Restaurant in Amsterdam, Brussels & Bruges
 

Were are off to Amsterdam, Brussels & Bruges during the third week of May, and I would really appreciate any suggestions on great restaurant experiences in those cities. We are open to expensive places that are fun and worth it as well as more moderate ones.
Thanks!

"The Bark" in the Museumplein, near the Van Gogh Museum for lunch or dinner is excellent. It is a seafood restaurant. Polite, pleasant service and good food. This is not a fine-dining place just a good place to dine. Note it caters to the "Concertbegouw" crowd so many nights reservations are not available until after 8. We dined here three of the seven nights in Amsterdam.
Reservations a must.

We loved Amsterdam, and found great restaurants there. Here's a cut-and-paste from my trip report there:

We stayed in a fabulous location, at The Hotel Residence le Coin, which was directly across a small street from the Hotel de l’Europe, down the street from the Hotel Doelan, on Nieuwe Doelenstraat (sp?). A great neighborhood in the heart of old Amsterdam.

Two cafes on the same block as the hotel were wonderful: Café Katoen for a university atmosphere, and Café de Jaren, for great table seating on the canal.

Amazing dinners at two restaurants in particular:
“Stout!”, at Haarlemmerstraat 73 (www.restaurantstout.nl). Fabulous ‘foamy asparagus’ soup with shrimp, chateaubriande, fresh fish, dessert course, wine list. Very trendy lighting. Great service. We’d gone to the neighborhood in search of a restaurant called “Lof” which we’d seen written up. We didn’t like its atmosphere, but were lucky that Stout! was just across the street.

Also at “Restaurant Dining Eleven” we had a great dinner. It’s at Reestraat 11. Also trendy and contempory, well-presented and beautifully-served meal.

Another nice dinner at “frenzi”, at Swanenburgwal 232. Very simple and contemporary. We arrived shortly after 10:00p.m., when most restaurants close in Amsterdam, and persuaded the owner to sell us any left-overs they had in the kitchen! They put together a nice Caesar salad with cooked-in-the-shell shrimp and mango. Very nice.

Also a good brunch at a place across the street from frenzi—called “Puccini”. Creative salads and sandwiches. Very nice also.

Thanks Powell and Maureen. All of your suggestions sound right up our alley, and Powell, we love seafood.

Samasebo in Amsterdam (we went there twice during our visit):
http://www.samasebo.nl

I had an extraordinary Rijstaffel meal at Kantjil & de Tijger in Amsterdam.

Rachele and Friends,

One disconcerting note about dining in Amsterdam--smoking is still permitted! Fewer people now smoke so this is not the problem it once was but some thing to be mindful of. You might ask if the restaurant has a non-smoking section (we did not think to do that).

Thanks everybody, we were definitely thinking of going Rijstaffel while we are there, so the suggestions are very appreciated. We will be there 3 nights, so we will have a chance to try a few different things.

Powell, thanks again for the tip -- I've heard Amsterdam is inordinately smoky (hence the "brown cafes") and will try to eat outside or in a non smoking section where possible. Should be a good time of year to try to do that.

Thanks again for your help!!! We are going to be in London first visiting my sister first then heading for Benelux!

For great people watching and very decent chinese food, try Oriental City restaurant. Sit up on the second floor by the windows to watch the world walk by, we have been a dozen times and always enjoy.

One more spot, have a drink at LEAST at Freddy's Bar in the Hotel Le Europe, the dining room connecting the bar is excellent for lunch and getting out of the crowds, also a great people watching spot.

What's great about Amsterdam, we thought, is that there are so many litte restaurants that look inviting. So many wonderful little canal streets to investigate. You will have no problem finding nice places to eat, and good neighborhoods. (Be sure to carry Euros, as they don't like credit cards for small purchases-- i.e. less than about 25EUR.)

In Brussels, Le Chalet de la Foret or Notos
www.lechaletdelaforet.be
http://www.notos.be/

In Bruges, Den Gouden Harynck
http://www.goudenharynck.be/

All very good, all well off the tourist radar.

Reservations strongly advised (probably necessary) for all three.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions!

You guys are great!