DH & I will be in Amsterdam in September and we would like to try Indonesian rijsttafel (rice table). Our B&B recommends Tempo Doeloe and I have read about Blue Pepper & Sama Sebo which has mixed reviews. Any recommendations/suggestions?

Thanks!

I have eaten at Blue Pepper. My take was that it provided more of an haute cuisine presentation than others and perhaps went bit too far to feel more like a continental rather than an Indonesian cuisine (if you admit that rijsttafel is an Indonesian dish...) I now go mostly to Puri Mas near the Leidseplein. Puri Mas is not recommended for those with mobility problems. The restaurant is located on the 1st floor and the stairs are steep (for Americans, but typical Dutch.) I have been wanting to to to Tempo Doeloe but not to Sama Sebo.

We enjoyed Long Pura.

Blauw Amsterdam
http://www.restaurantblauw.nl/

I really liked Blauw and it get terrific review.

regards

Sama Sebo was enjoyable and also friendly and helpfull waiters.

Oh my, such great recommendations! Thank you all!

Greg: I appreciate your take on Blue Pepper. This was one of the first restaurants I looked at and wondered if that was the 'standard' for rijstaffel! I see that Puri Mas is within walking distance from our B&B.

330east: Thanks for another good choice! I will definitely add Long Para to our list!

O'Reilly: I went back to your trip report on Amsterdam for your full dining experience at Blauw and a reminder of what you did on your long weekend there! DH & I have 5 nights in Amsterdam. Can't wait!

John: Glad to hear that you had a pleasant experience at Sam Sabo. It's good to know that the servers were friendly and helpful!

So many good choices! How am I ever going to choose which one to try?

We have eaten here several times and think it's great

http://www.sampurna.com/

jamikins: Another great recommendation! Thank you. I'm putting Sampurna on my list thinking this might be a good place for lunch if we are near the flower market. It would be fun to order from the a la carte menu!

Hi Greg:

Just looked a little closer at The Blue Pepper website. For the Sultan & I rijsttafel, it says '70'. Do you know if this is the per person price?

Thanks!

It looks like per person to me...mains are £25 a la carte off that menu so for everything £70 seems like it is for 1...?

It was more than twice Puri Mas, so 70EU per person as a current price looks correct. It is an haute cuisine presentation. I have eaten at Blauw's other location in Utrecht. It was also very good, but at little more than Puri Mas, but half the Blue Pepper.

Every time I see it, I think of Leni Riefenstahl

IM-That would be Indonesian Riefenstahl. Prob. would be about a track meet which had a buffet of spicy food at the end.

My daughter and I went to Sampurna a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it. It was probably too much food for the two of us, but we liked trying a variety of dishes. We had to work around a tree nut allergy, and they were helpful with that and made a couple of substitutions.

I've also been to Blue Pepper, but it was a few years ago. It was also enjoyable but a completely different experience--more like greg describes.

330East-A future Olympic event with an unwelcome handshake at the end.

May I butt in to ask -- does anyone know if the restaurants are able to vary (i.e., reduce) the amount of spiciness? DH would be totally on board, but I really can't tolerate too much heat!

<i> Indonesian Rijsttafel in Amsterdam
Posted by: 2010 on Jul 6, 14 at 9:46pm</i>
Going all the way to Amsterdam to eat stinky greasy watchacallit? OMG. Pepto-Bismol is not sold over there so bring your own.

jamikins & Greg: 70EU per person - just as I thought. Thanks for confirming.

ms_go: Thanks for sharing your recent dining experience at Sampurna. Good to know that you enjoyed it.

GinnyJo: On some of the menus I have seen, restaurants indicated the 'heat level' of dishes: mild, pittig/spicy, scherp/hot, zeer scherp/very hot. Also, I have read reviews where the heat can be adjusted to taste. Hope this helps!

spaarne: Oh, really? Based on your personal experience I presume. Sorry the food didn't agree with you.

I am also planning to try: Dutch cheese, beer, chocolate, oloebollen en appelbeignets, bossche bold and kroket. Any cautions here?

There is limited Dutch chocolate, the great chocolate is next door in Belgium.

I like Tempo Doloe and Sampurna. Probably prefer Tempo Doloe. In August we are also going to try JUN.