Archives for “Coffee & tea” tag

Born and raised in the centre of town, I find myself often taking the ferry to the other side of the IJ to clear my head. Pllek is a great cultural hangout in the North, close to Noorderlicht (another favorite spot of mine). It’s like a beach joint minus the beach crowd – a safe haven in between all the huge industrial constructions and rusty boats at the NDSM shipyard.

Pllek is continuously in development (they’ve secured the spot for the next ten years!). New colorful sea containers are added to the U-shaped cluster all the time. It’s like a playground. The restaurant is airy and rugged as well as classy, and they already have the best terrace this side of town. It’s right by the water and the sun hits from dawn till dusk – make sure to lather up on sunscreen and bring your swim gear just in case. The first time I went I unexpectedly stayed for hours and left looking quite lobster-esque.

Pllek offers (mostly organic) food, music, art and outdoor cinema as well as tai chi and yoga, and they’re open all year. They’re as open-minded as its vista. Imagine campfires and troubadours with guitars in summer, and wind and waves beating outside in winter. It’s also close to the IJhallen flea market and where the Over het IJ theatre festival is held in July each year. It’s worth the trek over anytime just so you can experience the city from the other side for once.  

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 fresh strong espresso in the morning; 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 you’re 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.

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 iconic and pretty and its velvety 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 we’re finally playing with the big boys? The museum 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. Located right opposite Central Station, easily accessible by ferry, EYE is in efflorescent Amsterdam-Noord – check out some of the other articles in the area for some off-the-beaten track strolling.

Inside, the museum 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 the exhibitions or their 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.

Pied à Terre is a geographical bookstore (yes, that’s an apt description) on de Overtoom in Amsterdam-West. 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.

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.