Tucked away in a street between the Van Oldenbarneveldstraat and the Binnenweg there is a small restaurant called Open. Here you can get some good salads and sandwiches. My favorite is the sandwich with smoked chicken with basil dressing, but there is much more to choose from.

The place is small but brightly decorated, something that they change every now and then. The staff isn’t the quickest, but their friendliness makes up for that.

I have had dinner here once, a couple of years ago, but generally come here for lunch.

The last corner of the Meent and the marktplaats now finally has some potential. Van Zanten has opened her doors last summer and I like it. It’s a nice little cafe/lunch place during the day and turns into a restaurant/bar at night.

Their food is good and not as predictable as in most places (so not just your standard steak and fries). Van Zanten has lots of salads to choose from and asparagus (white) when they’re in season. They also have a lot of sandwiches to choose from, which makes it a great place for lunch.

Van Zanten is getting quite the attention now. It attracts a different crowd than Café Pol (check out the article) or the other two pubs on the corners. A lot more down to earth people.

This bar is turning into a great success!

One of my favorite bars in Rotterdam is definitely ‘Stalles’.

The location and its terrace is ideal for some good people watching. The different type of visitors to this place is also the reason I like it so much, a nice mixture of all kind of people. One thing they all have in common is that they’re relaxed.

Next to Stalles is ‘Parket’, which is the same kind of place. In fact only one wall separates the two places from being one. They share owner, staff and bathrooms. ‘Stalles’ and ‘Parket’ are known as pubs, but the menu here is quite good and gets regular up-dates. Monday and Tuesdays are pizza night. From 15:00 pizza’s cost between € 4.50 and € 6.50.

If you stay long enough during the weekend you can walk straight into Club Vibes (check the Club Vibes article), yaay!

Exciting, if you have a RotterdamPas, you get 20% discount on the bittergarnituur!!!

I have always had a fascination with tea, dare to say that I’m more from the tea team than the coffee one, so when I discovered bubble tea a while ago, I fell completely in love. Bubble tea is tea in an array of flavors mixed with either fruit, milk or yoghurt, can be drank either hot or cold and with little tapioca balls. The tapioca balls feel like a gelatin in your mouth taking the experience of drinking tea to the next level!

So, one day while walking through the city I discovered YoYo!, and was instantly glad that finally bubble tea had arrived in Rotterdam. Their menu is pretty extensive and the combinations that you can make are almost endless. You can choose to take your tea either hot or cold, with milk, yoghurt, fruit, powdered coconut, taro root, etc. Also, you can choose the type of tea you wish, from jasmine to oolong, they have it all! After choosing your liquid base, comes the fun part of choosing the toppings; from the traditional tapioca balls, popping (stuffed jelly balls with fruit juice or yoghurt), nata de coco (coconut flesh), jelly and much more. But don’t distress if you don’t know what to choose, the owner, Mr. Wing Li and his friendly staff are always more than willing to guide you through their selection and giving you a fabulous experience.

This is a place worth visiting! My favorite: strawberry milk tea with tapioca and jellies. Yum!

In this small pub you can find all kinds of people, a reason for me to go there. The vibe is just really nice, even though it can be very crowded inside. This pub is open till late, so you might see the sun come up when you were just going to have one drink!

Since smoking isn’t allowed inside anymore, De Witte Aap has built a permanent terrace with heaters on the pavement right in front of the pub. A very smart thing to do I think. Smokers happy, the pub is extended and it always looks as if there are lots of people there.

Every month the pub offers an artist to show his or her art here. So you could come home a bit drunk and an art collector.

The Lonely Planet has voted ‘De Witte Aap’ the best pub in the world in 2010. Lets see what they do the coming years…