Inexpensive dining or beer in AMS?
 

Taking in the New Year holiday for 5 days in Amsterdam on a budget. Any recommendations on inexpensive eats and drinks?

Well Heinekin does a brewery tour with free samples (of a whole bunch of different beer/ale things) at the end.

But this is a standard in any of the guide books. Have you read any of them?

Desertnance,

Can't give any specific recommendations but the area round about Leidseplein has plenty of bars & restaurants and isn't as tacky as the Damrak area in my opinion.

Yes, nytraveler

I've read Lonely Planet, Fodor's and one other. I want the average visitor/traveler recommendations....somewhere they just happened upon. Books are good, too, but I like someone saying, "Wow!Such- and-such place had the best soup, best fish & chips (I already know Al's Plaice...yum!),or they serve Amstel for 1 Euro a pint at_______corner bar. That kind of thing.
In August 2003 I spent several days in Zandvoort and those fish carts/booths on the beach were the BEST!!! That's what I'm wanting, specifics...my friend traveling is having to watch her Euros.

Thanks for the Heineken tour tip...that'll be on the plan for sure!
Appreciate your thoughts.

The Jordaan, a beautiful, quiet area west of the Anne Frank house and cheaper than most central locations.
It won't be very rowdy with drug fueled idiots on stag weekends from London, but it will be full of friendly locals and great little cafes and bars.

henneth,
Thank you for your Jordaan suggestion. I recall the area around Anne Franke house, and will definitely wander around. Thanks. Oh, I understand about the rowdies!

I ate at the kind of places you're asking about but honestly didn't pay attention to the names or exact locations. The Leidseplein area was good for walking around and finding things, also near/outside Vondelpark. Everywhere seemed to pour small sizes of beer on tap. I had decent Greek food, and excellent Italian at a take-away place that sold items by weight.

I can't give you any specific recommendations either, but if you look out for indonesian restaurants, they usually have a plate of 'nasi goreng' that would include fried rice and sateh. Another cheap option is 'shoarma'; pitta bread filled with lettuce and sliced pork or lamb.

Thanks to both, Tulips and suze-

I'll look for Indonesean foods. I've had the falafels somewhere near Damrak- good and inexpensive. Do you know anything about Squat restaurant? Some them in Fodor's literature. Just curious if anyone had tried them.
Again, thank you for responding. I'm keeping a sm. notebook of places everyone suggests for reference.

Close to the Museums and Concert Hall is a place called Small Talk Cafe. The place was crowded with artists, musicians, and students. Good food, low prices. Recommended.

What do you call cheap? I just posted a trip report that mentioned several restaurants on side streets in the Leidseplein area where I ate last week. All of them in the range of 9-12 Euros for entrees. The two Leidsedwarsstraats are just loaded with reasonably inexpensive restaurants by European standards.

What I didn't mention in the report was the pea soup at the Pancake Corner. While I'm not much of a pea soup fan, I tried it because it's traditional Dutch and found I liked the Dutch version much better. The Pancake Corner soup was my favorite of the two I tried and the one with the bread and cheese would make a reasonable light lunch for under 5 Euros. Ate soup and toasties in a couple of brown cafes - good and cheap. Don't remember the specific ones but brown cafes are everywhere.