Giving (and receiving) the gift of food at Amsterdam restaurant Geef

Please note that since writing this article, Geef has closed down

This post was supposed to be about Calle Ocho – a so-called Miami street-food bar on the Albert Cuypstraat. But two sloppy margaritas and zero Cuban sandwiches later (“why on earth are there no Cuban sandwiches in a Miami street-food bar?” exclaimed the Honey Badger, in one of his more Southern moments), we decided to leave.

Instead, this post is about Geef – a restaurant whose charitable concept involves paying whatever you think the meal is worth; anything you give over cost price goes towards a meal for someone in need. Sounded like a win-win, and I was keen to try it out.

However, things got off to a slightly bumpy start when the waitress seemed (seemed, being the operative word) intent on refusing to understand most of what I was trying to say. My Dutch may not be perfect, but my restaurant Dutch is pretty darn close (or so I reasoned), and I found myself speaking faster and more idiomatically the more frustrated I got. It was at this point that one of the women at the table next to us leant over to give me a word of advice: “Geef employs people with mental disabilities,” she explained; “don’t be too quick to judge.” Shit! How was I to know?! From that point on, I slowed down instead of speeding up; and things went a lot more smoothly. Lesson duly learnt.

Geef offers a set three-course menu (although you’re not obliged to take all three courses), with options on the main course depending on whether you’d prefer meat, fish or vegetarian. The evening we were there, dinner started with a herb-blended goat’s cheese, wrapped in courgette and served with Serrano ham. It was simple, but tasted pretty good and was appropriately light for a late summer’s evening.

For main, I chose the meat option (surprise, surprise) – a cut of beef I’d not heard of before, served medium-rare with saffron risotto, roast pumpkin, fennel and broccoli. This was heavier and more autumnal, but as it wasn’t swimming in butter I found I could get to the end of it rather more easily than many restaurant meals.

We decided to split dessert: chocolate nemesis that was essentially a very dark, dense, moist square of chocolate brownie. It came with fresh fig, toasty walnuts and a refreshing dollop of mascarpone. I instantly regretted sharing it and wished I’d ordered the whole thing for myself.

When it comes to the end of the meal at Geef, you can either simply pick a figure to pay yourself (they’ll even let you do the washing up if you’ve very strapped for cash!) or you can ask for an indication of the cost price. Intrigued, I asked for an indication, which came with this handy little guide to figuring out what to pay. Our meal would’ve come to €71 for two (for 2.5 courses each plus 3 glasses of wine) but we decided to pay €90.

The food was good – with or without the feel-good factor of donating to someone else’s meal at the same time – and, despite the bumpy start, the service turned out to be better than average. If you’ve not yet been to Geef, give giving a chance! (cheese alert!)