Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
1
We’re planning a 4 night culture trip during the summer. We’ll stay near to the Museum Quarter and, for preference, will eat near there as well. It’s many years since I’ve been to the city and, whilst Mrs H used to visit often for work, neither of us have any real basis for restaurant choices. Any thoughts on the following places would be appreciated and any other reccs of course. Four nights - four different styles of cooking including Michelin starred places as we’ll be celebrating a birthday or anniversary one night.
Modern Dutch - Floreyn, Vis aan de Schelde, Ron Gastrobar (Gastrobar is also Michelin starred)
Traditional Dutch - Greetje, Moeders, Haesje Claes
Michelin - Rijks, Bord’eau, Bridges Dining
Rijstaffel - Tujuh Maret, Blauw, Tempoe Doeloe, Indonesian Kitchen
We visited Amsterdam a few years ago and saw eight museums in five days, which I cannot recommend. While I do not know any of the places you mentioned, we did have some good meals. For Chinese we liked Sichuan food (Peking duck), and we had good experiences at two fish restaurants: Visrestaurant Lucius and Visaandeschelde. At the latter we got to talking to the couple at the next table, and they asked us how we found Amsterdam’s best fish restaurant. It was on Tripadvisor, I’m ashamed to say.
I visited the city some 20+ years ago, it was before my glutton days.
Maybe this older thread can help:
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
4
We plan three in three days - Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh museum and the modern art one. Should still be busy but, hopefully, will also get a relaxed lunch or two in.
Go visit the Food Hall which is not too far from the Museum quarter. You can hop on the train if you’ve had a full day of walking. A fun place with a gun selection of different gown eateries.
Buy your tickets online before the day you want to go visit the museums, especially the Van Gogh museum, otherwise you’re in a loooooooong line.
If you like pancakes, try a restaurant called Pancakes. I think there are multiple locations. I had an apple cheddar bacon Dutch pancakes that was really good.
I can’t remember the name of the Indonesian restaurant, but I had a great Indonesian meal there. A big plus for me because we don’t find that in Boston. Definitely worth seeking out if you have limited options where you are too. I also took about 4 days on my visit and wished I had more time. It’s a gorgeous city!
If you have any room left… go to a weekly market (Saturday is most lively) and get a tub of battered hake, or a whole piece, from a fishmonger. Go to the chip stall and get a cone (or tub) of freshly cooked chips. Eat both standing right next to the stall. In the old days it used to be cod and haddock, now it’s all hake from Namibia. Cod and haddock are pricey nowadays. Hake from Namibia is cheaper and more “plentiful”.
If you like maatjes herrings eat them where you can see them being cleaned. Some fishmongers do that at the stall. Get a small smoked eel and lots of napkins. Eat it straight away at the stall or take it back to your lodging.
Check out the cheesemongers at the market whilst you are there. Good place to pick up cheese to take home. But you have better cheese in the UK… (I have a personal disdain for most Dutch cheeses)
Watch how they clean the maatjes at the fishmonger’s stall.
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
9
It’s rarely interesting. I occasionally buy some for breakfast - usually Leedammer or Maasdam which is all the supermarket stocks as alternatives to Edam & Gouda.
My SO and I visited Amsterdam last summer, my first visit in over 2 decades. I was blown away by the young Dutch chefs and the food scene. Last time I was there, Dutch colleagues warned that to have a decent meal you had to find an Indonesian - rijsttafel- restaurant. No more. Let me recommend just a few places:
restaurant
Hemelse Modder
Oude Waal 11
1011 BZ Amsterdam
020 - 624 32 03
We had samphire here for the first time - harvested from the Dutch shore - a revelation. The name translates as “heavenly mud” - the name for their chocolate desert - don’t miss.
Restaurant Black and Blue
Leliegracht 46, 1015 DH Amsterdam
Lovely setting along one of the canals and delightful food, also a nice stop for a coffee in the afternoon
Café-Restaurant Stork
Gedempt Hamerkanaal 201, 1021 KP Amsterdam
take ferry from the Central Station
Fun getting to this large, airy seafood restaurant directly on the harbor
Guts and Glory
Utrechtsestraat 6, Amsterdam
North Holland, Netherlands
changing “chapters”. we were there for a Japanese-inspired chapter, and the accompanying sake pours were amazing (as was the food) - some rare and aged offerings.
On a trip to Amsterdam I was once served a mild goat Gouda melted on two slices of hearty toasted bread, dressed with a little honey, fresh thyme and two halves of shelled walnut on each slice. A perfect cappucino accompanied the dish.
It’s been about 10 years and I still remember this simple breakfast, which made a memorable meal of the otherwise bland cheese. A happy surprise and a way of serving that would have never crossed my mind.
Right now I’m on holiday in a town (in rural Germany) where one of the things it’s known for is smoked eels. See my lunch post yesterday for photos of the eels.
Smoked eels in Netherlands (NL) vs Germany (DE):
Species (I think the species are not the same)
Size. NL: very small and less fatty in comparison. DE: much bigger and fattier.
Wow, I need to try this next time. I’m already awestruck by NL eels, which I find to be very fatty. Can’t imagine DE eels. Are there particular regions in DE that specialize in them? Thanks for enlightening me.
Many towns in northern Germany have smoked eels but this town is especially known for them. I’ve been eating eels from the most famous smoker Bad Zwischenahn: https://aal-bruns.de/
Check out the informative video clips on their site. They play them non stop in the restaurant.
