What to eat in Amsterdam
Amsterdam is eaten standing up, at a market stall or a brown café: herring from the hand, bitterballen with beer and a stroopwafel warm from the iron, and for a real meal there is the Indonesian rijsttafel.
- Herring
- Raw, with onion, €4–5
- Bitterballen
- Fried ragout balls, six to eight, €8–10
- Stroopwafel
- Warm from the stall, €3–4
Dutch cooking is a snack before it is a meal: raw fish from the hand at a stall, fried croquettes with beer in a brown café, a caramel waffle from the market. For a sit-down meal you go for an Indonesian rijsttafel, and most restaurant kitchens stop around half past nine in the evening, so do not count on a hot kitchen after that.
Raw, with onion, from the hand
Hollandse Nieuwe is herring caught in the North Sea from the end of May to early July, before spawning, when it is fattiest. It is sold raw and cleaned, with chopped onion, and a portion costs €4–5. By custom you hold it by the tail and lower it into your mouth, and if it is your first time, you ask for it cut up on a plate. Stalls stand on the Albert Cuyp market too.
A2 daysWhere lunch on the Albert Cuyp fits into the first day:Amsterdam in 2 days →A snack for the beer
Bitterballen are fried balls with a thick ragout of beef or veal, a hot, small snack ordered with a drink, not instead of a meal. A portion of six to eight costs €8–10, so for dinner you order something else.
Stroopwafel, poffertjes and kibbeling from the market
A stroopwafel is two thin crisp waffles with a layer of sweet caramel syrup, best warm from a stall on the Albert Cuyp, for €3–4. Poffertjes are tiny puffed pancakes of buckwheat flour and yeast, cooked in a special dimpled pan and dusted with icing sugar. Kibbeling is battered fried cod, sold on the Albert Cuyp. The Albert Cuyp market trades from Monday to Saturday, so do not plan on it for a Sunday.
A food tour with a local guide: several tastings in one walk.
The meal for dinner
A rijsttafel is an Indonesian spread of twelve to thirty small dishes served with rice, costing €25–55 per person depending on the restaurant. It is eaten at a table, in the evening, and shared rather than ordered plate by plate, so it works better for two than for one. If you want a sit-down meal instead of a snack, this is the meal people go out for in the evening in Amsterdam.
When to eat and what to skip
Most kitchens close between half past nine and ten in the evening, so if dinner runs late, a snack is what is left. Tap water is free, and you ask for it as kraanwater, because bottled water is charged.
Where to next
The best time to visit Amsterdam
→Tulips in April, the longest days in June, a calmer city in September, and canal lights and emptier museums in winter.
Haarlem · 17 km
→The oldest museum and the oldest hofje in the Netherlands, a quarter of an hour from Amsterdam
How well does Amsterdam suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
Nomadinho scores out of 100, the same ones behind “Where to go”.
If you like Amsterdam
Three places with the closest scores, from any country.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
When is the season for new Dutch herring?
From the end of May to early July, when fish caught before spawning are fattiest. It is called Hollandse Nieuwe, and it is sold raw, with onion.
What are bitterballen?
Fried balls with a thick ragout of beef or veal, eaten hot with beer. A portion is six to eight pieces.
When do the kitchens close in Amsterdam?
Most stop between half past nine and ten in the evening. Tap water is free if you ask for it as kraanwater.
Ready for Amsterdam?
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