De vis heeft een lichte smaak, maar met sla en dressing is het gerecht toch heel lekker.

Because smaak is a de-word, and adjectives before de-words normally take -e.

So:

• de smaak
• een lichte smaak

This is part of Dutch adjective agreement. A useful comparison is:

• een licht gerecht because gerecht is a het-word
• een lichte smaak because smaak is a de-word

Also, in food contexts, licht often means something like mild or not very strong.

Because the subject is de vis, which is third-person singular, and the verb is hebben.

The present tense forms are:

• ik heb
• jij hebt
• hij/zij/het heeft

So de vis heeft means the fish has. Dutch often uses hebben in expressions like een smaak hebben, literally to have a taste/flavor.

This is because Dutch main clauses follow the verb-second rule.

In the second clause, met sla en dressing is placed first. Once that happens, the finite verb must come next:

• met sla en dressing = first position
• is = second position
• het gerecht = subject after the verb

So:

• Maar met sla en dressing is het gerecht toch heel lekker.

If you started with the subject instead, you would get:

• Maar het gerecht is met sla en dressing toch heel lekker.

Both are possible, but the original version gives extra emphasis to met sla en dressing.

Because Dutch often leaves out the article when talking about ingredients or substances in a general way.

So met sla en dressing means with lettuce and dressing in a general sense, not with the specific lettuce and the specific dressing.

If you meant particular ones already known from the context, you could say:

• met de sla en de dressing

But in ordinary food descriptions, leaving the article out is very natural.

They do related jobs, but they are not the same.

• maar connects the two clauses and means but
• toch adds the idea of still, nevertheless, or all the same

So the sentence is saying:

• The fish has a mild taste, but
• with lettuce and dressing, the dish is still very tasty

Using both makes the contrast feel more natural and a little stronger.

Because the speaker is talking about two slightly different things.

• de vis = the fish itself
• het gerecht = the whole dish

In the first part, the comment is about the flavor of the fish alone. In the second part, after adding sla en dressing, the speaker judges the whole prepared dish. That change is very natural.

Because gerecht is a het-word. Its article is het.

So:

• het gerecht
• een gerecht

This is something you usually just have to learn with the noun. A useful extra point: because gerecht is a singular het-word, an adjective after een usually has no -e:

• een lekker gerecht

But with the definite article, you do get -e:

• het lekkere gerecht

Not exactly.

• sla usually means lettuce
• salade usually means salad

So in this sentence, sla most naturally means lettuce or leafy greens served with the dish. English speakers often want to read it as salad, but the more direct meaning is lettuce.

Yes. Dressing is a very common loanword in Dutch, especially in food contexts.

Dutch uses many borrowed words from English, and dressing is perfectly normal when talking about salad dressing. The pronunciation may sound more Dutch than English, but the word itself is widely understood and commonly used.

Because lekker is the normal word for food that tastes good.

• lekker = tasty, delicious, pleasant to eat
• goed = good in a more general sense

So heel lekker sounds much more natural for food than heel goed. Dutch uses lekker very often when talking about meals, snacks, drinks, and flavor.

Also, heel here simply means very. So heel lekker = very tasty.