Good Eats in Amsterdam

[afoodnut]

Perhaps interesting will be "Le Hollandais": a chef who likes to cook the old fashioned, Dutch cuisine. Very good though, not out of date classical but good quality and a nice wine list too. Not too expensive.

Thank you.

What is "not too expensive" now in Amsterdam? (Price in euros is fine.) I'm having a hard time getting a grasp on prices for meals now. I'm guessing that after the switch a couple of years ago to the Euro, prices increased?

And another question for everyone; if we were to have one meal that is the best available in Amsterdam, at any price, what would that meal be, and about how much would it cost?

(I know there are possibilities of Michelin starred meals, but I'd like to hear egullet people's recommendations; I trust those more than Michelin.)

[afoodnut]

As a follow up to my earlier questions:

I face a delightful opportunity.

My daughter and I live in the U.S., a country with a legal drinking age of 21. My daughter, who is 17 years old, will be able to drink wine in a restaurant for the first time. (She has had wine to drink in our home and at friends' homes for Seders and Kiddushim etc. all along.) What might be the perfect place for her first time having a "legal" glass of wine in public? paulbrussel's recommendation of "Le Hollandais" sounds like it might be just right.

Any others?

[gidon]

The one best meal available and price is no objection? It's a tough and very personal question.

My not so humble top 3:

Christophe - delux French cuisine, not too wild, one *, on a canal, expect to pay 100 and over per person, old faithful.

Vermeer - I have to be honest and confess that I haven't been here yet, but the cuisine is supposed to be highly inventive and original, the decoration and atmosphere of the restaurant is thought to be a bit formal, two **.

Bordewijk - personal favorite, French provincial cooking with a local twist, however for some reason they're not very hospitable to tourists (to solve this problem you could invite me ), no *, around 75 per person.

Any of these places would be able to offer excellent wine advice for your daughter.

Gidon

Edited January 29, 2004 by gidon (log)

[paulbrussel]

What is "not too expensive" now in Amsterdam? (Price in euros is fine.) I'm having a hard time getting a grasp on prices for meals now. I'm guessing that after the switch a couple of years ago to the Euro, prices increased?

A 3-course-menu will cost you 29 € (price mars 2003).

Wines are interesting and not too expensive.

When we ate there, we paid € 159 for à la carte: three and four courses, one bottle of wine and five glasses of wine.

[paulbrussel]

And another question for everyone; if we were to have one meal that is the best available in Amsterdam, at any price, what would that meal be, and about how much would it cost?

(I know there are possibilities of Michelin starred meals, but I'd like to hear egullet people's recommendations; I trust those more than Michelin.)

Although you trust Michelin less then the eGullet-ers, I must say that I have eaten the most in Michelin starred restaurant.

For the best value meal I would go to Vermeer ** for lunch: they offer a lunch for 35 €. (website: http://www.restaurantvermeer.nl/); this restaurant is one of my favourites in the Benelux, but belongs to the more inventive cuisines.

More modern on classic basis and for me also interesting is La Rive ** of the splendid Amstel Hotel: they offer lunch for 48 €, drinks included. (website: http://www.diningcity.com/ams/larive/en/index.html)

Another restaurant I like is the more modern restaurant Breitner, where a meal will cost you about 50 € without drinks.

And I normally trust all the 'bib gourmands' of Michelin, but there are not too many of them in Amsterdam.

[Schneier]

In my opinion, Kantjil en de Tijger (Spuistraat 291-293, Tel: 020 620 09 94) serves the best Indonesian rijsttafel in Amsterdam. I've mentioned it earlier in this thread, but I went there a few days ago so I thought I'd mention it again.

A rijsttafel is basically a varying menu of all sorts of Indonesian dishes. It's all served together, and it rapidly turns into "too many dishes than can fit on the table." I can't even begin to list them all, but there was beef, pork, chicken, fish, shrimp, vegetables, and, of course, rice. The food just came and came, peanut sauces, coconut sauces, tangy barbecue sauces, ginger-tomato sauces. Everything is really good here, and it's great fun to come with a large group so you can share everything.

Cost was about 20 euros a person, but that is because we ordered three "rijstaffel for two" for the eight of us. It was more than enough food.

Bruce

[Schneier]

Two nights ago I had dinner in La Rive, in the Amsterdam Intercontinental Hotel. It's a beautiful dining room, with huge windows overlooking the Amstel River. Once, glancing out of the window, I thought I was in Venice.

The restaurant has a bunch of dishes a la carte, and two tasting menus: a six- and a seven-course. We had the smaller menu, with the wine pairings.

On the table when we sat down were some fried green olives (delicious) and what can only be described as gourmet Terra Chips.

The first Amuse Bouche was a piece of grilled codfish with onion and black olives. Very good.

Then came a plate of three more treats: a small bowl of cauliflower mousse, some turbot with mashed potato, and a small piece of foie gras on toast. All very good, but the turbot was delicious. A nice hint of things to come.

Course 1: This was a thin sheet of artichoke under some pasta in a cream sauce, and then topped with some crisp fried vegetables, with bits of green olive tapenade on the side. After serving the plates the waiter poured a Pecorino and basil sauce over the dish. (Pouring sauces tableside was one of the "things" at this restaurant. It happened with most courses.) It was a very tasty dish.

The wine was an Italian Pinot Noir: 2001 St. Michael-Eppan. It was okay, but not great. Not a particularly good pairing, though.

Course 2: Sauteed scallops with vegetables--tomato, onion, eggplant, zuccini--and a bouillabaisse sauce with rouille. It was much lighter than it sounds, and also good.

The wine was a 2001 Marta San Giovanni Collli Ascolani. I thought this was too oaky, and didn't have enough fruit. Not a great pairing, either.

Course 3: Dish of the night. A piece of grilled turbot wrapped in thinly sliced potato and served with stewed chard and veal sauce, with black truffles. Again, this dish was much lighter than it sounds.

The wine was also a good one: a 199 Gruner Veltliner Smaragd Nikolaifhof, Wachau.

Course 4: Slices from a roasted saddle of venison, served with a creamy green cabbage with bits of foie gras, pearl onions, and a beautiful finey-chopped vegetable sauce. The venison was very gamey, and occasionally tasted like liver. Another excellent dish.

The wine was the best pairing of the night: a Bordeaux. 1996 Le Benjamin de Beauregard Pomeral.

The fifth course was the cheese course. Instead of each of us choosing a few cheeses, we asked the waiter to select a whole lot of cheeses, and make us a single plate for the center of the table. We ended up with all kinds of stuff: Dutch, French, Spanish, Italian. For wine we were offered some Port, or more of the Bordeaux. We all chose the latter.

Dessert was a pair of sweet vanilla tortellini filled with with white chocolate cream, and served with marinated blood oranges and more cream. The wine was a 2002 Freinsheimer Rosenbuhl , Silvaner-Weisburgunder Icewine, Rheinphalz. Very good accompaniment to the dessert.

Service was odd. It was professional and friendly, which I appreciate. But on four separate occasions a waiter tried to take one of our dishes when we were still eating it. We weren't being rushed; there was no wait for the table and our meal took three and a half hours. But having our plates snatched away from us made us feel rushed, and we didn't appreciate that.

Price: 350 euros per couple, including a before-dinner Kir Royale, much bottled water, and after-dinner liqueur. Too much for what we got, in my opinion. I think I prefer Amsterdam's less formal and lower cost options.

Bruce

[paulbrussel]

Thanks for the report!

We had quite a good experience in December 2003 when we ate in the kitchen at the chef's table.

However, when we moved to the beautiful dining room, we discovered a big chance, for the worse.

The cheese platter was extremely poor; most of the normal cheeses were not available. Service was poor too, so we were not too happy with moving to the dining room with these negative effects.

Still, it remains in my view a good kitchen. Perhaps pricy, but it is of course the most beautiful hotel of the Netherlands; I am afraid you pay for that as well.

It is not as modern and exciting as the other good two star restaurant in Amsterdam, Vermeer, and perhaps not as good as the two star restaurant De Bokkedoorns nearby which has about the best service of the country and very good wines that go with the dishes.

[afoodnut]

Over at the pastry and baking forum, people are raving about Stroopwaffels. I've asked for suggestions of good places in Amsterdam to get them, but so far, no one has had any recommendations.

Can anyone tell me the location of food stalls, stands, or restaurants in Amsterdam that have examples of "done just right" stroopwaffels?

Dank u wel.

Edited March 10, 2004 by afoodnut (log)

[Schneier]

I wish I knew they had a kitchen table.

Bruce

[gidon]

Supermarket stroopwafels are not bad at all, but you can get them freshly made at the Albert Cuyp market. Coming from the direction of the Ferdinand Bolstraat it's halfway down the market on the the righthand side.

Am very curious about your culinary adventures in Amsterdam...

Gidon

[afoodnut]

Supermarket stroopwafels are not bad at all, but you can get them freshly made at the Albert Cuyp market. Coming from the direction of the Ferdinand Bolstraat it's halfway down the market on the the righthand side.

Am very curious about your culinary adventures in Amsterdam...

Gidon

We're just back from our week in Amsterdam. What a delightful city. I had not understood just how cosmopolitan and international it really is now. (I was last there almost 35 years ago.) The assortment of restaurants was staggering, and we ate very well indeed.

I'll post details once I've recovered a bit more from jet lag and can write coherently, but to be brief, in the one week, we ate Indian, Indonesian, Thai, Spanish, Italian, and Mexican food, as well as enjoying numerous cups of koffie, glasses of beer and wine, tostis, apple cake with cream, chocolate...

And I'm chewing on a piece of licorice as I type.

But as to the stroopwafels:

After reading all those posts over in the pastry/baking forum raving about stroopwafels, I couldn't wait to taste a hot, fresh one.

I found the man who makes fresh stroopwafels at Albert Cuyp market. He handed it to me on a piece of parchment. It was about six inches in diameter, filled with dripping caramel syrup. I bit into it, the syrup burning hot. It was hot, gooey, sticky, crispy, and very sweet.

I couldn't manage more than two bites of it! Way too sweet and cloying for me. My 17 year old daughter tried it, and she wouldn't even take a second bite.

More to come later.

[afoodnut]

Okay. I'm baffled that so many people seem to be of the opinion that you can't find good food in Amsterdam. We had a virtual world tour of cuisines, eating in small, what appeared to be mainly family run restaurants. It might not have been high end, elegant food, but it was definitely food that was carefully prepared, using good ingredients, by someone who cared.

We stayed at the Bridge Hotel, on Amstel, right near the Magere Brug (Skinny Bridge). It turned out to be a lovely hotel in a great area for restaurants. We had amazing luck with taking a chance on restaurants that looked interesting, and ended up having most of our dinners right in the neighborhood.

The Skinny Bridge Cafe a block away (Amstel and Kerkstraat) was perfect for an afternoon stop for coffee, beer, or wine with a tosti.

Our first evening in Amsterdam, we were ready for nothing more than an early dinner and sleep. We walked over the bridge to Ultrechtsestraat, just looking for a restaurant that was open already for dinner (it was only about 5:00 PM). We found Meghna, an Indian restaurant (Ultrechtsestraat 28A). The saag paneer and rogan josh were fragrant and beautifully spiced. The restaurant was small, warm, and friendly.

The next night, we wanted to try rijstafel. (Tempo Doeloe was right nearby on Ultrestraacht, but it was busy and we did not have reservations.) We decided to try a restaurant close by we had noticed in our wanderings: Anda Nigraha, on Waterlooplein. It was another small, friendly restaurant. The food was not great, but it was good; we had a very enjoyable meal (and only 21 euro per person for the most elaborate rijstafel).

The third night, we ate Thai food at Na Siam (Kerkstraat 332). Once again, it was a small, friendly place, and the food was very good (sorry, I just can't recall what we ate.)

By the fourth night, my daughter said she wanted a change from rice and Asian food. We knew that we were eating far better food than we had been led to expect, and felt optimistic about trying almost any international cuisine. She had a craving for Italian, so we went searching. We fell into Ristorante Gusto (Kloveniersburgwal 7), and enjoyed the linguini vongole (with teeny sweet clams in shell) and tagliatere gambere (a nice tangle of shrimp, zucchini, cream, pasta).

We had good squid and shrimp tapas at a Spanish restaurant (I'm not sure I recall the name, but it might have been El Huasco, and unfortunately, I don't remember the address).

There was an Indonesian restaurant, Flamboyant (Amstel 111), next door to our hotel. Since Indonesian food is not something we find here at home in Colorado, we thought we'd have another Indonesian meal. We did not have rijstafel, rather ordered individual dishes. The food was wonderful, although I have no idea what we actually ate.

For our final dinner, our curiosity got the best of us. We decided to try a Mexican restaurant; Because we had eaten so well all week in these neighborhood restaurants, we were feeling brave, and interested in an Amsterdam interpretation of Mexican food (one of the staples in Colorado.) We ate at Alfonso's (Ultrechtsestraat 32). The food wasn't great, but it was pretty good, with some interesting spicing/seasoning, and once again, the restaurant was friendly and warm.

As to snacks and street food:

Koffie was good everywhere. We were delighted with the custom of always including a little munchie or crunchy something with every cup of coffee or tea.

Apple cake with cream was delicious. We returned several times to Puccini Bomboni (Staalstraat 21) for chocolate (both to eat and take home). Vlaamse Frites (without the mayonnaise, than you) were fine. But the raw herring with onions and the stroopwafel are foods I won't go out of my way to eat again.

Edited April 4, 2004 by afoodnut (log)

[afoodnut]

It's too late to edit my earlier post, so a brief footnote:

We were sorry we didn't get a chance to try one of the high end restaurants recommended, but we so enjoyed the neighborhood places we were falling into that we just plain ran out of time. I also wish we had managed to eat in at least one Surinamese restaurant, but again, we simply didn't have enough time to do it all. Who knew we would eat so well? I'll just have to get back to Amsterdam soon.

[sandra]

FOUND:

Great Mexican Food in Amsterdam!

Los Pilones

Kerkstraat 63, Leidseplein, Amsterdam

Telefoon (020) 320 46 51

By far the best Mexican food I have had in Europe since the demise of Si Senor in London - excellent enchiladas de mole, enchiladas verdes, tinga, cochinita pibil, flautas, and the drinks were great also...

WIll have to make special trips there for this from now on....

[pnapoli]

i am planning a trip to amsterdam and would like to hear others' impressions of the following restaurants (as well as any other places you recommend ):

- Blauw aan de Wal

- Voorbij het Einde

- De Kas

- Chez Georges

- Van Vlaanderen

- Summum

thanks!

[ginger chef]

looking at eating with a few friends at veneer in amsterdam for lunch does anybody have any inside info on dress code, prices etc

[ginger chef]

sorry vermeer

[gidon]

I'm sorry to tell you, but the last thing I've heard is that Pascal Jalhaij, the chef at Vermeer, is not working there anymore. Where he'll show up next is anyone's guess... The good news is that there are many other places you could and should visit!

Gidon

[ginger chef]

thanks gidon, what other places do you recommend. we are all chefs and we would like to eat michelin rated restaurants but not to far out of the central area. is vermeer still worth a visit. oh we are also eating on a monday if that causes a problem or not. we want more modern than classical this time around.

[gidon]

I just remembered that I read about the moving of Pascal J right here in post by paulbrussel (oops). He seems to be the man in the know, so maybe he could chip in his two cents? Although I've never had the pleasure at dining at Vermeer, it seemed to be the most innovative place in Amsterdam. I don't have a clue how they're doing at this moment.

As for a suitable substitute for a monday? Hmmm. Maybe you could give Vermeer a try... Or you could try Restaurant De Kas, the food is not exceptional, but the concept is very nice indeed: seasonal produce from Amsterdam and environs, served in a former greenhouse. I think it's run by the ex-ex-chef from Vermeer! You can find them here.

Good luck!

[cakewench]

Christophe is Michelin-starred, and reasonably centrally located. It is pricey, and you will need to book in advacne (don't know when your trip is.)

address: Leliegracht 46 ('Grachtengordel west' neighborhood), phone is 020 625 0807

For Dutch-oriented food, De Silveren Spiegel is highly rated (but am not sure re: Michelin). phone 202 624 6589 address Kattengat 4 (in the Old Centre)

I've recently moved to the area, myself, and those are two places I'm looking forward to. Let us know what you try while you're in town!

[paulbrussel]

Christophe is Michelin-starred, and reasonably centrally located. It is pricey, and you will need to book in advacne (don't know when your trip is.)

But I think this is much to classic for ginger chef.

[paulbrussel]

thanks gidon, what other places do you recommend. we are all chefs and we would like to eat michelin rated restaurants but not to far out of the central area. is vermeer still worth a visit. oh we are also eating on a monday if that causes a problem or not. we want more modern than classical this time around.

The only alternative if you want to stay in the centre of town, will be chef Edwin Kats of La Rive, in the Amstel Hotel. He has two stars, is not inventive, but modern.

[cakewench]

Christophe is Michelin-starred, and reasonably centrally located.  It is pricey, and you will need to book in advacne (don't know when your trip is.)

But I think this is much to classic for ginger chef.

Oh, sorry. He said above that he was looking for Michelin-rated restaurants. I assumed that meant stars.

Clearly, I am confused.

*edited* to say yeah, just ignore me now. I AM confused.

Edited September 1, 2004 by cakewench (log)