dougieo

Ok,

What is your absolute favorite places in Amsterdam to get the best:

1) FRENCH FRIES
2) CREPES
3) SCHWARMMA (same as Gyros)

Names and locations would be great. Thanks!!

ira

Don't you like the fresh herring?

dutyfree

Amsterdam for these food items....no way! Crepes-the corner stand by Sacre Coeur in Paris has the best lemon/sugar ones OR for chocolate crepes-down in Nice two doors down from Taverna Messena. Fries? the best are in Bruges,Belgium under the clock tower with alot of mayo....be still my heart attack!!!Amsterdam is beer,more beer,fish and spicy food from Indonesia.

TracyB

Amsterdam for French Fries and Shoarma, yes way!! The best ones are called Vlaamse frites (Flemish fries) French fries made from whole potatoes rather than the potato pulp you'll get if the sign only says 'frites'. They're supposed to be smothered in mayonnaise (though you can ask for ketchup or pindasaus, peanut sauce) and will fill your stomach cheaply. At Vlaamse Friteshuis (Voetboogstraat 31), you can join queues of locals lining up for the best Flemish fries in town!! And as for shoarma's i can't remember the name of the place that I like most but it is on Dam Straat...I think they have the best Shoarma's and falafels in Amsterdam..Well that is my opinion..And yes, the harring..They are several good spots around Amsterdam, but there is good one right by the Doors Coffeeshop..I am getting hungry..Thank goddness I am going to Amsterdam in a few months to sample some of this yummy cheap food!!

Intrepid1

They don't wear wooden shoes anymore either, Ira!

Audirennes

I'm sorry to say you that BUT CREPES ARE typically FROM FRANCE IN BRITANNY to be more specific!!!So the best crepes you will eat will be in Britanny and not in Amsterdam, Nice or even Paris...though in Paris there are good creperies, I have to admit!
If you go to Britanny you will feel the difference, I can promise you! If you decide to go in Britanny (North West), try the "Crepe Caramel Beurre Salé"....you will never ask again if you can eat better crepes than in Britanny!!
Whatever...have a good trip!!!

Tulips

In Amsterdam you don't eat crepes, but pancakes. Sweet or savoury, these are very substantial. Or try poffertjes; tiny pancakes, covered in icing sugar. All of these are available in lots of places; can't really recommend one.

caroline_edinburgh

Telling someone that the best crepes are in France is of no use at all if they are going to Amsterdam. The OP quite reasonably asked where are the best IN AMSTERDAM.

Never heard of Schwarmma, Gyros or Shoarma - what on earth is it/are they ?

PJI

Caroline - a Schwarmma (or Gyro) is like a yummy sandwich but its in a pita with sliced beef or chicken and they usually have lettuce and this yummy yogurt mayo type stuff with carrots in there. Its really good. You get them at lebanese or arabic type places where you would get hummus or fafalel. So good!

ira

>They don't wear wooden shoes anymore either...<

I'm shocked.

However they still do have fresh herring, broodjies, rijstafel, pannekoeken and beer, do they not?

PalQ

Yes the Vlaamse Frites are supposedly the best - i think these are fresh taters not frozen like you get at FEBO and many other stands. But they all taste so good to me - ask for a Frites Speciaal - with mayo, ketsup and relish on it - the ultimate frites trip. As for hering stands, yes they are still ubiquitous in Holland, though not so much in the heavy touristed area of Amsterdam. The 'Niuewe Hering' season, not sure when drives hering lovers into frenzies. Most seem to take the hering in their fingers and ceremoniously hold it up above their mouths and then in one fell swoop swallow it. I profess i've not developed much a taste for these smoked fish.

ira

Hi pal,

The new herring is fresh, not smoked.

The smoked eel in Holland is very good.

caroline_edinburgh

PJI - thanks for enlightening me. Sounds nice, althugh perhaps a bit too healthy for me

Tulips

Oh no Caroline, it's not really healthy; shoarma is the sort of think you eat very late at night, when you've had lots to drink. It's best covered in garlic sauce.

richardsonsnm

You actually will see the rare person wearing wooden shoes.I saw an entire work crew repairing the street bricks wearing wooden shoes, they actually looked comfortable!

hopscotch

Schwarma, with many spellings throughout Europe, is a Middle Eastern "sandwich" with roasted beef a/o lamb (cut from a rotating mass of meat in front of a gas fired spit), plus some lettuce and mayo and spices. Best ones I ever had were at a Lebanese restaurant in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. In Amsterdam good luck. Maybe try a Moroccan grill near the university. It is a low budget item so is popular with students.

Peanut butter is <i>pindakaas</i>, not <i>pindasaus</i>. One of my late night favorites in Holland is <i>sat&eacute;</i> which is grilled pork on a stick with spicy <i>pindakaas</i>.

<i>Nieuw haring</i> is available in April but seems to be advertised throughout the year. I've never seen anyone swallow one of these in &quot;one fell swoop.&quot; The normal size is 5&quot; or more. You would gag. If served whole, without the head and entrails of course, it can be held up and you bite off pieces. Or you can have the seller cut it into one inch pieces and serve it on a paper tray with chopped onions and pickle. That is the normal way in Amsterdam and Haarlem.

<i>Haring</i> is not smoked. <i>Paling</i> (eel) is smoked and is delicious.

Final note for dougieo, you can find better food in Amsterdam than your 1, 2, and 3. Just what books are you reading to come up with these items?

WillTravel

Schwarma, donairs, kebabs, gyros, and probably others - the term varies by the ethnicity and marketing ideas of the owners of the shop. They can be healthy if the ingredients are, and that's certainly possible.
Sometimes the sauce is tahini-based, but still garlicky. This sort of non-dairy sauce is often served with schwarmas at kosher restaurants, instead of a yogurt-based sauce. Sometimes the sauce is tzatsiki, which is thick yogurt with cucumbers and garlic - this is the Greek term and undoubtedly has other terms at other places. The bread that the filling is rolled in can be very good or fairly terrible, and the type I had at a Turkish place in Berlin was truly excellent. If it's a good place, the vegetables will be plentiful, fresh, and varied. The meat varies greatly in quality. If pork is offered as an option, you are probably at a Greek place. Lamb, chicken, and beef are typical. Often you can get falafel instead of meat - in which case it's probably just called falafel, rather than a kebab.

I had one sandwich in Sweden which was a variant of the above, and it was prepared at an Iranian stand. It was grilled eggplant, soft fresh cheese, and walnuts, all nicely spiced with nice bread. The Iranian type of flatbread used for this sort of thing is lavash.

The worst of these sandwiches are truly terrible. The best are quite wonderful.

Melnq8

hopscotch -

Funny you mention having the best swarmas in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. My husband still swears the best swarma he ever had was at the little swarma stand next to the Safeway in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia!

Tulips

hopscotch; I doubt that you had pindakaas on your sate; sate comes with pindasaus or satesaus, pindakaas is what you put on your bread.

hopscotch

Tulips, you are right. The sat&eacute; sauce is based on peanut butter but has some other ingredients to liven it up.