Amsterdam first time please help with restaurants
 

We are going to be in Amsterdam in mid April for 4 nights, and have booked a hotel on the south side of Vondelpark. I am thinking it might be a little out of the way, but perhaps it's a bit late to make a change now. There don't appear to be a lot of restaurants close by our hotel, but on the plus side, it seems the Dutch eat early, at least earlier than Spain, where we will spend 2 weeks prior to Amsterdam.

This being our first time in the Netherlands, we are looking for interesting and typical restaurants, a mix between homey and maybe a Michelin star in there one night. Does anyone have any current suggestions? I say current because so many restaurants seem to have changed since Covid.

I found some suggested restaurants on TimeOut, and wonder if anyone has experience with any of them, in addition to any favorites of your own.
Here is the list: Blauw Indo, close to our hotel, BAK Restaurant, Troef, Rijsel French Flemish, Wilde Zwijnen, Klein Breda, Cradam, and also the Main Bar at Foodhallen, which looks like a good place to try many things.

Also, we may be able to fit in lunch at Rijks at the Rijksmuseum, before we tour it. Has anyone tried it?

I will appreciate any and all suggestions. TIA

Rijks is fabulous. Near Vondelpark we like Ron's Gastrobar. Do book your restaurants in advance, it's a busy period in Amsterdam.

We loved Balthazar's Keuken! It is a set 3 course menu for 45 euros. They bring out tiered stand with all of the appetizers, a choice of the meat or fish, and a set dessert. It is very small and you are watching the chef prepare the meal. Everything was so good and creative, and it is a very intimate setting.

Thanks, Tulips. Ron Gastrobar looks really good. I will definitely book there one night.

I am rethinking whether we have enough time between Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum to enjoy a leisurely lunch at Rijks. But they are featuring a special 4 course Frans Hals lunch menu, maybe that would be doable. We have 2 hours for a lunch break.

DH also wants to visit Haarlem for a day...looks like there are a few good choices in Haarlem as well. Am I crazy to think we could take the Keukenhof bus back to Haarlem, and spend a few hours there after seeing Keukenhof Gardens?

Blauw is absolutely my favorite Indonesian restaurant in Amsterdam . . . been there on 3 separate trips! Wise to make a reservation in advance, which you can do online, of course!

We have visited Haarlem several times and highly recommend spending a day there. In April 2022 we spent the afternoon there after the morning at Keukenhof. At that time it was a different bus, the Keukenhof one went back to Amsterdam. No one could tell us where exactly to get the bus to Haarlem and we walked around for over half an hour before finding the place. But maybe it was just us, you want to check and recheck before leaving the park as afterwards there aren’t many people on the road to ask for directions.

There’s an excellent craft gin bar in Haarlem we like a lot called Wigbolt, it’s a few hundred yards from the main square. They also make their own geniver and offer a wide variety of cocktails, the owner made something special for us based on what we liked.

We’ll be in Amsterdam (staying in Haarlem) the beginning of April. So far, I have booked Kus Van De Cactus in Haarlem and Cornerstore in Amsterdam.

Great information, thanks everyone! Geetika, we are looking forward to tasting some gins, and that is probably the first place we will head after arriving from Keukenhof! It is a different bus, but the website now has detailed pics of where to catch each bus.

Balthazar's Keuken sounds good after our museum day is over...DH will need sustenance by then. Van Gogh in the morning, and Rijksmuseum in the afternoon. He does museums as a favor to me. I owe him.

Can't wait for Blauw! We have a friend who is Surinamese, but grew up near Amsterdam, so in his honor, we will taste his favorite dishes.

Kurieff, you must be getting excited. We leave the same time, but are heading to the south of Spain for 2 weeks before Amsterdam.

Check with Rijks if 2 hours is enough for the lunch menu, if they know in advance they will make sure to speed up service if necessary. Some restaurants, certainly Ron's Gastrobar, probably Rijks, take a deposit when you book. This is charged when you book but refunded if you cancel on time. If you cancel on the day, you may not get the deposit back.

Yes Tulips that sounds like a wise idea… thanks for the heads up about restaurants taking a deposit it’s getting to be like that at the better restaurants around where I live in Canada too.

Foodhallen is definitely worth a visit. It's an easy way to try a range of small bites and I thought the atmosphere was pretty great there too. Nice vibe.

Amsterdam is pretty walkable, and Vondelpark is lovely. For restaurants, I've heard good things about BAK Restaurant and Rijsel French Flemish. Also, Main Bar at Foodhallen is a fun spot to try different foods. As for Rijks, I haven't tried it myself, but lunch there before touring the Rijksmuseum sounds like a great plan! Enjoy your trip!

Thanks for the recos…here now in very blustery weather.

I’m not sure we brought warm enough clothing for rain and cold to manage Keukenhof. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

That's April in The Netherlands; we had record high temperatures earlier this month with 23C just last Saturday. Rainy and cold this week.

Just wanted to post a Thank You to those of you who offered restaurant suggestions. I would absolutely recommend Rijks. It was perfect between the two museums, Rijks and Van Gogh. Lovely restaurant and wonderful food and service. Prices to go along with that.

Never made it to Foodhallen, it was too out of the way from our hotel, Park Plaza Vondelpark. Staying in that area made our visit so enjoyable. It is in a lovely residential neighborhood, but the trams make it only 15-20 minutes from most places tourists want to visit. We enjoyed the peacefulness of the park as well.

We did try Ron Gastrobar, which is modern and upscale, and the food is delicious. Blauw, which I really was anticipating, was very heavy on the garlic in every dish but one. So while my husband enjoyed the little dishes, I had my one dish. Tasty but not the rijsttafel I was hoping for....I have to say, the experience there was less than wonderful because the tables are so crowded together, my husband was thigh to thigh with the guy at the next table. The staff also came around several times to remind us that we only had 15 or whatever minutes left. The turnaround is very fast.

Keukenhoff was so cold, and after we walked around for half an hour, the downpour started. It was something to see at least 200 umbrellas running for cover, of which there was little. We have tulip fields in Washington State, not too far from where we live, so we cut our losses at Keukenhoff, and grabbed a bus for Haarlem. The rain stopped, and we had a great afternoon exploring Haarlem before a short train ride back to Amsterdam.

The cold in Amsterdam surprised us, especially coming from 30C in Seville. But all in all, we loved Amsterdam, and hope to go back one day. Oh yes, the apple pie cake thing...delicious!

I was a bit too trigger happy, considering the OP date :)