Amsterdam is a small city to eat in, which is its main advantage: the market, the snack counter and the restaurant you booked are usually within a bike ride of each other.
This guide covers the dishes worth seeking out, the casual places that do them, and the handful of restaurants that justify a reservation.
Everything named here is in Amsterdam.
Opening hours are given because in this city they are the detail that decides whether the plan works.
What To Eat First
Dutch cooking is plain and filling, and the good version of it is a matter of the place rather than the recipe.
A stroopwafel pressed fresh, with the syrup still soft, has almost nothing in common with the packaged kind.
Lanskroon on the Singel is the bakery most often named for them, open from nine and until half past five on Fridays and Saturdays.
Bitterballen are the bar snack: breadcrumbed spheres of beef ragout, served with mustard, and made for a glass of Dutch beer.
Raw herring with onions and pickle is the street version, eaten standing up, and you can ask for it chopped onto a plate rather than held by the tail.
Aged gouda deserves a proper tasting rather than a supermarket wedge, and stamppot, mashed potato beaten through with kale or sauerkraut, is the winter dish.
Pannenkoeken are plate-sized and take sweet or savoury toppings, and the rijsttafel, an Indonesian table of a dozen small dishes at once, is the meal most visitors remember.
Markets, Counters And Casual Rooms
The Albert Cuyp Market in De Pijp is the largest street market in the country and the right place to eat standing up.
Stroopwafels, kibbeling, Surinamese snacks and cheese samples all happen within a couple of hundred metres, and none of it needs a table.
The Noordermarkt in the Jordaan runs on Saturday mornings and is the farmers’ version, organic produce and bread rather than fried fish.
Eetsalon Van Dobben on Korte Reguliersdwarsstraat is the classic Dutch counter, open ten to eight daily and to nine on Fridays and Saturdays, with 2,387 reviews behind a 4.4.
Order a broodje kroket and eat it standing, which is what the room is designed for.
Vlaams Friteshuis Vleminckx on Voetboogstraat does one thing, chips, from eleven until seven, and its 5,061 reviews make it the most-reviewed fry counter in the centre.
Fabel Friet on Runstraat in the Nine Streets is the other candidate, open eleven to nine daily.
The Seafood Bar on Van Baerlestraat runs noon to eleven every day and has more than ten thousand reviews behind a 4.7, which is the highest volume of any restaurant in this guide.
Hoi Tin on the Zeedijk is the Cantonese standby a few minutes from Centraal, noon to half past nine and an hour later at weekends.
Café restaurant van Kerkwijk on Nes is the sit-down version of all this, Dutch and continental cooking from eleven to midnight daily, rated 4.6 across 3,408 reviews.
Restaurants Worth Booking
Restaurant Blauw on Amstelveenseweg in Oud-Zuid is the city’s best-known rijsttafel, serving five to ten and half an hour later at weekends.
Book it, particularly for a Friday or Saturday.
De Kas grows a good deal of its own food in Park Frankendael and serves lunch from noon and dinner from six, Monday to Saturday.
Its 4.7 across 3,651 reviews is remarkable for a restaurant with no passing trade whatsoever.
Kaagman & Kortekaas is on Sint Nicolaasstraat in the centre, not in Oost as it is sometimes listed, and it serves dinner only, six until midnight, Tuesday to Saturday.
It is a small room doing seasonal Dutch cooking, and two weeks’ notice is about right for a weekend table.
Restaurant Flore on Nieuwe Doelenstraat holds two Michelin stars under Bas van Kranen and opens Wednesday to Saturday evenings, with lunch on Friday and Saturday.
Brothers Hartering on Peperstraat is the opposite approach at the same level of care, one fixed evening service from six to ten, every day.
Vuurtoreneiland is a boat out to an island in the IJmeer and a seasonal menu in a nineteenth-century fort, served noon to a quarter to eight, Tuesday to Sunday.
Bookings open months ahead and go quickly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which restaurants should I book first?
De Kas, Restaurant Blauw and Kaagman & Kortekaas cover greenhouse cooking, the rijsttafel and a small seasonal kitchen respectively.
Vuurtoreneiland needs the most notice by a long way.
Where should I eat in the city centre?
Van Dobben for croquettes, The Seafood Bar for a platter, Hoi Tin on the Zeedijk for Cantonese and van Kerkwijk on Nes for a proper sit-down meal.
The Nine Streets and the Jordaan hold most of the rest within a ten-minute walk.
What is the cheapest way to eat well?
The Albert Cuyp Market, where a full lunch assembled from three stalls costs less than a main course anywhere else.
Chips from Vleminckx or Fabel Friet and a herring from a street stall are the two other genuinely cheap options.
Which have the best views?
Vuurtoreneiland, for the boat and the island, and Café-Restaurant Amsterdam on Watertorenplein, which occupies a former pumping station and has the terrace to match.
Most canal-side terraces in the centre are pleasant rather than remarkable.
Which are open on Sunday?
The Seafood Bar, Hoi Tin, van Kerkwijk, Van Dobben, Restaurant Blauw and Brothers Hartering all serve seven days.
De Kas closes Sunday, Kaagman & Kortekaas closes Sunday and Monday, and Flore is shut from Sunday to Tuesday.
Do I sit down or order at the bar?
In most cafés you take a seat and someone comes to you.
At a busy brown café you order at the bar, and at market stalls and snack counters it is always counter service.
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