A Guide to Delis and Gourmet Groceries in Amsterdam

Essentially Amsterdam Life · July 21, 2026

The supermarket covers the week; the specialist shops are what make cooking here worth doing.

Below are the delis, cheesemongers and single-obsession shops actually worth crossing the city for, and the opening days that decide when you can.

Shops to start with

These are the ones with something specific to sell rather than a general shelf of nice things.

Several close on Mondays, and two are open only a few days a week, so read the hours as carefully as the descriptions.

Frank’s Smoke House

A working smokehouse on the Wittenburgergracht in the Eastern Islands, best known for game - including venison from the wild deer of the Oostvaardersplassen - alongside its smoked fish and prepared meats.

It opens Tuesday to Friday from eleven to six and Saturday from ten to five, closing on Sunday and Monday, and its 844 reviews are the most of any specialist food shop in the city.

Nassen Amsterdam

A family-run food and wine shop on the Huidenstraat in the Nine Streets, where the wine is the house obsession and the food is chosen to go with it.

It is open all seven days, nine to six on weekdays and from ten at the weekend, and holds a flat five stars across 550 reviews.

Erik’s Delicatessen

Beukenplein in Oost, more than twenty-five years old, carrying Dutch and international cheeses, wines and charcuterie.

It is the rare specialist that opens every single day, from eight in the morning, which makes it the one to remember when everything else in the city is shut.

De Leeuw Amsterdamse Zuurhandel

Pickles, and effectively nothing else, from Vrijheidslaan in the Rivierenbuurt.

The hours are the strangest in the category - Thursday, Friday and Sunday only, nine to five - so this is a trip to plan rather than a shop to happen upon.

Old Amsterdam Cheese Store

On the Damrak, built around the mature Gouda of the same name, and open nine in the morning until ten at night on every day of the week.

Those are shopping-street hours rather than cheesemonger’s hours, which makes it the fallback when you need a decent cheese at nine on a Tuesday evening.

Foodware

A small, plain room on the Looiersgracht with a few tables, selling gourmet food to take away alongside beer and wine, and open from midday to nine at night on weekdays.

It is the only shop here that is genuinely useful after six.

Ottavi Smaakwinkel

Jan van Galenstraat in West, a taste shop with a cooking studio attached, open seven days and rating a flat five across 162 reviews.

The studio is the part that separates it from the rest: you can be taught to use what you buy.

Peanut Butter Store

One product, more than ten versions of it, on Sint Luciënsteeg just off the Kalverstraat, made without added sugar or palm oil and with the salt dialled down.

Open every day, and exactly the kind of shop Amsterdam produces and other cities do not.

Italian, specifically

Amsterdam’s strongest single deli tradition is Italian, and the four worth knowing sit in different quarters of the city.

Each is a shop rather than a restaurant, though most will also feed you.

La Bottega by Chiara’s Food on Van Woustraat in De Pijp leans Sicilian, with sun-dried tomato pesto, olive oil and store-cupboard goods, and opens every day of the week.

Vicino on the Utrechtsestraat cooks fresh in its own kitchen daily - meals, sandwiches and specialities - and is the only Italian here at a flat five stars.

Feduzzi Mercato Italiano on Scheldestraat in the south adds a proper traiteur counter and does catering, and shuts on Sundays.

For the far south there is Renzo on Van Baerlestraat, a delicatessen built on homemade dishes that runs from breakfast through to dinner, ten to eight every day, with takeaway and catering alongside.

Cheese, and where to buy it properly

Dutch cheese rewards buying from a counter rather than a chiller cabinet, because the same name covers wildly different ages.

Young Gouda is mild and slicing cheese; a well-aged one crumbles and carries crystals, and boerenkaas, made on the farm from raw milk, is a different proposition again.

Ask to taste before you commit and say what it is for, since the cheese for a borrel is not the one to carry home on a plane.

Erik’s on Beukenplein and Nassen in the Nine Streets both keep a proper counter, and Vermaz on Europaplein pairs its delicatessen with wine.

The Monday problem

Independent food shops in Amsterdam close on days a supermarket never would, and Monday is the most common casualty.

Frank’s Smoke House, Vermaz and Zoet & Peper on Maasstraat are all shut then.

Kesbeke in West opens only Wednesday to Saturday, and De Leeuw only three days a week.

Check before you cycle, and use Erik’s, Nassen, La Bottega, Ottavi or the Damrak cheese shop when you need a shop that will definitely be open.

Markets worth the trip

Two open-air markets do the same job more cheaply, and both have fixed days.

The Albert Cuypmarkt in De Pijp runs Monday to Saturday and is closed on Sunday; the Noordermarkt in the Jordaan is a Saturday farmers’ market, and a different, junk-and-antiques market on Monday morning.

Go early for the pick of the fish and produce, bring panniers rather than a bag, and ask for a taste before you buy.

A question at a stall is usually answered with a tip about what is actually good that week.

Where they cluster

De Pijp has the highest concentration, with the Albert Cuypmarkt, La Bottega on Van Woustraat, DITO DELI on Eerste van der Helststraat and Zoet & Peper a little further south.

It is the one district where an afternoon on foot makes sense.

West is spread out but rewarding, with Ottavi and Kesbeke both on the Jan van Galenstraat side and Casa Deli out at Sierplein.

The Nine Streets and the Utrechtsestraat are the centre’s two strongest runs, and Oost keeps its own pair in Erik’s and Frank’s.

Shopping like a local

Carry a bank card, since contactless is near-universal and a few of these shops take nothing else.

Go before six unless the shop is Foodware or the Damrak cheese shop, because independent hours here are genuinely shorter than a newcomer expects.

Then tell the person behind the counter what you actually like, which is the whole point of shopping this way.

To find a specialist near you, browse the full list of Amsterdam gourmet groceries and delis.