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Restaurants
If cities get the cuisine they deserve, Amsterdam's ought to be liberal, multiethnic, and adventurous. Guess what? It is. A port and trading city with a true melting-pot character, this city has absorbed culinary influences from far, wide, and yonder, and rustled them all up to its own satisfaction. More than 50 national cuisines are represented in restaurants here -- and many of these eateries satisfy the sturdy Dutch insistence on getting maximum value out of every euro.
From elegant 17th-century dining rooms to cozy canalside bistros, to boisterous taverns with exuberant Greek waitstaff to exotic Indonesian rooms attended by turbaned waiters, to the bruine kroegjes (brown cafes) with smoke-stained walls and friendly table conversations, Amsterdam's eateries confront the tourist with the exquisite agony of being able to choose only one or two from their vast numbers (in all price ranges) each day. Dutch cooking, of course, is part of all this, but you won't be stuck with biefstuk (beefsteak) and kip (chicken) every night.
A relatively recent and popular trend is the grand cafe scene. These are cafes in the, well, grand tradition of Paris, Vienna, and Rome, with lots of style, ambience, and balconies or terraces -- see-and-be-seen places. Grand cafes are distinguished by their emphasis on food and drink, architecture, production values, and style. The definition is an elusive one: The grand cafes listed truly are grand, but be aware that others use the name even though they may not be particularly impressive.
A Dinner Cruise -- A delightful way to combine sightseeing and leisurely dining is on a dinner cruise. During these 2 1/2-hour canal cruises, you enjoy a five-course dinner that includes a cocktail and wine with dinner, coffee with bonbons, and a glass of cognac or liqueur to finish. Reservations are required. These cruises cost 69€ ($86) for adults, and 45€ ($56) for children ages 4 to 12.
Best for Opulence: Royalty eats at La Rive, in the Amstel InterContinental Amstel Hotel, Professor Tulpplein 1 (tel. 020/520-3264), as do movie stars, rockers, opera divas, tennis standouts, and even ordinary folks with well-padded pocketbooks. It's highly opulent, the location is great, and the food is outstanding.
Best Value: It breaks my heart to write this, because I know it will only make it harder to find a seat at De Prins, Prinsengracht 124 (tel. 020/624-9382). But duty calls. When you eat in this handsome, friendly, cozy, warm -- in a Dutch word, gezellig -- brown cafe-restaurant, you'll wonder why you paid twice as much for food half as good in that other place last night.
Best Grand Cafe: A New York Times reviewer went so far as to call Café Luxembourg, Spuistraat 24 (tel. 020/620-6264), "one of the world's great cafes." But Luxembourg is great on an Amsterdam scale. That is to say, it's cozy and kind of intimate, with little, if any, of the pretension that would normally go along with world-class status.
Best Traditional Dutch: It sounds contradictory to say that D'Vijff Vlieghen ("The Five Flies"), Spuistraat 294-302 (tel. 020/530-4060), is a tad touristy and still traditional Dutch, but somehow it manages to be both.
Best American: Well, Tex-Mex, anyway. Rose's Cantina, Reguliersdwarsstraat 38-40 (tel. 020/625-9797), is more popular institution than truly great eatery, though the food can be quite good. There will probably be a wait for a table, during which Rose's deploys its secret weapon -- marvelous margaritas.
Best Vegetarian: Bolhoed, Prinsengracht 60-62 (tel. 020/626-1803), takes this title for its joie de vivre, romantic atmosphere, and excellent, imaginative vegetarian cuisine.
Best Sandwich: The only problem with Sal Meijer, Scheldestraat 45 (tel. 020/673-1313), is that it's a bit removed from the action. They deliver, but their delicious authentic kosher sandwiches are well worth a tram ride.
Best Indonesian: Every Amsterdammer has his or her own favorite place for that "traditional" Dutch dinner treat: Indonesian food. With so many Indonesian restaurants in the city, it's hard to pick just one. Still, Kantjil & de Tijger, Spuistraat 291-293 (tel. 020/620-0994), has a restrained, refined character and consistently good food.
Best Brunch: At Café Luxembourg, Spuistraat 24 (tel. 020/620-6264), you can read international newspapers while drinking coffee that actually tastes like coffee and munching your way through an extensive range of breakfast plates, sandwiches, and snacks.
Best Business Lunch: If it's a casual affair, many Amsterdam businesspeople will be perfectly happy with a snack from a seafood stall, but if you aim to impress, try the Mangerie de Kersentuin, in the Garden Hotel, Dijsselhofplantsoen 7 (tel. 020/570-5600). The cuisine perfectly complements the elegant, yet unstuffy surroundings.
Best Kids' Spot: For small diners with big appetites, there can be no better experience than the Kinderkookkafé, Vondelpark 6B (tel. 020/625-3257), where kids (carefully supervised) even get to cook their own meals.
Best Late-Night Dinner: You can't help feeling a little sorry for the staff at De Knijp, Van Baerlestraat 134 (tel. 020/671-4248), when you saunter in around midnight. They've been going hard for hours, but are ready, willing, and just about able to do it one more time.
Maps
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without
notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before
planning your trip.
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