Last updated on April 28th, 2023 at 07:54 pm
When you travel the world for 300+ days a year outside your home country, you wonder about that next delightful travelers surprise that might be just around the corner. Will it be unusual or otherwise pique your interest?
This thinking always invokes the thought “can we be surprised anymore?” We’ve been so many places, seen so many different cultures, and eaten so many different types of food, we wonder if we’ve run out surprises.
This was our mind-set as we unpacked in our bags at the Holiday Inn in Rotterdam, Holland in queue for a cruise leaving the following day at the cruise terminal port.
A quick check of Trip Advisor revealed candidate restaurants near our hotel.
Enter Hugh’s, a bar-dance-food club, not far from our hotel or the central train station in Rotterdam.
We stopped for a late lunch.
After a long days’ travel from Skopelos, we were ready for an alcoholic beverage or two. When we asked the bartender for two Gin & Tonics, specifying Tanqueray, he rejoined, “are you sure?”. We have 33 different brands of Gin here”. Yes! This I knew this was going to be my day!
Surprise #1 – Sweetwood
About 5 minutes later, the bartender brought over globules of Gin on ice. Schweppes tonic water was on the side — a nice touch letting customers know they can inspect the glass to confirm they really did get Gin.
But the surprise was the stick of wood in our glasses. When I asked the bartender what it was, he said “sweet wood”. When I asked for more information, I found out Hugh’s offers and matches variants of this wood grown in Holland with all 33 brands of gin they serve at this restaurant.
Sweetwood properly known as Glycyrrhiza glabra, is a plant that originates in Eurasia, North Africa and West Asia. It is now found worldwide.
This wood contains a sweetener that is about 30 to 50 times sweeter than sugar according to some sources. But is not harmful to teeth.
If oral fixation is one of your habits, you’ll love sweetwood. Chewing it can become addictive.
If you’re drinking a Gin and Tonic, you put a stick in your glass, add tonic water, and stir it with the sweetwood. Our sweetwood at Hugh’s presented a licorice flavor. The longer it lingers in the drink, the more it absorbs the Gin and tonic.
It takes a long time to finish off a sweetwood stick. You chew and suck on it a lot. The flavor seeps out —it’s subtle.
Surprise #2: Hugh’s heavenly Hugh Burger
After the Gin and Tonic with sweetwood encounter, I had a hard time focusing on Hugh’s heavenly Hugh Burger, aka the “U” (Hugh's) burger. But when I did, I was floored. It's the best burger I’ve ever eaten anywhere!
This burger was cooked by an expert. It was juicy. The center was red, warm and cooked – not raw, uncooked meat left in the middle here. The outside was seared quickly to perfection. And on board the patty with just the right fixin’s topped it off.
Surprise #3: Hugh’s Salmon salad
By the time Hugh’s Salmon salad arrived, I was expecting nothing less than excellence. My wife ordered this dish. Since we share food at the table, neither of us were disappointed. It was fresh and tasty, not a surprising find in a seagoing nation.
Surprise #4: Chocolate
If you're a chocoholic, you’ll enjoy this dessert at Hugh’s. The waiter brings out a piece of thin shelled chocolate and smashes it on a plate right in front of you. Your job, of course, is to pick up the pieces of your choice.
Hugh’s can count us among their most ardent fans now. At the end of the meal though, I kept lingering. I still had my Gin and Tonic, and the sweetwood kept calling on me to stay until closing.
Hughs! For what it is, and what it does, this place would be a 5-star restaurant anywhere. It is spectacular.
