Amsterdam: Food
Stroopwafel and Beer
There are stroopwafel everywhere. We never found one we liked better than those at Trader Joe’s back in the States, but we do recommend you try a variety. The classic is with caramel inside, and we usually opt for this. You can also get them with chocolate or Nutella added to the inside, or with chocolate and various candies stuck to the outside, but this just seemed like sugar overload to us.
Lanskroon: a harder exterior cookie; good flavor. Very few tables inside or out, but right in the 9 streets and you can eat your purchases gazing at the canal, or walking to the next stop.
Egstorf: Probably our favorite location, this shop sells many types of pastries (and sandwiches) from their quaint, old-fashioned storefront. They will make the extra-large stroopwafels to order and they are very hot, served on a paper tray.
Rijsttafel
A special Indo-Dutch creation we highly recommend you try. The choice comes down to the number of dishes–13? 15? Then they bring all these little dishes of things: skewers of meat, vegetables in sauces, chicken curries. On the side they provide rice and coconut sugar (the latter to add to any dish) and sometimes some extra pickled things as well. It’s the Dutch-Indonesian version of Korean banchan or Chinese dim sum, and totally delicious.
We’ve tried several spots, like Tujuh Maret which makes many lists, and they were all good, but especially liked Ron Gastrobar Indonesia restaurant in Amstelveen. The meat was more tender here and the sauces a little more inventive. The dessert was super creative and delicious. We took an Uber there and back. This is outside of the city, so that adds effort and expense to get there, but the added bonus is you get to see what a suburb of Amsterdam looks like, and Ron Gastrobar is right on a canal. After dinner we enjoyed walking along the water and over the bridge to the town proper, just to see how folks live. There are some gorgeous houses here.
Herring
Go to Frens Haringhandel. Get the herring with onion and pickle–either in a bun or straight. Cod is good too. This is right near the flower market (which is touristy and we don’t recommend).
Fren’s is amazing
herring with onion and pickles; you can also get it on a bun
fried cod here is also good
Other food experiences we’d recommend:
Fondue somewhere: Gouda is a town and also a cheese. Fondue is easily found. Look for Dutch versions, rather than French, which use gouda and other hard cheeses plus wine and that’s it.
Pesca Theater of Fish: this place was a little too cool for us we think. Most folks there were young and on a date. The concept is a bit kitschy but fun; you “meet” your fishmonger who shows you the “theater of fish” and you pick out the fish you want. The chef prepares it. While it sounds like the chef is going to make your fish “special just for you” in fact it is no different from ordering off a menu except you see the raw fish first. If you order the oysters, they will be prepared in a particular way (though they can make small adjustments for food allergies.) Fish was fresh and atmosphere was fun.
The Lebanese Sajeria: there are 2 locations. We tried a variety of vegetarian and meat-based wraps, their ginger lemonade, and hummus. All were good.