Accommodation

A Weekend in Amsterdam

8/24/2015 02:33:00 AM

Hey hey! Back in Germany now after a couple of fun days away in Amsterdam with Sandra and her parents. Unlike previous trips to Amsterdam during backpacking jaunts in my early twenties, this was very much a family friendly, G-rated trip! Here's what we got up to!

Canal in De Pijp, Amsterdam-Zuid

We stayed in a fancy-pants airbnb in a quiet neighbourhood just outside of the city centre. The apartment was really spacious and comfortable, and it was close to tram stops, which provided easy access to all the main attractions. There were also lots of nice cafes and shops (like Marqt!) within easy walking distance.

One of the many bedrooms

Lounge room

View from the rooftop

Nearby tram stop at Olympiaplein

For dinner on our first night, we went to Delirium Cafe (Piet Heinkade 4-6-8, 1019 BR Amsterdam), the Dutch outpost of a Belgian cafe that has over 720 beers on their menu. Apart from the very good bitterballen, the food here wasn't particularly memorable. But the service was friendly, we enjoyed our beers, and we got a good view of some of the boats that were coming through for SAIL Amsterdam 2015. (We saw a submarine! A submarine!)

Delerium Cafe

Bitterballen with mustard; meatballs with satay sauce; beer

Clockwise from top left: Cheeseburger; Grilled chicken; Schnitzel; Pork loin 

The next morning, we had breakfast at Bakken met Passie (Albert Cuypstraat 53, 1072 CM Amsterdam), a super cute bakery and cafe near the Albert Cuyp market. We were on the tram on the way to the market, I spotted the cafe out of the corner of my eye and suggested we go there for breakfast. It was really really good! So much so that we came back for breakfast the next day as well. All their goods are baked in house, and we can highly recommend the worteltaart mit romige topping (carrot cake with cream cheese icing), the ham / kaas croissant (ham and cheese croissants) and the saucijzenbroodje (veal sausage rolls).

Bakken met Passie

Bakken met Passie

Bakken Met Passie

Bakken Met Passie

Bakken Met Passie

Bread, jam, fresh mint tea

Ham and cheese croissants, coffee

Veal sausage rolls

We then spent a pleasant morning wandering down the Albert Cuyp Market, looking at all the stalls selling knickknacks, food, juices, clothing, fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh seafood and more.

Albert Cuyp Market

Brood

Poffertjes!

Fresh fish

Smoked fish

I got to try a couple of local specialities, including raw herring with pickle and onion. I was worried the taste might be a little strong for early in the morning (all that raw onion on top!) but it was really great - soft and sour and salty and overall delicious!

Herring stand!

Raw herring with onions and gherkin, 2.50 Euro

The next morning, we visited the market again so I could get a freshly baked stroopwafel (crisp cinnamon-scented waffle biscuit filled with caramel)! Yay! I got the first one of the day, and it was amaaaaaazing. (Yes, I was waiting at the stall while the guy set it up, with a crazy stroopwafel look in my eyes, hehe).

Stroopwafels

Freshly baked stroopwafel

Mmm... caramel

I also bought a tin of smaller stroopwaffels to bring home; looking forward to trying them with a cup of tea!

Another market worth visiting is the Bloemenmarkt, a huge flower market located on Singel between Muntplein and Koningsplein. You can buy all sorts of flowers, bulbs and plants here. Sadly we can't bring any of these back to Australia, but it was a nice place for a walk, and Sandra's mum bought a few tulip bulbs and plants to bring back to Germany.

Muntplein

Peonies!

Flowers!

In the afternoon, we took a canal cruise, which was a lovely way to see the city! On our way from the flower market to the cruise, I was thrilled to see Lot Sixty One Coffee Roasters were doing a pop-up in the centre of town! (It's in the Urban Oufitters store, 30 Rokin). Lot Sixty One is an Australian-style cafe started by Aussie expats, which I'd heard about because an acquaintance of mine happens to bake their cakes (Baked in Amsterdam is his business FYI - hah, puns!) I'd hoped to visit their original cafe to get my coffee fix, but it was a little out of the way for us so I had to drop it off the itinerary. So I was happy to stumble across their pop-up - I got me a nice flat white and a slice of banana bread - yay!

Lot 61 Pop-up, Urban Outfitters, (Rokin 30, 1012 KT Amsterdam)

Dinner that night was at Moeders (Rozengracht 251, 1016 SX Amsterdam), a cute, quirky restaurant that serves homestyle Dutch food. It's also very popular - you will need to book.

Moeders

If you want, you can bring a photo of your mum and they'll put it up on the walls!

Moeders

Beer!

We were really impressed by the pea and ham soup, which was hearty and had an appealingly home-made flavour.

Pea and ham soup

Sandra and I shared the rijsttafel, which was a selection of different Dutch specialities. Subsequent googling has told me that rijsttafel literally means "rice table", and comes from the Indonesian idea of nasi padang - i.e. many different dishes in small portions.

Moeders Rijsttafel

So! The three main dishes were stamppot (mashed potato mixed with spinach, served with rookwurst sausage and bacon); suddervlees (stewed steak, in the red pot); and hachée (hashed beef, like a slow-cooked beef stew, in the white pot at the front). The side dishes were potatoes cooked in herbs and butter; boiled potatoes; apple sauce; rhubarb sauce and red cabbage. Wow! This was 19€ per person for two people, and there was so much food! It could have easily served three. Sandra's favourite was the hachée, which I thought tasted like the inside of an Aussie meat pie, and I loved the stamppot.

Interestingly enough, the menu specified that the rookwurst came from Hema (yes, the Dutch discount retail chain that specialises in affordable homewares). Check out my foodie friend and Dutch food expert Paola's post on Hema's rookwurst - apparently it's a Dutch culinary icon! And it was very tasty.

Amsterdam

And that was our trip to Amsterdam! It was really chillaxed and a lot of fun, and I'm glad I got to try a couple of culinary specialities on this trip. (See my post on a previous trip to Amsterdam in 2006).

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5 comments

  1. Sounds like you had an amazing time while you were there Sarah! :D No shortage of good eats and very G rated but fun ;)

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  2. What a lovely weekend. And well done for posting whilst you are still over there! Impressive :)

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  3. Totally am not envious of your European adventures. Who am I kidding? Freshly baked stroopwafel? /types through the tears

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  4. Hi Sarah,

    What an amazing post it is. The food and place is just beautiful. Also the images are also very impressive. Enjoyed your post and found it very helpful. Thanks for sharing this with us.

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  5. Good article about Amsterdam.

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