Amsterdam

We lived in Amsterdam for 2 years. Since 1.5 of those years were during the thick of the pandemic, we might not have had the typical impression of this town.  We lived next to Westerpark which was a great savior for us during the lockdowns.  Instead of commuting, we would go for a walk in the morning in the park, after lunch along a nearby canal, and after work, along a canal in the less crowded part of the Jordaan. We were very pleased with our choice of this area.  I very much disliked the center of town which (outside of lockdowns) was crowded with tourists, many of them looking for the less tasteful things Amsterdam offers to the curious. However, the western part of the city/town is lovely and down to earth.  The ‘brown’ cafes are just old café/bars with homey feeling and old locals sitting in their regular spots day after day.

Some of these are just our local spots.

There are places that only take cards and places that only take cash, but a lot of stores don’t take credit cards like visa because of the fees.  the touristy places do, but the local businesses might not. they use a dutch card call ‘maestro’ which is a dutch debit card.

DAY to DAY – groceries etc

  • Albert Heijn(chain) –good grocery store(doesn’t take visa). the closest one (Van Limburg Stirumstraat 44) is small, so doesn’t have huge selection but has basics. (no machine for fresh orange juice) … There is fresh OJ machine at store in Haarlemmerplein 34– bigger and very good,  (Haarlemmerdijk 1)is even bigger.  Most amazing is that they have a great website and deliver for as little as 3E. Turns out to be very convenient.
  • Dirk van den Broek(chain) – off brands, they are fine.  THEY TAKE VISA.
  • Eko plaza(chain) – hippy organic store. very good. More expensive.
  • Markt(chain) –whole foods level food store – upscale – Haarlemmerstraat 165
  • Avond Markt(de wittenkade 90) – means ‘evening market’ – opens at night – decent selection of wine, good overall, plus deli counter with their own prepared foods. big chocolate selection – not so big selection of fruit n veggies, but enough to get by on
  • Barrio market (12 tweede nassaustraat) – our local grocery dude – he has EVERYTHING (that you can’t find in normal dutch markets) – lots of veggies and exotic veggies, fruits plus all kinds of ethnic stuff, including large selection of hummus, tarama, babaganouj, arab bread, English tea and jams, Chinese food supplies, dried fruits & nuts, Italian stuff.
  • Kip en Zo (tweede goudsbloemdwaarstraat – chicken specialists – good rotisserie chicken (better than the haarlemmerplein markt). also duck confit (which just needs 20 mins in oven 350 degrees)
  • Bakker winkel in the park is very good. We loved the ‘land brood’ which means ‘country bread’
  • Local bakery on Tweede nassaustraat makes good apple turnovers.

OPEN AIR MARKETS

  • Saturday on Lijbenstraat – at the close end to us – lots of hot food stands – herring ready to eat (or fish to take home to cook) – real dutch pea soup (with meat) – very big/long market all the way down.  at the very end if you turn right you will find Westerstraat market:
  • Saturday on Westerstraat – organic food market. right next to Winkel 43 (cafe with excellent apple pie, but also often a long line).
  • Mondays there is a famous textile market on this street. Clothes and fabric.
  • Wednesday outdoor market harlemmerplein – great fish stand, 2 good veggie stands (the one with the young guy with crazy wavy hair – is better), bakery (decent croissants), English pie stand, fresh French fry guy, hummus guy, cheese stand, berries stand. Butcher is good plus has their own turkey farm so good roast turkey breast (hadn’t seen turkey in normal markets because I didn’t know the word for it!) though turkey sausages were not amazing. they said during spring and fall season, they even have turkey eggs which are richer and creamier they say.. Market opens officially at 9 – we go every week, have coffee at ‘breakfast club’ and shop a little before 9 – no crowds at that time!

RESTAURANTS

  • micro thai restaurant at the ‘nassaukade’ tram stop – tiny little house – take away. Authentic and spicy.
  • micro chinese dumpling stand at the corner of the park – dumplings and chinese ‘crepes’ – egg crepes wrapping chinese food. not amazing. Indonesian influences (it’s the taste the dutch like)
  • café de klepel – prinsenstraat 22 -french wine restaurant – sells lots of wine by the glass – food is pricey and you need reservation – but you can go in for drinks without reservation – starting at 4. excellent oysters – but if you get carried away with several drinks and appetizers it can be the same as going out for a meal.
  • In westerpark – a bunch of bars, taverns and cafes
  • Morgan & Mees – very good food, breakfast, lunch, dinner – not too cheap – near hugo groot straat
  • Rafi – local Italian, down to earth and really delicious. Forget the fancy Italians in Amsterdam and go here. In local square with kids playing.
  • tram Line 3 goes along road between museum plein and hugo de groot gracht (hugo the great canal) lots of shops, restaurants and cafes.
  • Restaurant Jun – good rijsttafel – I’m not a fanatic lover of rijsttafel, but it is fun once in a while, and this place does a decent one, and is nearby
  • Joordan other eating places:
    • Jo-sushi – bad sushi fast food – don’t go
    • Basilico fish and more – pretty good Italian take away
    • Toscanini – supposed to be amazing – but for the price, we were not impressed.
  • Food Hallen – food hall of lots of good quality food stands. I like the Vietnamese one.
  • Café restaurant nieges: Meneer Nieges – sits on water café/restaurant, good food, $$
  • MOS – Michelin restaurant does very nice lunch for 45-55 (4/5 course lunch) looks over water, nice outdoor covered terrace, beautiful interior.
  • Full moon garden – best dim sum & Chinese in Amsterdam. Authentic
  • Sea Palace – giant Chinese boat near centraal in water (oosterdokskade) very good authentic chinese including dim sum
  • Wagamama – Asian noodle chain, but I love them.
  • Ben cohen tel-aviv streetfood – on lots of lists, but I wasn’t blown away by their felafel. I actually like felafel from MAOZ vegetarian fast food shops better.
  • vegan junk food bar – good miracle meat veggie burgers, great sweet potato fries, a bit pricey for veggie burgers but very large.
  • Pane e olio tuscaanse deli – really good focaccia sandwiches
  • Poke perfect (chain) decent pokes bowls.
  • Wijnbar diVino –little Italian wine bar in joordan. Really want to try the food.
  • Sushi at Okura hotel !!! $$$ — best sushi in town, during pandemic they did takeaway – 75E for sushi or sashimi in beautiful wooden box. 2 for 2 people was too much for us. Next time, we got one sashimi and I made sushi rice.  That was perfect.
  • De Kas(Kamerlingh Onneslaan 3) – Michelin star restaurant – Kas means greenhouse – in greenhouse where they grow their own veggies – Patrick went and loved it.
  • DOARDI takeaway – (just our local)THE BEST French fries (don’t go too early in evening as the fries aren’t as good – I think the oil needs to heat up. Go after 7:30 – lunch time was fine.) They do a miracle burger – very good.

CAFES

  • Winkel 43 – café with best Apple pie. Can buy to go. Really (though the one from Canal museum might just be better – see below)
  • Brown bars in Joordan – ‘t’small’, ‘Kat in de Wijngaert’,
    • Cafe Lowietje – very local with guy who sings traditional dutch bar oompah sort of songs and plays his trumpet – not my scene as I get embarrassed, but interesting
    • Cafe de Tuin fun brown bar on main joordan walking street
    • Cafe Thijssen – very cute w/view of canal – sort of slow service – but my favorite
    • t’monumental – small and local. Down to earth
  • the breakfast club – harlemerplein – good full American/English breakfast or just coffee
  • café de Jaren – my favorite café. Terrace and balcony on canal. Modern, high ceilings, Totally cool café.
  • Grand Café Restaurant 1e klas – amazing Fin de siècle space with café/restaurant in centraal station (coffee by starbucks)
  • Waterkant – fun ‘beach’ bar right on canal, serves food too. Patrick and Julia thought it was a dive.
  • Jansz – restaurant of Pulitzer Hotel. I put this here because it is on a lot of lists.  We didn’t like it.  Thought it was very expensive for not spectacular food.  Dining room was very loud, mostly upscale tourists who stay at the hotel.  Everybody was talking really loudly – maybe it was the space, maybe it was the clientele.  I would skip this place.
  • coeur bistroteque – hartenstraat 24 (9 streets area) – not cheap (but cheaper than Jansz) – p and i had modest meal and it was 100E, but lots of good wines by the glass

BAKERIES:

  • Bakker Winkel – bakery in Westerpark – good pastries, breakfast, soups, ‘landbrood’ (= country bread) and croissants. not great cakes, heavy scones.  Good clotted cream.

MUSEUMS

  • Rijks museum of course
  • Van Gogh museum of course
  • Stedelijk museum – modern art
  • MOCO museum – Small museum – not really worth going to unless you are a big banksy fan.
  • Embassy of the Free Mind – beautiful old canal house – museum of ‘thought’ and lots of very old books. seems to emphasize alchemy – reproductions of old drawings on the walls. – cafe with the best apple pie – from bakery in north of city
  • Amsterdam Canal Museum(Grachten museum)– doesn’t sound interesting but was great museum with good interactive displays. beautiful old canal house, interesting history of the city development
  • Bag and Purse Museum(Herengracht 573) – fun look at history of the bag and purse, amazing old canal house and 2nd floor is all cafe – they serve HIGH tea.  you have to pay to get in to go there, but if you reserve high tea ahead of time, you get 5E off entry of 13E.  Museum card holders are free.
  • The Eye Film Museum – cool film museum with cool café looking out on water. Take free ferry from centraal station. Spend the day watching clips of old films or pay for current films.

SHOPPING– 9 streets – charming little streets with charming high end shops

SWIMMING POOL– Het Marnix – beautiful pool. Check hours of free swim

NEARBY AMSTERDAM

Delft – beautiful charming little town 1 hour away by train

Den Hague – a city, but still charming.  museums – the Escher museum, the mauritzhuis museum – classic 17th century paintings – girl with pearl earring and ‘the goldfinch’.  the best chinatown in holland – they say.  very international.  20 mins to the beach

Haarlem – cute town – only 15 mins away by train.  find your way to the town center – follow the church steeple.  good shopping.

Edam – my other favorite town – beautiful, charming. There are tourists here, but much less specifically geared to tourists, fewer tourist shops.  try to go off hours.

Marken, Volendam – felt too touristy, all stores geared towards busloads of tourists,

Zaanse schans – windmills galore.  I do like windmills and really interesting to go into one and see the massive wooden cogs and realize how revolutionary they were, how much they changed life and contributed to the golden age.

Lisse Tulip fields – April/May – go on a weekday morning – rent a bike there and bike around when it is less crowded. Keukenhof park – was closed for the 2 years we were here – due to pandemic, but cycling around the nearby fields was lovely.  Keukenhof can be over the top crowded and touristy.