The beautiful & delicious cakes invite you to be obeyed.

Pompadour has a great location on the corner with the famous Spiegelstraat. It is modern and clean and quite large: a good spot for lunch with delicious lunch dishes.

They became famous thanks to their chocolates & cake. They have great éclairs and lovely apple & apricot tarts. But the famous raspberry a la neige with white chocolate is also tasteworthy.

Pompadour also has a branch in the 9 streets (Huidenstraat 12), with a romantic and Marie Antoinette style.

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Pompadour | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Cake & drinks p.p. € 12.00
Kerkstraat 148 | Center | +31203300981
10:00 – 18:00 daily

Sir Max has expanded – twice as big and three times more choice. I love it!

A jewel in shoes-land! It’s located in the 9 streets.

This is the the ultimate for shoe fetisjhists. Brands of hand made shoes like Crockett & Jones, Santoni, Alden, Saint Crispin’s and Edward Green are here to be bought by willing customers.

Not cheap of course, so really for the freaks, dandies and lovers of good shoes!

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Sir Max | Shopping
Hartenstraat 2 | Center | +31207076588
Mon 13:00 – 18:30, Tue – Wed & Fri – Sat 10:00 – 18:30, Thu 10:00 – 20:00, Sun 12:00 – 17:00

D’Antica, just newly renovated, with a modern twist, intimate & stylish. It’s a landmark Italian restaurant in Downtown Amsterdam, located in the gay district of Amsterdam, just a few steps away from the busy Rembrandtplein.

The restaurant serves classic Italian food, served with a smile and charm. The owner is the ultimately attractive Cami D’Antuono. He also owns the much more modest and less intimate Cinema Paradiso in the Westerstraat (Jordaan area). The staff is Italian, they speak Italian, and they behave Italian. You need a reservation! This is not a restaurant to go to spontaneously.

On Friday night the restaurant is packed with regulars which gives the restaurant a bit of an intimate touch. The food is great, and one of my personal favorites is the “Pasta Parmigiano”, it’s a spinach spaghetti with tomato sauce and mushrooms, a veggie delight! As a starter, their Antipasto D’Antica is great and sumptuous. But one of the more subtle delights is the Sauté Vongolé. Vongolé is known as an Aphrodisiac, so be prepared .

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Ristorante d’Antica | Restaurants (Italian) | Mains € 26.50
Reguliersdwarsstraat 80-82 | Center | +31206233862
Mon – Thu 18:00 – 23:00, Fri – Sat 18:00 – 00:00

Approximately 50 meters from the “Nederlandsche Bank” and the attractive “Utrechtsestraat” (check the Utrechtsestraat article) you will find the Weteringschans, where also the just newly opened Hotel V is located. This place is located in a bit of a deserted location, as far as you can talk about a deserted location in energetic Amsterdam…

Here you’ll find a very charming spot called Uliveto. It’s an Italian franchise concept, which is hardly known. Fresh ingredients & good looking food is the credo here. Recently two staff members took over the place from the first owner Conny. It is even better than before, opening times changed and longer.

For lunch I would recommend to ask her to make your choice: probably a great plate with antipasti and a nice salad, and maybe just a small warm dish on the side for mouth-watering moments. Served with nice wine or delicious water, a very healthy utterly light sparkling water from the Uliveto brand.

Her pasta with Ragu, is also not to miss. The place is nice, clean & in a way industrial. A real fat cat to accessorize and take care of the mice ? Enjoy Uliveto! Great place!

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Uliveto | Snacks, Restaurants (Italian) | Panini € 7.50
Weteringschans 118 | Center | +31204230099
Mon – Fri 11:00 – 20:00, Sat – Sun 11:00 – 18:00

Great supermarket with health and eco food, and much more! They have a lot of take away goodies! Nice spot!

The “Overtoom”, the name of the street, is getting more attractive. It used to be a traffic – jammed road. Now you can go there for fun, food and shopping.

A real good new Marqt for Amsterdam.

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Marqt | Shopping, Snacks
Overtoom 21 – 25 | West | +31204226311
Mon – Sat 08:00 – 21:00

Saturday and Sunday you are standing in line, and get a number. You will be called when a table is ready. But stay put: No time to go to the Bijenkorf in the meantime.

Oriental City is one of my favorites in Chinese place. Usually I go there on Sunday mornings for dim sum, and we just order every dim sum they have and extra the broccoli, which is delicious.

Pots of Jasmine tea accompany the spectacle of good food in great surroundings, on the first and second floor in the old heart of Amsterdam, corner Damstraat and Oude Hoogstraat.

It’s having lunch or dinner with a view. But also on Saturday for lunch you have to stand in line, actually the line is having fun, with all the Chinese fans.

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Oriental City | Restaurants (Dim Sum) | Dim Sum from € 4.00
Oudezijds Voorburgwal 177 – 179 | Center | +31206268352
12:00 – 00:00 daily

A restaurant with a concept and therefore still going strong! With limited options, and chairs to stay in for a long, long time. The location is great. The restaurant is stylish and the food is good. RED, is one of those upcoming Amsterdam restaurants. After opening in 2006, it became an instant hit!

They serve just two dishes, no appetizers, a few desserts, and a great French cheese trolley. Lobster or Steak, with great French fries, home made mayonnaise and a salad.

The wine list is entertaining and promising, but the staff is focused on selling champagne. Chilled and sizzling, looks nice, and fits RED. One of my monthly favourites!

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RED Tournedos en Kreeft | Restaurants (Intern.) | Tournedos € 18.50
Keizersgracht 594 | Center | +31203201824
18:00 – 00:00 daily

This former blacksmiths workshop is now Balthazar’s Keuken, a contemporary place, with open kitchen.

I experience the absence of a menu card as the best choice ever made. De 3-course dinner menu exists of a platter with small tasty bites, tapas and mezzos (very international).

Karin and Alain are the passionate chefs of this very Amsterdam place. The place for foodies and lovers. In the summer with nice weather there is a small terrace on the pavement in front of the Balthazar Kitchen. And continuously keeping up their level of good cooking and nice service!!!

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Balthazar’s Keuken | Restaurants (Mediterranean) | Three courses € 29.50
Elandsgracht 108 | Center | +31204202114
Wed – Sat 18:00 – 01:00 (Other days by request for 25-35 persons)

Great place to loosen the aching muscles! In this wet country, it is a treat to give yourself this present, the Corpus Rub.

In this cozy and warm studio in Oud-Zuid you can enjoy a relaxing massage. They offer a wide range of massages from Classic Therapeutic Massage to Hot Stone Massage and even a pregnancy massage.

I enjoy the place very much and afterwards I am always mentally refreshed and physically relaxed and a bit tired. The couple that runs this Corpus Rub, recently opened a second place at the Leliegracht in the old centre. It is advisable to make reservations for a good rub job!

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Corpus Rub Massage Studio | Relaxing | Per hour € 62.50
Van Breestraat 72 hs | South | +31204165055
Mon 09:00 – 17:00, Tue – Sun 11:00 – 22:00

A stylish spacious restaurant with great light, and a lot to see. They have very attentive and nice staff, and nice appetizers to make you feel welcomed. Their kitchen is Italian, which serves very tasteful and original Italian home-cooking.

I love this place, I could easily eat there every week. Which we try to do. The menu has great variety, they have good daily specialties and it’s a bit hassle and dazzle which makes it also an entertaining place.

An extra reason to visit: it is on the Lindengracht, just around the corner from the Noordermarkt, in a nice and cozy area, with lots of nice bars around to have a drink before or afterwards (Papeneiland, Finch, de Kat in de Wijngaert).

If you go to Toscanini, make a reservation, because it is packed every night!

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Toscanini | Restaurants (Italian) | Main € 20.00
Lindengracht 75 | Center | +31206232813
Mon – Sat 18:00 – 22:30

THIS IS A SECRET, and you are not allowed to tell everybody!

You can have take away, but you can not order by phone; you have to go there yourself. You can sit at a small and simple table, where you get your own plates and glasses, and then when it is ready, you get your ultimate thin crusted pizza!!!!!!!

They are heaven and more, they are all good and delicious, simple choices with good and fresh ingredients. For the fish, veggie, meat and hot & spicy lover, this is really FINE DINING for little money!

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Portare Via | Snacks, Restaurants (Pizza) | Pizza small € 7.50
Leliegracht 34 | Center
15:00 – 22:00 daily

In my opinion this is one of the best and most authentic Spanish tapas places in Amsterdam. Everyday this place is crowded with young people and students from Amsterdam.

They have have Boquerones (anchovies), Jambon Iberico Pata Negra, Albondigas, Croquetes, and Escalibad, and they are all delicious!

The atmosphere is simple: wooden tables, running waiters, sharing tables. In short a real eclectic, Spanish treat.

The service is quick and good. Last time I had to wait 15 minutes for my table, I was told by the waiter, but within 7 minutes my table was ready and I was ready to order. I love it!

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Pata Negra | Snacks, Restaurants (Tapas) | Tapas from € 5.00
Utrechtsestraat 124 | Center | +31204226250
Sun – Thu 12:00 – 00:00, Fri – Sat 12:00 – 01:00

A small and hidden diamond, known by the families and locals from Amsterdam South. A stunning and modern design is what I experienced the first time I visited Spring.

Chef Ralph Woerde has a broad experience cooking in top restaurants. In Spring he cooks with what is available ‘selon le marché’ (season bound products). What I like the most in the menu is the fusion combination of the products used for the cooking of the dishes. I had had the pheasant with a slice of goose liver and a game sauce: again it was delicious!

I always make a reservation before I decide to lunch or dine out in Spring. It is a very busy place!

Spring is an average priced restaurant, with a superb wine list. Spring was the winner in a competition of house wines in 2008. I found the service informal – informal and extremely friendly.

Chef Ralph changes his menu just regularly and he changed it just again, it is a winner!

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Restaurant Spring | Restaurants (Intern.) | 3 courses € 45.00
Willemsparkweg 177 | South | +31206754421
Mon – Fri 12:00 – 14:00 & 18:00 – 22:00, Sat 18:00 – 22:00

Pompstation is a new New York industrial style place in town. They have great food and wines. On Fridays and Saturdays they have after dinner dance, with live performances by young and rising jazzy performers and bands. I had an excellent food and wine experience on a casual Tuesday evening.

I chose the salad of green asparagus, confit of tomatoes and smoked sliced eggplant with a great vinaigrette. My main course was an ‘aged’ ribeye from the Creekstone Prime Black Angus USA Corn Fed. Very tasty and tender, this can become their bestseller.

The wine list has a wide range of beautiful offerings, from easy and nice prices up to the the famous and starred, and from France to the New World. There’s something to choose for everybody.

The interior is industrial, with the use of pure and original materials, in a word; impressive. The service is very nice, helpful and professional but still has to get used to their own restaurant setting, it has only to be fine-tuned!

The only thing is the location, which is a bit out of centre, but with tram 14 (stop at ‘Borneostraat 1 – terras’) you will overcome that problem. I say have fun and enjoy!

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Pompstation Bar & Grill | Bars, Music, Restaurants (BBQ & Grill) | Main € 28.50
Zeeburgerdijk 52 | East | +3120692288
Restaurant Tue – Thu 18:00 – 22:30, Fri – Sat 18:00 – 22:30
Bar Tue – Thu 16:00 – 01:00, Fri – Sat 16:00 – 03:00

A Kantjil is a small deer, and the Tiger, yeah that’s the tiger, but the fairytale talks about this small but extremely smart deer, which remains alive after all. This Indonesian restaurant is located on a busy spot in heart of the city.

Kantjil & de Tijger serve traditional good Indonesian food. Recommendable is the “Rijsttafel” Kantjil, with several small dishes. Rijsttafel is actually a Dutch phenomenon: we introduced this way of having & sharing dinner during the time Indonesia was a Dutch colony.

They serve great Lumpia Semarang. The Kredok, which is a salad but Indonesian style & the Peteh Oedang are among my favorite dishes in this busy and popular restaurant. Just around the corner, they opened an easy take away for servings of mixed rice or mie dishes.

Good food & value for money. Always busy so sometimes you have to wait a while!

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Kantjil & de Tijger | Restaurants (Indonesian) | Rijsttafel + drinks p.p. € 32.50
Spuistraat 291-293 | Center | +31206200994
Mon – Fri 16:30 – 23:00, Sat – Sun 12:00 – 23:00

Not the place for everybody, but a place for every Burgundian! What a selection of meat (Waguy), cold cuts, pâtés (home made), salads and sausages of all kind… They have professional and very friendly staff who help you make your choice(s). All the goodies and nice food is beautifully displayed, and makes your mouth water. Check out their new sausages, Henk can tell you all about it!

My choice is the Iberian pork and truffle sausages and the French Limoges Côte du Boeuf. This shop is a beauty for the eye and tongue.

They have the Italian fresh truffles, some as big as a tennis ball. Worth the detour.

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Slagerij Fred de Leeuw | Shopping, Snacks | From € 10.00
Utrechtsestraat 92 | Center | +31206230235
Tue – Fri 08:00 – 18:00, Sat 08:00 – 17:00

Opposite the landmark Hotel de L’Europe and the Munt Tower, you can find this nice and cozy restaurant with a breathtaking view overlooking the Amstel river: Incanto. It’s Italian nouvelle cuisine, on the first floor in central Amsterdam. At the moment I think it is the best Italian restaurant, top class with a reasonable tab at the end of your meal!

The first time I had dinner at this place they were painting; a disappointment. But the nice and friendly scenery made it a great experience.

No pizza’s, but pasta and real Italian food, with antipasti, primi and secondi, served with contorno (known as vegetables or side dishes in general).

They have an very interesting wine list with really famous & expensive wines like Amarone, but also unknown wines from a small vineyard, where they have met the landlady (70 years old). After a sizzling glass of Prosecco, served with an amuse and great home made bread with olive oil, it is up to you.

They serve a tasting and inspirational menu daily. But also the daily changing risotto is extremely recommendable. The warm melting chocolate cake and the original Zabaglione as dessert, makes a dinner remarkable, and something to remember.

The menu changes every season!

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Incanto | Restaurants (Italian) | Menu from € 45.00
Amstel 2 | Center | +31204233681
11:00 – 23:00 daily

In one of our up & coming neighborhoods, The Pijp, where restaurants come & go, one has been going strong for many many years.

Tucked away at the end of the Pijp, you’ll find an authentic Italian trattoria with honest & good food: no fancy stuff. The owner and cook has his days and has his moods, but ignore that and you will enjoy the place.

A tip: ask for the dishes of the day, and what they serve besides what’s on the menu. They are quite famous for their Salchicha: small hotdog Italian style served with fresh spaghetti, alio/oglio and some vegetables. But also the antipasti della casa and the grilled spada, are delicious.

The Red Housewine from the tap, is OK, and dinner for 2 including two pitchers of red wine is around € 85.00, which is a nice bonus in Amsterdam.

So don´t tell everybody about this little gem, keep it to yourself, and enjoy!

(Minor detail, the ventilator doesn’t work that well, so you have to wear a different outfit the day after…)

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L’Angoletto | Restaurants (Italian) | Dinner & wine for two € 39.50
Hemonystraat 18 | South | +31206764182
Sun – Fri 18:00 – 23:30

The Maasstraat in the south part of Amsterdam is originally a very local street with a bakery, grocery shop and florist for the neighborhood. But this suddenly changed when Patisserie Tout opened: a fashionable shop with gorgeous cakes & cookies.

They organize small tastings & courses to make desserts or to try out cakes. Herman den Blijker, one of our famous TV chefs, loves the place and passes it on his way from Rotterdam to Amsterdam, to buy his beloved macarons. And I must admit, the macarons are worth a detour. Especially the raspberry flavor.

They make a small but attractive apple pie & the red fruit tartlets look divine. So if you are a sweet loving taster, don’t miss on Patisserie Tout.

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Patisserie Tout | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Cakes from € 12.50
Maasstraat 105 | South | +31206762620
Mon – Fri 08:30 – 18:00, Sat 09:30 – 17:30

New interior, with extremely good food. Nice staff, and although it’s a little bit out of the way in the western part of Amsterdam, it’s worth the detour.

The pizzas are great. One of my favorites is the Pizza YamYam: a thin crusted pizza, with a truffle paste and decorated with fresh ingredients like rocket salad, tomato, Prosciuto, Artichokes, Mozzarella di Buffalo & Parmigiano.

If you start with some small appetizers, don’t forget the Melanzane, and the fennel salami. But actually all the antipasti are great. Nice part of this dinner is the casual price. So including taxi fare, it’s still a bargain for a nice evening in a Local Amsterdam Trattoria.

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YAM YAM | Restaurants (Italian) | Main course € 22.50
Frederik Hendrikstraat 88-90 | West | +31206815097
Tue – Sun 18:00 – 23:30

Walem is the place to be, when you are in the mood for great drinks, sandwiches on the canalside with a great terrace. They serve smoothies, but also a good white house wine. The famous dutch bitterballs and the tuna sandwich are also good.

To kick off after a hangover, start the morning with their nice and tasting croques. But best of all is the location and the gorgeous staff. Cute waiters in black, serving with a smile.

In summertime they have a nice terrace next to the canal, so waiters have to cross the road and sometimes that causes a little bit of traffic …! Walem is one of the best places in the sun, when the sun is shining of course!

It’s next to the Famous Metz & Co on the corner of the Leidsestraat and the Keizersgracht: hard to miss!

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Walem | Coffee & tea, Snacks, Restaurants (Intern.) | Main course € 13.00
Keizersgracht 449 | Center | +31206253544
10:00 – 17:00 & 18:00 – 22:30 daily

STOUT = Naughty! Because rules are there to be broken. Because risky business, the sin and sense go frequently nicely together. Giving meaning to enjoyment, is what restaurant STOUT does! Therefore every guest is a welcome challenge, every product, selected carefully by the Chef, prepared in a stimulating way, every wine a sunny holiday and every employee an individual with a refined feeling for your wishes. Thus it is the challenge, which seduces us and seduction, which we defy.

The kitchen staff is inspired by the international kitchens and trends and is very familiar with the metropolitan and most recent developments, tendencies and developments of high-quality food & beverage products, concepts and formulas. Purely to keep informed; Naughty! He does not obey to fashionable one day trends. We are naughty! , a little bit wrong, a source, to enjoy!© Website Stout, free translation by author of this article.

Stout is one of my favorites for lunch and I love to go there for a coffee when I’ve finished my shopping in the Haarlemmerstraat.

I like the ‘broodje ½ OM’ in particular, a nice roll with thinly sliced pastrami and cooked calfs liver slices: very typical Amsterdam! The fresh fruit juices are also very good. The focaccio STOUT, is a cheese melted tuna sandwich and also very good! Coffee’s and espresso’s are of very good quality and delicious.

The service I experienced as personal and friendly, but they recently changed chefs. I will see what happens in the future?

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Stout | Bars, Snacks, Restaurants (Intern.) | Thaise Club Sandwich € 10.00
Haarlemmerstraat 73 | Center | +31206163664
11:00 – 01:00 daily

Envy is stylish and designed by the successful Concrete Design Group, like their baby sister the wine bar Vyne (check the bar Vyne article; Nice wordplay). It’s slick, elegant and the atmosphere is nice.

Whether you are here on a romantic trip or for business, this place fits everyone. Except those who like bright restaurants… they will moan that it is so dark… Like my father in law did (“I can not see what is on my plate……”). And that is definitely not true, because of the subtle and very effective lights above the tables as well as above the long communal bar, where you can have dinner as well.

The food is served in small and shareable portions, so you share and dare. The dishes are very original; however they do also serve quite a few classic dishes.

You can start of your evening with Envy bread & dip and a nice small plate with pata negra. I would recommend ordering 3 or 4 plates per person to share. They change the menu quite often, which makes it a place that won’t bore you. Envy has been keeping up her performance for 5 years in a row; well done!

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Envy | Restaurants (Fusion) | 4 courses € 42.50
Prinsengracht 381 | Center | +31203446407
Mon – Thu 18:00 – 01:00, Fri – Sat 12:00 – 15:00 & 18:00 – 03:00, Sun 12:00 – 15:00 & 18:00 – 01:00