orbit (mmm+) baagaa baagaa baagaa

scheldestraat 95
amsterdam
(020) 67 22 922

summary:

food: 7.5 out of 10 (savory & delicious)
service: 7.5 out of 10 (sweet but surly)
decor: 7.5 out of 10 (very chic and modern, but the plastic chairs were a little "sweaty")

mmm rating: mmm+/mmmmm

comments:

After a long day of workin' on the railroad, I was excited to be meeting up with my girlfriends at a new find, "Orbit". It had been too long since we had hung out on an evening like this...

When first walking in, Orbit feels very... chic... Maybe too chic for me, since despite my foodiness, I am sometimes described as one of those whom you can dress up but can't take out.

That being said, we were all quite hungry so we plunged in to examine the extensive appetizer and somewhat shorter main course menus... After quickly summoning the waitress to provide us with the liquid element of our dinner (the house white wine -- Cogmans Kloof Kristal -- which went down just fine thankyouverymuch) we salivated over our many choices for appetizers. The menu included many "dim-sum" type dumpling appetizers in addition to satay skewers and steamed oysters. As famished as we were, the many choices perplexed us more than it should have, so we settled on the "mixed appetizers" between the three of us... Then for main, some Peking duck (sans pancakes), Chinese broccoli, and the BaaGaa chicken (which I like to repeat over and over again just for fun).

After placing our order, the waitress warned us that we might have fist-fights over the starter delicacies since there are only two of each kind. (Perhaps we wanted to order an assortment instead?) We assured her of our kindness and love for one another all the while preparing our chopsticks for some finger food competition.

After girly disclosures of recent weekend escapades and other fantasies, we were served our lovely 10 piece appetizer assortment... along with some really delicious dipping sauces (spicy, sweet, hoisin, and soy). After tasting one or two we looked jealously at the remaining pieces, determined to taste as many as possible. They were really lovely. The platter consisted of mostly Gyoza and dumpling style appetizers with a couple of spring rolls for good measure.

Looking with dismay at the empty bottle of wine and our empty glasses we ordered more wine to accompany our upcoming mains... The Chinese broccoli was exactly as it should be: crispy, gingery, garlicky and bright green. Along with this the Peking duck was really wonderful with a thin crispy skin, juicy meat and wonderful flavor. We *were* a teeny tiny bit disappointed that it didn't come with the pancakes, but I think that we had absolutely no problem eating it anyway.

I sampled L's BaaGaa chicken (BaaGaa BaaGaa BaaGaa BaaGaa BaaGaa) and it too was quite flavorful.

So what can I say? It was a great night out with the girls (or women if you prefer) and everything we ate was good.

I suspect Orbit is a bit over-priced for what we ate, but we all thoroughly enjoyed everything. So why the 7.5 you ask? Why not an 8 or a 9? I reserve these types of scores for the extraordinary. And while I thoroughly enjoyed Orbit, it did not send me to the moon. And happily, it wasn't "too chic" for me.

mmmore:

iens
peking duck
gyoza
hoisin