Eating without meat in Amsterdam is rarely a problem of supply and almost always a problem of hours.
Several of the best plant-based kitchens in the city open three evenings a week, and several more have locked up by five in the afternoon, so the timetable decides more than the address does.
Vegetarian and vegan spots to try first
Meat-free here covers a cocktail bar with live jazz, a volunteer kitchen built on cheap organic food, and an Eritrean dining room whose menu is plant-based anyway.
Hours will decide it more than anything on the plate: one closes at half past six, one serves on three evenings a week and no more, and two do not start before five.
Hearth
Hearth is a vegan kitchen and a cocktail bar in one room on the Camperstraat in Oost, with weekly listening sessions and live jazz running alongside the food.
It serves five until eleven, midnight on Friday and Saturday, adds a short Sunday sitting from noon, and its 3,158 reviews are the largest count of any plant-based address in the city.
De Waaghals
On the Frans Halsstraat in De Pijp, De Waaghals is vegetarian with a vegan menu alongside it, and opens for dinner only, five until half past eleven and midnight at weekends.
Mondays are out, and more than 700 reviews sit behind it at 4.6.
Sonny
Sonny keeps the longest ordinary hours of the six, eleven in the morning to nine at night on the Eerste van der Helststraat in De Pijp, an hour later on Friday and Saturday.
Meat-free is the entire proposition rather than a section of the menu, and 773 reviews put it at 4.9.
Kilimanjaro Take Me Away
East African and Eritrean cooking, entirely vegan, from the Beukenweg in Oost, with delivery for anyone who would rather not move.
Two in the afternoon until ten, every day of the week, on 373 reviews at 4.8.
Le Sud Vegetarisch
Le Sud is a daylight operation on the Haarlemmerdijk, ten in the morning to half past six, shorter at weekends and nothing at all in the evening.
Ninety-three per cent of its 419 reviews are five-star, which is a lot of goodwill for a place that never serves dinner.
Robin Food Kollektief
Cheap, organic and volunteer-run in the volkskeuken tradition, Robin Food serves on the Frederik Hendrikstraat for three evenings a week, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, six until nine.
Price is the point here rather than polish, and 208 reviews put it at 4.8.
Kitchens that open only a few nights a week
Robin Food Kollektief on the Frederik Hendrikstraat runs a cheap, organic volkskeuken on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings only, six until nine, and nothing at all the rest of the week.
MKZ on the Eerste Schinkelstraat opens Wednesday at six and Thursday to Saturday at seven, closes at eleven, and is dark the other three days.
De Patchka, a vegan Korean and Asian kitchen at Albert Cuypstraat 89 in De Pijp, keeps four in the afternoon to half past ten but shuts on Wednesday and Thursday.
PLUQR on the Remmerdenplein in Zuidoost is the tightest of the lot at Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, one until seven, gluten-free as well as vegan, with delivery if the trip out is not worth it.
Where to eat before the evening starts
Soupenzo runs two branches on one timetable, at Jodenbreestraat 94 near Waterlooplein and Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 54 off the Prinsengracht, open eleven to eight on weekdays, an hour less on Saturday and noon to seven on Sunday.
Both trade on soup, lunch plates and gluten-free options rather than dinner, and between them they carry more than 1,500 reviews at 4.7 and 4.6.
Petit by Sam at Vijzelstraat 93 is a cake shop and coffee counter with a marked gluten-free and vegan menu, open ten to five from Tuesday to Sunday, closing at three on Thursday and shut on Monday.
Orange Heart Coffee on the Tafelbergweg in Zuidoost is a weekday-only bakery and breakfast room running eight until four, with nothing at the weekend.
Plant-based and not European
Kilimanjaro Take Me Away on the Beukenweg in Oost cooks vegan East African and Eritrean food from two in the afternoon until ten, seven days a week, and delivers.
Yummy Bowls on the Schipluidenlaan in Nieuw-West runs an Asian and poke menu from eleven to half past nine on weekdays and opens an hour later at the weekend.
Dedicated kitchens are not the only route, and the wider Amsterdam restaurant listings and Chinese restaurants reward searching by dish rather than by label.
The two busiest plant-based rooms
Vegan Junk Food Bar at Marie Heinekenplein 9 carries more reviews than anything else in this category, 3,559 of them at 4.5, and opens noon to ten daily and to eleven on Friday and Saturday.
Its fast-food format sits closer to the city’s burger places than to anything else on this list, which makes it the easy first stop for a sceptical friend.
Meatless District at Bilderdijkstraat 65-67 is evenings only, half past five to ten from Wednesday to Sunday, with 1,902 reviews at 4.5.
De Waaghals on the Frans Halsstraat in De Pijp is vegetarian with a vegan menu alongside, open from five every evening except Monday and running to midnight on Friday and Saturday.
Two words worth knowing
Vegetarisch means vegetarian and veganistisch means vegan, which is worth having when a menu has not been translated.
The full set of Amsterdam vegetarian and vegan restaurants carries the address, phone number and opening hours for each one.
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