missypie

Yes, broad topics but I enjoy personal recommendations. We don't even have out entire itinerary down, but my family expects me to be able to go to a straight to a good restaurant no matter where we find outselves.

The family, Me, DH, Son 20 (will eat anything), D 18 (a bit picky) and D 15 (will try new foods.) We are not looking for formal or fancy or probably even the cutting edge in town Just place to find good food.

Thanks.

missypie

Hmmm..no recommendations? For past trips, almost all of the restaurants we tried were due to recs on this board.

crayon78

Any interest in Indonesian food? We really liked the places we tried in Amsterdam especially since it's hard to get to Indonesian places at home.

In Brugge, we loved this bierbrasserie called Cambrinus. Good, solid food and their portions were also on the larger side.

missypie

Thanks!

flygirl

HIGHLY recommend Cambrinus. I ate there two nights in a row because it was so good.

amyb

Your kids might like The Pancake Bakery, which is up a couple blocks on Prisengracht from the Anne Frank House. They have sweet and savory pancakes (I'm remembering pancakes with chorizo and cheese, if I recall correctly) as well as for the adults, cherry flavored jenever (a cherry brandy that is like firewater, which is probably why I'm not remembering what I ate there as clearly!) The menu is online at pancake.nl.

My favorite meal in Amsterdam was at Brasserie de Poort (in the Hotel Die Port van Cleve at the Dam stop on the tramline), but this was 4 years ago now and at the time was pretty pricy. Maybe not a place to take kids.

Try the herring at the stand in Den Haag near the Binnenhof (that's all you need to know, you can't miss it). That was fun.

Lexma90

I just noticed this post. I think you're getting fewer responses because fewer people go to the Netherlands, and because it's not known so much for its food as other countries are.

Here are some we enjoyed when visiting Amsterdam last fall (I'll post later with places from Bruges):

De Prins, Prinsengracht 124, Jordaan - Good local food, nice pub-like ambience. I had a Dutch specialty, hutspot, which I enjoyed, and DH and DD shared a cheese fondue.

‘t Smalle, Egelantiersgracht 12, Jordaan - This is, truly, a small place. There's seating up in a loft area, as well as on a terrace on the canal across the street. Just cute. We stopped for drinks here several times.

Winkel 43, Noordermarkt 32, Jordaan‎ - Fantastic appelgebak met slagroom (apple pie with cream). This place is very popular, and was packed several times when we passed by, but we kept trying until we found seats. Lots of outdoor seating, too.

Vleminckx French Fries, Voetboogstraat 33 - You must go to this little storefront place, especially if you're not visiting Belgium. Very good fries. You can spot the place, on a tiny side street, by the line of Dutch waiting for their fries.

Le Pecheur, Reguliersdwarsstraat 32 - This was our nice meal; very good fish and seafood at good prices (we ordered from the fixed-price menu).

‘t Singeltje Old Dutch Pancake house, 494 Singel - They serve a variety of pancakes, including American style, but we ate here for a snack and lunch (different days) and had the little Dutch pancakes called poffertjes. Do as the Dutch do, and have them with molasses. (I got the family a poffertjes pan for Christmas after our visit; not quite the same as being there, but pretty close.)

missypie

Thanks so much, Lexma!

Lexma90

Happy to help. We enjoyed Amsterdam and Belgium so much that we're trying to plan a return trip next year.

In Brugge, we also ate at Bierbrasserie Cambrinus
Phillip Stockstraat 19, which has (per DH; I don't like beer) an amazing beer selection. We were amused by the all-female staff. Three servers and one bartender were serving everybody, and doing a great job. We also stopped in the afternoon for drinks.

Another night, we had a nicer dinner at De Koetse, which we all enjoyed. I found it interesting that every place in Belgium, including the nicer places, served fries with meals. Also served several times, complimentary along with bread to the table, were local little gray shrimp, crevette grises.

We had lunch at Eetcafe de Vuyste, Simon Stevinplein 15, a casual, somewhat-funky little lunch spot.

We had a lot of fun buying chocolates at a variety of local shops (we did this while in Brussels, too). Of the local places, we liked The Chocolate Line, and slightly cheaper, Vermecke. Then, places we'd also visited in Brussels, there's Neuhaus, Galler and Godiva. I think Neuhaus was my favorite.

We also had the traditional Belgian waffle, or gaufre, at Laurenzino, a tiny street-corner place with just a serving window. Crunchier on the outside and doughier on the inside than the American version, and so delicious!

Two competing trailers park in front of the Belfort, selling fries. We couldn't decide which was better, but they were excellent to buy and share as we walked through Brugge.

Enjoy!

missypie

Leaving tomorrow - last call!

HappyTrvlr

Amsterdam..we enjoyed Lucius so much that we returned a second night. It's focus is seafood, small storefront, fun..
www.lucius.nl

missypie

Back from the trip. In Brugge we ate at Cambrinus and had a very nice time. Good meal, fun beer.

In Amsterdam we ate at the Pancake Bakery and at DePrins. Both enjoyable.

Thank you for your recommendations.

yk

missypie, will you be writing a TR? WE're planning to visit the Netherlands next Spring, and I'd love to read about your trip!

Lexma90

Glad you enjoyed those places. Since this post, we've booked plane tickets for a trip next year that will include return trips to Amsterdam and Brugge/Brussels; we're looking forward to it!