Amsterdam (Rough Guide) - Martin Dunford [118]
Intense competition keeps prices down to manageable proportions, and in all but the ritziest of joints you can expect to pay no more than €20–25 for a main course, usually less. As for opening hours, the Dutch eat out early, with most restaurants opening at 5.30pm or 6pm and closing their doors around 10pm, though you’ll still be served if you’re already seated. At all but the least expensive places, it’s a good idea to call ahead and reserve a table, especially on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Almost all of the larger or smarter restaurants take credit cards, but don’t assume this to be the case at smaller or cheaper places. A tip of about ten percent is pretty much expected; the custom is generally to hand some change directly to your server rather than adding it to the bill.
We’ve listed the restaurants below by type of cuisine, but there’s an alphabetical list in the index at the back of the book; locations are marked on the colour maps, also at the back of this book.
Eating and drinking | Restaurants |
Fish stalls
One of the pleasures of Amsterdam is to sample the various fish and seafood specialities sold from stalls dotted around the city centre – all delicious: raw herring (haring), smoked eel (gerookte paling), mackerel in a roll (broodje makreel), mussels (mosselen) and various kinds of deep-fried fish. Look out, too, for “green” or maatje haring, eaten raw with onions in early summer; hold the fish by the tail, tip your head back and dangle it into your mouth, Dutch-style. Among other places, there are stalls at the following city centre locations: Nieuwmarkt, Westermarkt, Stromarkt, Haarlemmerplein, Albert Cuypstraat.
Eating and drinking | Restaurants |
Restaurants on the web
Among the many websites providing information on Amsterdam’s restaurant scene, one of the most useful is www.iens.nl, an independent index of all the major restaurants in Amsterdam and most other Dutch cities. The reviews are of mixed quality, but the opening hours and telephone numbers are regularly updated and there is an easy-to-follow grading system for the quality of the food and service.
Eating and drinking | Restaurants |
The Old Centre
Eating and drinking | Restaurants | The Old Centre |
Chinese
Golden Chopsticks Oude Doelenstraat 1 020/620 7040. Cheap and cheerful canteen-style Chinese food on the edge of the Red Light District. Very central, and, despite the Spartan interior, among the best Chinese food you’ll find in Amsterdam. No credit cards. Daily 11.30am–1am.
Hoi Tin Zeedijk 122 020/625 6451. You can always trust a restaurant where you have to walk through the kitchen to get to your table, and this one is no exception: a constantly busy Chinatown favourite with an enormous menu (in English too). Dim sum at lunchtime. Daily 11am–11.30pm.
Hoi Tin
Nam Kee Zeedijk 111–113 020/624 3470. Arguably the best of a number of Chinese diners along this stretch, and attracting a loyal clientele. Quick service, great food. There’s another, slightly posher location at Gelderskade 117 (020/639 2848). Both daily noon–midnight.
Wing Kee Zeedijk 76 020/623 5683. Simple Chinese restaurant that’s popular with the local Chinatown community. Good food, and very cheap too, although the service isn’t great. Daily noon–10pm.
Eating and drinking | Restaurants | The Old Centre |
Dutch and Modern European
Blauw Aan De Waal Oudezijds Achterburgwal 99 020/330 2257. Quite a haven, situated down an alley in the heart of the Red Light District, with tremendous French-Dutch food and a wonderfully soothing environment after the mayhem outside. Mon–Sat 6–11.30pm.
Brasserie Harkema Nes 67 020/428 2222. Very sleek and stylish converted warehouse restaurant, whose moderately priced food – mains €14–19 – is sometimes good, and sometimes more variable than you might expect. The menu is appealing enough, but service sometimes leaves something to be desired,