Unless you like deep fried crap (aka febo) or stampot, I wouldn't bother eating out at any restaurants in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, the food in AMsterdam is appaling for the most part. Most of the ethicic and asian food has been dutchified (which means that the taste has been taken out). I once asked an asian man who owned a restaurant in amsterdam, why the food was so bland. He told me that if they make it spicy and flavorsome (like the chinese in used to), the dutch won't eat it. Holland is known for many things, but cusine is not one of them. The produce available in the markets and supermarkets is also disgusting (with the exception of the Nordermarkt on Saturday). The best thing to eat in Amsterdam is fish. The Albert Cyup market has fresh fish available almost every day at a reasonable price. That said, if you're only there for a few days and want to eat some okay food that won't make you sick (there is also a hygiene problem in many places) or drain your wallet, then i suggest Wagamama (Max Euwe Plein, just off Leidseplein). What ever you do, don't step into New York Pizza!!! It's the worst pizza you'll ever taste.
I dunno, dude. A few of us ended up in this little place with only 2 or 3 little tables. The food was very good, yet spicy enough to produce a sweat from me. Forgot the ethnicity of the food, but I found it to be quite good and with plenty of flavour. Vel, the place with your bf. Remember the name or ethnicity?
wo. i can't imagine disagreeing with you more. maybe my tastes are more pedestrian than yours, but i've enjoyed some of the best meals of my life in this town. het begijntje (gone now, sadly), haesje claes, in de waag, het melkmeisje, eetcafe staalmeesters, bird, rose's, marebela, even de nachtwacht on rplein, they all did just fine by me. i won't be going back to sluizer or cafe dante just cuz they're a little too snooty. sure i've also suffered the bland made-for-palefaces crap you're referring to (klaas compaen springs to mind) -- but i don't think the food here is 'appalling for the most part'. pizza: i like torino on roeterstraat, which is also turkish. i'm told pizza is both excellent and cheap at porto carrara (lange leidsedwarsstraat), but haven't tried it yet. love s g collins
God.. you are like the master of negativity.. seriously dude, you have issues. There are a LOT of Chinese restaurants that are NOT 'Dutchified'. I just read your post out loud to my (half chinese) boyfriend and his reaction was "whàt?"... I go out to the city for food on a very regular basis, often with Chinese friends, we go to the Chinese restaurants, we order the Chinese food and it's excellent... and that's just the Chinese food. Other than that the Thai food here is pretty good as well.. hot as hell if you aren't carefull with what you order. Besides that there are the many many Surinam places which are more than perfect when it comes to the food.. I think the place you are referring to Monosphere is that Surinam place "Warung Switi" (teehee, remember how you put on so much of that hot stuff and you were burning up?.. hehe). Besides that I have an Italian friend who loves some of the italian places here, there is a Romanian delicatesse store that sells awesome stuff... Jason.. I think I just lost all my respect for you. If I know anything of Amsterdam it's the food.. my family in law is from Surinam and if those people have one passion, it's food.. and they're damn picky too. The are LOADS of excellent restaurants, often places where the food is so 'ethnic' that I, dutchie, really had to get used to it. I'm starting to see more and more that you are about nothing else but spreading negativity and it this case, blunt lies. Usually I go easy on you, but this is just getting ridiculous. And don't even try making this about me being patriotic or whatever again.. it has nothing to do with that. I got so angry here that I read your post out loud to my boyfriend and he just went "that dude has no idea what he's talking about". Don't you think it's at least an odd coincidence that you: a) can't seem to hold a conversation here without insulting a Dutch person or in this case, any restaurant holder in Amsterdam and; b) seemed to have only bad experiences when you lived in Amsterdam? Don't you think that maybe, just maybe.. you are a very unpleasant person who radiates nothing but negativity and people respond to that likewise? I'm a terrible easy going person, have a lot of Dutch and non-Dutch friends but with you, I seem to have trouble each time I read a post from you. Now that might just be me.. but if I see some of the responses of other people here to you, I think it's safe to say that I'm not the only one who feels this way.
Hey there.. Where in Amsterdam do you live? The places you mention, I know by name but haven't been there.. what kind of food do they serve? I'm more familiar with the surinam/chinese kitchen because of my boyfriend but I'm always curious to try out different stuff. If you have any interest in Surinam food you should definately check out the Kwakoe festival this weekend (and the other weekends for this month) in the Bijlmer park. Been there yesterday and although I'm a vegetarian the stuff there is awesome. It is a bit of an acquired taste though, but it's pretty interesting. I ate some Bara (surinam fried thingie, with or without killer hot sauce), a fresh young coconut (the chop it right in front of you and you have to scoop it out yourself) and some hindu cake.. yummm! In case you eat meat you can try the 'fladder' (stomach), bloedworst (bloodsausage) etc etc.. looks gross and smells worse but according to my bf it's the best.. hehe. Would like to hear more about the places you mentioned! If you like any more info on Kwakoe or sth, feel free to ask
hi. i live near the zuider kerk. the first five of those places i'd say are "general european". begijntje was more french cuisine. that was my second-favorite restaurant on earth, i'm sorry they just vanished. haesje claes (spuistraat) and het melkmeisje (zeedijk) seem a bit more dutch to me. staalmeesters (staalstraat/kloveniersburgwal) and marebela (weesperplein) are just bars with good food imo. rose's cantina (reguliers dwarsstraat) is nominally mexican, i enjoy their food, service can be pretty slow when it's crowded. bird is a popular pair of thai places on zeedijk -- a restaurant on one side and a tiny cramped diner opposite. i filmed in there too last october. i had dinner at restaurant in de waag only once, back in 2000, but i liked it a lot. my roommate is veg and she likes bird and rose's, but has no use for de nachtwacht where it's all about meat. i'd like to try more chinese places, especially if i can find a szechuan-style place that isn't shy on spiciness. still to date i've never tried surinaams food! thanks for the tip, i guess i missed this weekend entirely. i went to the artery show saturday night and didn't get home till morning so i slept through sunday. love s g collins
Been there once, was good food but I can't remember too much of it. Been to 'Little Thai Prince' (also zeedijk) a couple of times and it's good stuff. Some friends prefer that place over the Bird but I'm indifferent on it I guess. Good Chinese food can be found at Hoi Tin (Zeedijk, same side as the restaurant part of the bird but more towards the Nieuwmarkt, it's on the corner with a small alley) and Nam kee (the one on the Zeedijk). Some people I know prefer New King (zeedijk) over Nam Kee but they are Dutch, chinese folk I know prefer Nam Kee, but it also depends on which area of China the chefs are from when it comes to style of food. I'm not too familiar with the name of the styles but those three restaurants aren't too spicy (thank god, because my stomach can't take it).. although I just asked my bf and he says that if you for example order the filled tofu at Nam Kee (filled with fish) it's kinda spicy (spicy, not hot). Or just ask the waiter what meal is spiciest
To start with, this is totally about you being patriotic and not being able to accept that others have a right to express their opinions. Let me preface this by saying that I don't have any real experience of Surinamese food in the netherlands for anywhere for that matter. From my experience, the food in Amsterdam is on the whole disappointing. Compared to the Asian food i've had in China, Australia and the US, the Chinese food in Holland is sub-par (as is the Italian). Of course there are exceptions and there are a few reasonable restuarants, but overall they are seriously lacking. That said, it's even worse in Germany! Holland is also short of good quick meal options. You either have Febo (or something similarly crap) or some place selling boring brodjes met kaas. I find it interesting that you feel qualified to attack everything that I say based on your own experience. Have you actually lived anywhere else for any significant period of time? I have had real experience in living and working in several countries and I feel justified in making comments based on my own experience. I wouldn't expect you to understand or even to see much of what im talking about because you know no different. I would challenge your opinions and views on living in the Biljmer because I haven't lived there myself. Yet for some reason you feel it's okay to invalidate my experiences and views. I'd say that you are the one who is being arrogant. Of course I will continue to critisize when critisism and intolerance is directed towards me. We seemed to be making some progress before your friend (consolidated) insulted and challenged me to again prove my point. I would like to think that we are all free to have differing opinions, as we all have different experiences to draw from. If you go back and read the other thread, you will see that the majority of personal attacks have come from your side, not mine. Im sorry that you feel that Im such a negative person, but I can deal with that. You'll think what you are going to think. It seems that you completely ignore the positive things that I say about the country and culture. Instead, you prefer to focus on the negative, so I respond in kind (it ain't rocket science). I wouldn't say that I'm an overtly negative person. Like everyone, I can be negative and positive. Sometimes Im easy going, sometimes not (no one is perfect). If it appears to you that I'm too negative, so much so that you are compelled to attack me and defend your homeland at every corner, then maybe you should think about ignoring my posts (i've suggested this before). You might notice that I only continue to post in response to you and your friends. This makes me think that deep down you know that much of what i say has merit (although you hate to admit it). This is the only explaination for your aggressive behaviour. If you really thought that I was just some negative person hell bent on critisizing all things dutch with no valid reason, then you would just ignore me. Instead, you continue to argue back. Guess I must have struck a nerve?
you don't state things as and opinion, but as a fact.. You should learn to express yourself better so we know what you mean..
Point taken. The problem is that there isn't really any such thing as facts in many of the issues we are discussing. Eg. I find much of the food in the netherlands very bland in comparison to other places I have spent time in. However, Velvet and Stg collins think it's great! Who is right? The answer is noone. It's all subjective and based only on opinions. When I say something like "Dutch food isn't globally regarded as amazing cusine", well that isn't fact either, but it is an opinion that is pretty widely held. As people all we can do is listen to the experiences of others and then make up our own mind. Different strokes and all that.
well said. when i wrote about eating in amsterdam on my own web site i had to preface it by explaining that in the house i grew up in, the idea of soup that didn't come from a can was about as alien as the notion that anyone might actually enjoy cooking. i'm not hard to please. love s g collins
My husband eats pretty much nothing but pizza. The very best we found was at a little place right next door to Teaser's on Damrak near the train station. Sorry I can't remember the name, but you can't miss it. The pizza was great plus they had a large menu of pasta and things for those like me who are sick of pizza.
