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

In between the train tracks just outside Sloterdijk station stands a beautifully renovated trolly car. This car was about to be turned into scrap metal when a persistent entrepreneur came along and, with a lot of hard work, turned the wreck into a unique lunch spot. After searching for a permanent location the trolly found its pitch at the spot mentioned above, where it is expanded with a nice terrace. This already makes it worth a visit.

But, and probable more importantly, the friendly and talkative entrepreneur serves tasty sandwiches, small salads and good coffees. If you want something refreshing, you can choose one of the smoothies (100% fruit). And there are different (tapas style) hot snacks and toasted sandwiches on the menu. Everything is prepared fresh from the pretty compact kitchen inside the tram. A lot of employees from the companies in the area know this place, but also more and more commuters swing by for a bite to eat.

The place is open for group lunches, company drinks and other events as well. Inside there’s place for twenty people, outside on the terrace for another fifty. It also hosts a couple of events itself, one of them “Trammeland“, a monthly house party (next edition: 12th of June). And on the 10th of June there’s a salsa party.

Enough reasons to check it out, I would say. Especially now the weather is getting better.

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De Amsterdamsche Tram | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Sandwich € 3.95
Carrascoplein 10 | West | +31642601402
Mon – Fri 10:00 – 19:00

Have you ever been to a Berlin living room cafe? Vintage furniture, a bit run-down, Cafe Brecht is all about “Gemütlichkeit” – coziness, the translation is an approach at best. One of the ancestors of your German grandmother could have lived here, nothing would have changed, only time would have eroded the walls since then, and a bar and more lazy chairs would have been added.

Tea is being served in a teapot that looks like being taken right out of your grandmothers cupboard, there is freshly made cake, also a thing that you might be familiar with if you know a typical Berlin living room cafe. A selection of several German beers complete the menu.

It is very relaxed inside, time doesn’t seem to play a role, you can tell by the knitting gear that decorates the tables and invites you to just continue knitting, just like you grandmother would have done. Since its opening three years ago, Brecht became a rather popular spot – the closer the weekend the more crowded the evenings – this is the reason they gave up on the poetry readings and live performances they used to have: lack of space.

Actually what I like most about Brecht is that they sell my favorite brand of German beer – which is the original black forest beer “Tannenzäpfle”, and it’s the only place where you can get it in Amsterdam (correct me if I am wrong).

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Cafe Brecht | Art & culture, Bars, Coffee & tea, Music | Tannenzäpfle € 3
Weteringschans 157 | Center | +31206272211
12:00 – 01:00 daily

Friday Next is a lifestyle store, exposition room and café all in one, a concept which is not that common (yet) in Amsterdam. But this concept store has a great inspirational collection of design furniture, jewelry, great leather bags and more wannahaves.

The bright store feels like a very nice decorated apartment, where you will find the café in the midst of the store. Here you can enjoy a coffee or a lunch, prepared with the fresh products of Marqt next door (see the Marqt article). Given the amount of laptops I saw during the week, this spot lends itself perfectly to get some work done.

Every two to three months a designer or famous international brand is asked to expose their work here. Furthermore this store is an inspiration for everyone who likes to pimp their home with an unique item! Definitely worth a visit when you’re near the Overtoom.

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Café Friday Next | Art & culture, Coffee & tea, Shopping | Sandwich € 5.50
Overtoom 31 | South | +31206123292
Tue – Fri 09:00 – 18:00, Sat 10:00 – 17:00, Sun 12:00 – 17:00

Since this place is a little tucked away in a neighborhood in Oost, you could easily miss it. But you should not miss it, since this is a really cute and good brunch and lunch spot! Their motto is: stop eating shit, eat good food!

The products they use are mostly organic or honest, which you can taste. They have an extensive menu, with sandwiches served on slices of bread, fresh smoothies, soups, homemade carrot cake and my favorite chai tea’s.

Beter en Leuk means Better and Pleasant, and the atmosphere in this place is very relaxed with little benches in- and outside with comfortable pillows. Next to being a lunch spot it is also a small boutique, where you could find organic beauty essentials, clothes and gadgets. The high tea I can also recommend! And for the ladies; once in a while they offer workshops or special shopping evenings. So if you want to try something new, and you are in Oost give it a try!

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Beter & Leuk | Coffee & tea, Shopping, Snacks | Coffee € 2.20
Eerste Oosterparkstraat 91 | East
Wed – Mon 10:00 – 17:30

A bit off the center, with a bit of Mediterranean touch, Hesp blinks out with one of the nicest terraces Amsterdam has to offer, right at the river Amstel. Strolling down the Weesperzijde along the water on a hot summer night, and then ending up there for one of the at least 40 brands of beer they have (half of them tapped), great.

The same is true, of course, for the afternoon, and I am especially fond of the live music events on Sunday afternoon (not always – check first, if that’s what you are looking for). It can be a fantastic way to swing out the weekend…

On Friday nights it is less crowded, but still a place to have good time. The bar tenders are doing their best to entertain, and you can tell they love their job.

But Hesp is not only a bar to have a good time on a Friday night, Hesp also accommodates a full restaurant with a variety of international dishes for a reasonable price.

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Cafe Hesp | Bars, Coffee & tea, Music, Restaurants (Intern.) | Dinner +/- € 16.50
Weesperzijde 130-131 | East | +31206651202
Mon – Thu 10:00 – 01:00, Fri – Sat 10:00 – 02:00, Sun 11:00 – 01:00

Flamingo is one of many many many bars in ‘The Pijp’. I generally try to avoid this area at nighttime because it’s way too busy with drunk students and other unpleasant people. But then I discovered Flamingo and was pleasantly surprised! This is mainly because of the friendly staff and fantastic music. I’ve spent many evenings here starting of with a quiet drink and ending the evening dancing like crazy till closing time. 

The dancing till closing time mostly happens on Fridays and Saturdays. During the week Flamingo is more laid back and a perfect place for a quiet drink and chat. 

So if you happen to find yourself in ‘The Pijp’ don’t be put off too quickly. There are a couple of nice bars here and Flamingo is one of them. 

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Flamingo | Bars, Coffee & tea
Eerste van der Helststraat 39 | South
Sun – Thu 10:00 – 01:00, Fri – Sat 10:00 – 03:00

Pacific Parc is a great place on the ‘Westergasfabriekterrein’. Its open during the day for drinks and lunch as well as in the evening for dinner, drinking and/or dancing.

In the wintertime its very cosy inside with a great looking real fireplace which is nice and warm. But now that the weather is starting to get better the great attraction of Pacific Parc is the terrace which gets the sunshine all day long!

Pacific Parc is open day and night and at night they sometimes have some really busy parties, although they aren’t really my cup of tea.

For lunch/breakfast/snack you should definetely try the “tosti” (croque monsieur / toasted ham/cheese sandwich). It’s delicious with lots of cheese and ham, pineapple or tomato. The great thing is that you get 1,5 tosti, which is exactly the right amount!

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Pacific Parc | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks | Main meal € 15.00
polonceaukade 23 | West | +31204887778
11:00 – 02:00 daily (kitchen open till 22:00)

I discovered this place about a year ago ‘thanks’ to the GVB (transport company), when there was once again a big pile-up of metro’s in the tunnel near Waterlooplein (it happens frequently). Around noon I was heading towards the city centre when they asked everyone to leave the subway at Weesperplein. Because I skipped breakfast that morning I first wanted to grab a sandwich somewhere before looking for alternative transportation. From that moment on it’s one of the spots I’ll go for a quick sandwich whenever I forgot to eat breakfast again.

For a reasonable price (from €1,80 on) you can get a simple but okay sandwich. You can choose between brown, white or multigrain rolls, French baguettes or Italian buns (the latter two cost a bit more). As filling you have a wide selection of choices, from egg till smoked sausage or sliced meat-ball. For the sweet-teeth among us there are cookies, brownies, muffins and Indonesian ‘thousand-layer’ cake (we call it spekkoek in Dutch, try it out) available. For a shot of caffeine you can get coffee or tea for only € 1.00 (watch out, this is not the premium quality stuff) and you can buy a copy of your newsletter when you forgot to bring yours.

If you’re in a hurry, your wallet doesn’t allow much luxury and you’re near Weesperplein, Convenience-to-go is the place to go!

New in store: three kinds of muffins (for €1.90 each)- natural/chocolat (“chocolat chip muffin”)- abricot/peach- apple/cinamon 

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Convenience-to-go | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Sandwich +/- € 2.40
Metrostop Weesperplein (one floor down) | Center | +31206257925
07:00 – 18:00 daily

Van De Buurt is a bit of a newcomer in west. The neighborhood has had a long history of not being taken care of, but the last years the winds of change have also been blowing through the streets of Bos en Lommer. One manifestation of these changes is café-restaurant Van de Buurt. The old inhabitants would think of vintage as a “not-being-able-to-afford-better”, but we love vintage because it has style. So we love to hang out in the afternoon on the old couches having a cup of tea right behind the large shop windows and watch people outside passing by along the Rijpgracht. During the day especially young mothers seem to have discovered this little corner for themselves and their toddlers.

But there is more. While the vintage corner covers only one half of Van de Buurt, the rest is a nice, and not even very small restaurant. You can have vegetarian food, Indian curry, and Spanish tortilla, all vegetarian, and with little creative touch. There is no menu though, only one meal a day, a three-course-menu, but for a reasonable price. The place is not over-run, so there is no need for a reservation. Still a pretty undiscovered gem in Bos en Lommer.

Right now – the days are extending and it’s getting sunnier every day, you might as well enjoy their terrace – at the moment there are only a few in the area, and here it’s just a relaxed, not too pretentious place to hang out…

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Van de Buurt | Coffee & tea, Restaurants (Vegetarian) | Main course € 9.75
Gerard Callenburgstraat 1 | West | +31207729105
10:00 – 00:00 daily

When do you deserve to be called a regular? Do you need hang out somewhere more than three times a month for at least 5 years? Should you have spent mornings, afternoons and evenings there, or whole days for that matter? Should you have taken tiny power naps on their couch without anyone noticing? Too often have been asked to leave when everyone else has gone? Would you have written on their bathroom doors, laughed there, fought there, even cried there? 

If that be so, Kriterion would be high on my list. One of the city’s best arthouse cinemas opened its doors as far back as 1945. It was started by wartime students tired of having to depend on their parents’ wages and has been run by students ever since. This means the bartenders might need some training at times, but it also means there are few other places in town as lively, relaxed and fun as Kriterion. The crowd, thankfully, does not consist solely of students, as the theatre has one of the nicest spaces and the best new independent releases, specials and festivals in town.

One of the reasons why I come here weekly is the Sneak Preview on Tuesdays, during which the audience is shown a surprise film that hasn’t been released yet (cue booing, walkouts or ecstatic enthusiasm). In April they also host Imagine, a wonderful fantasy film festival that organizes the infamous Night of Terror, where the entire room invariably ends up getting tee-peed. 

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Kriterion Movie Theatre | Bars, Cinemas, Coffee & tea, Festivals & events | Sneak Preview € 5
Roetersstraat 170 | Center | +31206231708
Mon – Thu & Sun 10:30 – 01:00, Fri 10:30 – 03:00, Sat 12:30 – 03:00

It took a while, but Amsterdam finally has a cinema museum again. I have to admit I was a little skeptical of the move because the old film museum was so pretty and it’s seats were tattered, and that’s how I like watching my movies. But the first time I set foot in EYE (let’s not get started on the name, and let’s definitely not get started on the whole ownership-thing) I was blown out of my ruby slippers.

Could it be Amsterdam is finally playing with the big boys? The museum – right opposite Central Station, easily accessible by ferry – exudes international flair. It’s big, it’s white and it’s nondescript (is it a crocodile? is it a whale? is it a wink? who cares) and I like it. The banks along the IJ are finally throwing off their casts and revealing the bigger plan.

Inside, EYE offers something for everybody – you can have food and drinks on the huge terrace overlooking the water and wave at the cruise ships or visit their exhibitions and extensive library. They also have four screening rooms (with brand new chairs!) that show classics, specials and new releases besides hosting cinema concerts and cult evenings. Or you could just run up and down their grand staircases endlessly. The main hall is so exuberantly big you’ll want to play.

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EYE | Art & culture, Bars, Cinemas, Coffee & tea, Snacks, Theaters
IJpromenade 1 | North | +31205891400
Sun – Thu 10:00 – 01:00, Fri – Sat 10:00 – 02:00 (exhibitions open till 17:00)

Pied à Terre is a geographical bookstore on de Overtoom. They’re not only one of the biggest travel book stores in the world but absolutely unique in that they sell almost anything of interest to the avid traveler. It’s a real treasure trove. There’s 400 sq meters (!!) full of travel-related print  – bizarre novels, the latest city guides, dictionaries, endless cycling- and trekking routes, aeronautical charts, maps of the Andes, you name it. They also sell notebooks, postcards (not just of Amsterdam), a selection of world music, photography books, books on flora and fauna, DVDs with wildlife series and about sixty globes in varying shapes and sizes.

Whether you’re planning a coming-of-age trip to the far end of Patagonia or just wanting to know which enormous hill in the Dutch countryside is best to climb, the amazingly knowledgeable staff will help you plan all your future itineraries.

The store serves coffee, sandwiches and cake in their on-site cafe, and you might not even have to leave Pied à Terre at all to feel like you’ve traveled the earth. Good parts of my day have been spent here getting lost in the Sumatran jungle or memorizing which berries in the Swedish forests should definitely be avoided. I always walk out completely inspired and terrified at the same time, because there’s far too much ‘out there’ still to explore.

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Pied à Terre | Coffee & tea, Shopping
Overtoom 135 – 137 | West | +31206274455
Mon 13:00 – 18:00, Tue – Wed & Fri 10:00 – 18:00, Thu 10:00 – 21:00, Sat 10:00 – 17:00

Strolling through the 9 little streets of southern Jordaan is one of the recommended activities if you are into shopping on an individual level. But then – at one point you get hungry. Or just have a little appetite. So what do you do? The typical Dutch lunch is just bread or a sandwich, maybe a scrambled egg. In for something else?

Savory quiches and all kinds of sweet cakes. Traiterie Chef is a small, family-run lunch room/café in the heart of Amsterdam, so right in the center so unfortunately I don’t come there often. (The main shopping area is something that I am trying to avoid as much as I can).

To be honest: I got to know of Traiterie Chef by a totally excited post by one of my Facebook friends. Well, I had to find out if that excitement was justified – and I was craving chocolate. So I went downtown and found out that they not only serve the – indeed – most delicious chocolate cake but also very tasty savory quiches. In fact, they looked so good that I first tried the onion/leek/chili quiche and saved the chocolate cake for later.

But I was tempted: the mozzarella quiche with rosemary and thyme looked as tasty as the basilica/parsley/cheese one. Not to mention the sweet cakes. They have pies with cherry or blue berries with some meringue-like fluffy pastry, also apple pies – okay, you can’t have them all at once, so they’ll see me back, I guess! 

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Traiterie Chef | Coffee & tea | Piece of cake € 3
Raamsteeg 5 | Center | +31206715500
10:00 – 18:00 daily

Although I’ve never actually lived in England, my British genes have an undeniably strong impact on my food cravings. Every once in a while, I’ll find myself dreaming of soggy Weetabix in pools of velvety custard. I’ll secretly pour hot milk into my tea and swear at the fact that there’s hardly any decent bread pudding in town. I’ll start giggling at the thought of giant Creme Eggs, or have nightmares about drowning in fast flowing rivers of clotted cream. 

Thankfully, there’s Gartine. Gartine satisfies my British sweet tooth whilst actually being organic, wholesome and as far from soggy weetabix as you can possibly get. The owners own a piece of land outside town, where they grow their own produce. So the pumpkins in their quiches, the apples in their pie and the raspberries in their home-made jams are all from their own garden. Yes, it’s incredibly cute, but most of all it’s incredibly good.

Gartine’s lavender-walled space is very, very tiny, so you’ll need to call in advance. Make sure to take your time, too. It’s quite a battle to the last crumb, and I’ve rarely left without feeling slightly overwhelmed and high as a sugar kite after consuming three tiers of cake, fresh almond milk and a couple of gallons of tea. But it’s exactly how I used to feel after three days of Christmas at my gran’s – I don’t mind the feeling one bit.

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Gartine | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Small high tea (p.p) € 11.95
Taksteeg 7 | Center | +31203204132
Wed – Sun 10:00 – 18:00

Some streets make you want to strut down them like you’re Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. De Haarlemmerdijk might not match 1970′s Brooklyn, but with its plethora of detail stores and beautiful old buildings, no wonder a lot of places here have been noticed by my fellow spotters! It’s amazing how many great hangouts can be found along such a small stretch of pavement. Some personal favorites:

Start with a croissant at Mediterannee, and go by 2 For Joy for fresh roasted coffee. Shop at Restored, with products from young designers; at Mary Ann, run by wonderful ladies who really know how to rock old-school brassieres; at sneaker store Seventyfive, or photography specialists Nivo Schweitzer. As a film freak, I love browsing through the cult DVDs and posters at the wonderfully geeky Silver Screen, or catch a screening in one of Amsterdam’s nicest cinemas, The Movies.

You’re also in the right place for a makeover. During the phase where I had something pierced every time a relationship ended, the lovely Sharon at Dare2Ware - Amsterdam’s most comfortable piercing studio – made it so much fun. The artists at House of Tattoos around the corner are also extremely talented. And if you want to top off your new look with a bright magenta fringe, visit Kinki hairdressers down the street.

Finally, ‘de Dijk’ is a Mecca for foodies like myself – do-it-yourself with kitchen utensils from Deksels!, the amazing cookbooks at De Kookboekhandel (one of it’s kind!), cupcake supplies from De Tafel van 18, or the Tea Bar‘s teas. Or just feast on Jordino‘s Italian ice cream, Small World‘s huge sandwiches and restaurant Balraj‘s great Indian food.

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De Haarlemmerdijk | Cinemas, Coffee & tea, Shopping, Snacks, Restaurants
Haarlemmerdijk 1 | Center
09:00 – 18:00 daily (varies per store)

De Buurtboerderij – a public farm with a cafe just out of town – is so well hidden it really feels like a personal victory once you’ve found it. In truth, it’s just behind the Westerpark and not that far. It’s a really nice little trip through the fields on foot or by bike.

Trees and typically flat green meadows surround the farm. Their terrace is spread out in front of the building and over several small plots of land. Sitting in the shadow of blossoming trees, sipping on homemade lemonade and looking out over the edges of the city truly feels like being far away from the hustle and bustle of Amsterdam. It’s not worth coming over if you don’t have a couple of hours to spare and wind down.

You can easily muse the day away here – chatting up the chickens, socializing with the sheep, gorging on pancakes and cheese toasties. The do-gooder spirit of the place is obvious – most of the people that work there are volunteers (a great bunch of people), and the food’s really cheap. They run a tiny makeshift ‘give-away shop’ full of old clothing and brick-a-brack that’s yours to take home.

De Buurtboerderij also organizes music events, arts & crafts workshops and yoga for kids, but just watching the sun go down from their back yard is meditation enough for me.

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Buurtboerderij Ons Genoegen | Coffee & tea, Music, Snacks, Restaurants (Intern.) | Plain pancake € 2.80
Spaarndammerdijk 319 | West | +31203376820
Sun – Wed 10:00 – 22:00, Thu – Sat 10:00 – 23:00

Picture this: Little round tables covered with fluffy table cloths, the fabric girls nowadays make maxi skirts out of. Bottles of coffee creamer on each, that might have been around as long as the tablecloths have. Colored glass windows, stained in more ways than one, that let in just enough daylight to illuminate the big old clock in the smoky back room, which chimes every thirty minutes – perhaps to let you know it’s time for your next kopstoot, or to remind you that time is indeed passing, no matter how easy it is to forget about it here.

De Hegeraad is another one of those old pubs that are great to get lost in, quite similar to De Pilsener Club, except that besides its obvious pale ale throwback, it’s a black-coffee-morning-paper kind of place as well (even if they open at 12:00).

Perhaps, if I’d been born way back when, I would have been selling under-the-counter ointments in the apothecary this pretty Jordanese building used to house. Or I would have been one of the fun gals being boozed up by the bartender in the off-license it held afterwards.

With a pretty terrace under the trees on the picturesque Noordermarkt, De Hegeraad can get a little crowded on weekends but somehow retains its time traveling appeal. Buy yourself a fitting top hat or even one of those carpet skirts at the vintage market on Monday mornings, and take the leap.

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De Hegeraad | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks | Kopstoot € 6
Noordermarkt 34 | Center | +31206245565
Mon – Thu & Sun 12:00 – 01:00, Fri – Sat 12:00 – 03:00

Started about two years ago by a young entrepeneur, you’ll find this lunch spot on the leeward side of the Singel, between Koningsplein and Muntplein (on the rear side of the Bloemenmarkt). The place uses only fresh, biological products for their sandwiches, wraps, smoothies and lemonades. My favorites are the sandwich with salmon  (on very new slices of bread) and the homemade lemonade (very refreshing). There are also a couple of salads and on Thursday a special hot meal on the menu.

Furthermore they serve decent coffee and tea (fairtrade) and their cakes are definitely worth a try (especially the carrot cake). They have a good WIFI connection, which makes it ideal for those who’ll have to finish some business while consuming their lunch. In Spring and Summer you can enjoy the sun on a little terrace. Too bad that from 16:00 on the street in front of it gets jammed by cars and trucks. But until that time it’s a great observation post for watching people passing by.

A pretty good spot to meet with friends, but also with business clients for enjoying a delicious and ‘fair’ lunch.

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Homemade | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Sandwiches/wraps € 6.00
Singel 447 | Center | +31204223168
Fri – Wed 10:00 – 18:00, Thu 10:00 – 20:00

Last week I cycled passed Tofani and it was still closed. But when I cycled passed it today it was open! What a joy! I didn’t have the time otherwise I would have had an ice-cream on the terrace. (Well actually it was also a bit too cold for icecream…)

Tofani is well known in the whole of Amsterdam and especially in the Nieuwmarkt area. Not only can you get delicious ice-cream here, they also serve good coffee, milkshakes and very nice cake.

When you sit on the terrace and watch all the interesting people this area has to offer walking by, you feel as if you’re in the height of summertime with absolutely nothing to do. I like this feeling!

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Tofani | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Scoop of icecream € 1.20
Kloveniersburgwal 16 | Center | +31206243073
12:00 – 00:00 daily

Small World is an old favorite of mine. It’s hidden down a little side street in de Jordaan and – hush – secretly has one of the best small terraces in town. On sunny days, the sun hits the corner it’s situated on almost all day round.

Owner Sean is an Australian – and it the Oz sense of hospitality and passion for great coffee and food that he’s brought with him. For a tiny joint – on weekends, you can hardly stand inside, but Sean and his team make it all part of the fun – they have a huge following. It seems that every English speaking person in the city gets to hear about them sooner or later, and it’s almost customary that even the Dutchies that visit speak English inside.

Their sandwiches are amazing – try the fresh tuna, the spicy salami or the amazing ‘Zoe’, a sandwich with sweetly roasted pumpkin and goat’s cheese. Have an Ali G (fresh apple-lime-and-ginger-juice) on the side, and make sure to share one sandwich because the price weighs up to the huge portioning, and you’ll want to leave some room for their carrot cake, which is by far the best I’ve ever tasted.

Should you be in town for Thanksgiving, Small World offers a wonderful Thanksgiving meal, with turkey and pumpkin pie. Thanks to Small World, the Amsterdam expats will never feel lonely!

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Small World Catering | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Sandwich € 7.50
Binnen Oranjestraat 14 | Center | +31204202774
Tue – Fri 10:30 – 19:00, Sat 10:30 – 18:00, Sun 12:00 – 18:00

Café Cook is one of those places that you really wouldn’t bump into by accident. It’s housed on a square in Oud West, in an area that’s quite far from Amsterdam’s touristy centre. The square’s hidden behind all the big streets aligning it, which makes you feel like you’re in a village rather than the middle of a bustling city. The owners obviously recognized the advantages of such a wonderful, sunny spot, and have put down a wonderfully big terrace where you can easily lay down your hat and forget what you were supposed to be racing to.

What makes Café Cook so nice is hard to put your finger on. It doesn’t try to be either hip or overly traditional. It’s small and intimate enough to make you feel at home, and big enough to bring a book and disappear for a few hours. It’s a fine solo spot as well as a good place to drink beer with your friends. The people that work there are really friendly, and the quality of their food is high – something that can’t be said of most places like it. 

I remember the day I got hooked on Cook very well – I had gone to a vintage market and bought a stack of old records, and the bar tender, upon seeing them, pointed towards the record player that’s placed inconspicuously in one of the corners and offered to play them. It’s these personal touches that made me want to stay, and come back.

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Café Cook | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks, Restaurants | Main meal € 16
James Cookstraat 2 | West | +31621966916
Sun – Thu 11:30 – 01:00, Fri – Sat 11:30 – 02:00

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

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

I never know at what time of day I should visit Panini, which is located on the insanely busy Vijzelstraat and has cars rushing by its cute little terrace like you’re in the middle of Napels. They serve strong espresso in the morning; really, really nice panini in the afternoons; and fresh pastas, antipasti and desserts in the evenings.

You might as well stick around, and you won’t leave on an empty stomach either way. Panini is low key and not very expensive, but the food is exactly what it promises to be. But whether it’s lunch I’m ordering or a simple penne amatriciana for dinner, their home made focaccia is what I keep coming back for. It’s salty yet sweet, soft yet crunchy and, if you’re lucky, still warm.

Even after so many visits, I try something different each time. You don’t get a chance to eat sandwiches with cream of fennel, speck from Fruili or vongole that often.

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Panini | Coffee & tea, Restaurants (Italian) | Panini € 6.50
Vijzelstraat 3 – 5 | Center | +31206264939
Mon – Sat 09:30 – 23:00, Sun 11:30 – 23:00