@thediningexperience.org.
Currently, I am a member of the following food-related associations: Chevalier @Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Zurich-Ville; Membre Gourmet Dégustateur @Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs [OMGD]; Gesellschafter @Goldener Fisch and Member @Slowfood Convivium Zurich City. 
