best food in amsterdam
 

Heading off in March for a week in Amsterdam. This is our first visit. We're staying in the museum quarter and looking for suggestions on inexpensive to mid-price restaurants, cafes, and miscellaneous taste treats. We mostly want to eat traditional Dutch foods, but would also like to eat in an Indonesian restaurant. Your favorite places?<BR><BR>Thank you all.<BR><BR>Ellen

I will be going to Amsterdam in May (1st time) so I don't know of any great places to eat but here is a great web site that I found.<BR>http://www.diningcity.nl/engels/<BR>Have fun.

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Ellen, I'm not sure if you have access to the TV Food Network, but you could at least check their web site. (www.foodtv.com). Rachael Ray does a show called &quot;$40 a day&quot; and she recently did a show on Amsterdam - covering 4 different restaurants that all looked fantastic. One of them was an Indonesian FEAST that made me want to book a trip immediately. Check it out and see if you can get some suggestions there.

Amsterdam is quite expensive for restaurants, but you MUST go to an Indonesian restaurant for a rijsttafel. Any Chinese-Indonesian restaurant will serve this option. On the Leidse Straat by the Leidseplein, try some Dutch fast food: off the street for one of the well known &quot;FEBO automatieks&quot; (Dutch fast food) and by now you should be ready for a real appetizing treat: a Croquette. This usually costs 1.00 Euro or so and is well worth it. The change machine is on the wall and you should make your selection from the little windows that operate as lockers to obtain your edible treasure. The terms used above the window are usually &quot;Vlees Croquet&quot; (=Beef) or &quot;Kalf's Croquet&quot; (= Veal). Dutchmen will always recommend the Kalf's Croquette but either one is great. As you look straight across the street from FEBO, there is the best Indonesian Restaurant in town, named BALI Restaurant. This is well worth a stop for dinner and you should order &quot;Rijst Tafel&quot; (=Rice Table). You will find yourself surrounded by people bringing various small dishes with differing tastes to be added to the rice on your plate. It is the ultimate in Indonesian dining which in the U.S. resembles Thai cuisine somewhat. With Indonesia (formerly the DUTCH East Indies) having been a colony, its effects on Dutch cuisine have been overwhelming and everyone loves the rice table, which seems to match Heineken!<BR>

We enjoyed good ristaffel and also 2 fish dinners aeast of the Concertgebouw. I don't remember the Indonesian place but one place with good fish was DeKnijp at van Baerlestraat 134. The tilapia was great. They had a lovely cat in the restaurant, we smiled, couldn't do that in Minnesota!

Dutch food can be pea soup and ginger snaps - do the Indonesian thing, but if you want a break, there's one of the Wagamama noodle shop chains in town. Fun, quick, cheap by Dutch standards!

Whenever we are in the Netherlands we eat the Dutch pancakes. In Amsterdam we found the &quot;Pancake Bakery&quot; on Prinsengracht 191. You can get both sweet and savory ones. They are a tastey, inexpensive treat and make a great lunch. <BR>http://www.pancake.nl/#<BR><BR>We have also eaten the Indonesian specialities. It is a great experience. Be sure to tell the waiter what you like and don't like and how spicy (hot) you can take it.

As far as Indonesian is concerned, I have eaten at a great Chinese/Indonesian restaurant called the Manchurian several times. It is located right off the Leidsplein. Food was fantaastic and the service very good. You can check it out at www.manchurian.nl. (FYI, there is english in some of the sections).

<BR><BR>For a special meal, I recommend d'Vijff Vlieghen at 294 Spuistraat. I ate there in June and thoroughly enjoyed it.<BR><BR>Rather than traditional Dutch food per se, the restaurant describes its menu as &quot;new Dutch cuisine,&quot; meaning ingredients sourced in the Netherlands, but prepared in new and inventive ways. <BR><BR>In &quot;Rants and Raves&quot; I noticed that some people complained of slow service (&quot;even for European standards&quot;) but when I was there it was all right - just a relaxed, luxurious meal.<BR><BR>This pushes the mid-price envelope you mentioned (I had the &quot;seasonal menu&quot; when I went, and at about 30 Euros it's probably the best deal) but if you decide you'd like to splurge once while you're there, this would be a great choice.<BR><BR>The restaurant has a web site at http://www.d-vijffvlieghen.com/, if you're interested.<BR><BR>Have a great trip!

I think the Cafe Americain is worth a visit if only for the lovely decor.

Got back yesterday from Amsterdam. We had dinner at De Duvel one night and I highly recommend you go. It's a rather noisy, but upscale, cafe/bar with great food. I would characterize the food as contemporary Dutch. Most of the entrees were around 14 euro and all come with a small side salad and fries. It's located in De Pijp, which would be close to your hotel. The kitchen is open until 23:00. As with most Amsterdam restaurants, a reservation is recommended. <BR><BR>Also found a great Thai restaurant about a block north of De Duvel on AlbertCuyp just west of Helstraat. Forgot the name though. Perhaps the best Thai I've ever had. <BR><BR>De Duvel<BR>1e van der Helststraat 59-61<BR>1073 AD Amsterdam<BR>Tel: 020-675.75.17<BR><BR>Tram: 3 stop sarphatipark<BR>Tram: 16- 24- 25 stop AlbertCuyp <BR><BR><BR>P.S. There aren't too many &quot;Dutch&quot; restaurants to be found in Amsterdam. The locals tend to eat Dutch at home. When they go out, they want something different.

Every night that we were in Amsterdam we had enjoyable meals but I do want to mention one. If you enjoy ribs try Cafe de (di?) Klos at 41 Kerkstraat. Be warned the portions are huge and the kitchen doesn't start serving until either 6 or 6:30.

A suggestion - go to the previous screen, click destination, click Amsterdam, click restaurants. If you've already done this, I apologize.<BR><BR>Do the same thing on the Frommer's website.<BR><BR>Have fun in Amsterdam.<BR><BR>

Go to chowhound.com, get to the &quot;international&quot; message board page, and use the &quot;Edit/Find on this page&quot; function (in IE) to search for &quot;Amsterdam&quot; and bingo.

For Indonesian rijsttafel, Tempo Doeloe on the Utrechtsestraat. Make a reservation! It's not inexpensive, though.

this may sound crazy but my wife and i happened into Margarita's restaurant near the university, a MEXICAN-SOUTH AMERICAN place. the best red chile ribs, excellent soups, spicy but not hot. we have gone back three times now and love it every time. i also happen to own two new mexican/southwestern restaurants myself, so i think i know food. the service on the other hand is super slow, so order everything you want all at once, you will save time. the ambiance is very laid back but very nicely decorated. nifty place, homey food.