CONTENTS €: UNDER € 12,5
€€: € 12,5 - 25
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€€€: € 25 - 40
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Average price for a regular main dish and a drink.
NOORDELIJKE IJ-OEVER
West
North
WESTERPARK JORDAAN HISTORISCH CENTRUM
Centre
OUD WEST
OUD ZUID
OOSTELIJKE EILANDEN
SPIEGELKWARTIER
DE PIJP
SCHINKELBUURT
INDISCHE BUURT
OOSTERPARKBUURT
East
DE PLANTAGE
WATERGRAAFSMEER
South BUITEN VELDERT RIVIERENBUURT
ZUID-OOST
PREFACE - 5 by the Mayor of Amsterdam, E. van der Laan
CONTENTS
CENTRE - 8
6
Beulings - €€€€ 8 Bord'eau - €€€€ 12 De Klepel - €€€ 16 Gebroeders Hartering - €€€€ 20 Schiller Café - €€€ 24 Sea Palace - €€ 28 Ton Ton club - € 32 Bak - €€€€ 36 Bordewijk - €€€€ 40 Daalder - €€€ 44 Fromagerie Abraham Kef - €€ 48
Jordino - € 52 Nomads - €€€€ 56 Toscanini - €€€ 60 Envy - €€€€ 64 &Samhoud Places - €€€€ 68 Mercat - €€€ 72 Aan de Amstel - €€€€ 76 Bo Cinq - €€€€ 80 Guts&Glory - €€€€ 84 Le Lion Noir - €€€ 88 Librije's zusje - €€€€ 92 Mashua - €€€ 96 Nacional - €€€ 100 Norling - €€€ 104 Patisserie Holtkamp - € 108 Rose's Cantina - €€€ 112 Steakhouse Piet De Leeuw - €€€ 116 Marius - €€€ 120 Nevel - €€€€ 124 Worst - €€ 128 Bridges - €€€€ 133 Gandhi - €€ 133 Geisha - €€€€ 133 Le Bouchon du Centre - €€€ 133 New King - €€ 133 Papabubble - € 133 Portugalia - €€ 133 Pressroom - €€€ 133 Shah Jahan - €€ 133
EAST - 148 Antep Sofrasi - €€ 148 Rijsel - €€€ 152 De Kas - €€€ 156 Merkelbach - €€€ 160 Wilde Zwijnen - €€€€ 165
Horno La Maria - €€€ 218 Oceania - €€€ 222 Tjin's - € 226 Chang-I - €€€€ 231 Hakata Senpachi - €€€ 231 Halvemaan - €€€€ 231 Khan - €€ 231 Le Garage - €€€€ 231 The Roast Room - €€€€ 231 Tunes Restaurant 231 & Bar by Schilo - €€€€ Umeno - €€€ 231 Warung Mini - €€€ 231
SOUTH - 166
WEST - 232
A la ferme - €€€€ 166 Albina - €€ 170 Izakaya - €€€ 174 Le Hollandais - €€€€ 178 Sir Hummus - € 182 The Butcher - € 186 The Fat Dog - €€ 190 Yamazato - €€€€ 194 As - €€€€ 198 En Pluche - €€€ 202 Taiko - €€€€ 206 De Leeuw Zuurwaren - € 210 De Pasteibakkerij - €€ 214
Fa Speijkervet - €€€ 232 Foodhallen - €€€ 236 Cedars - €€€ 240 Brandt & Levie - € 244 Morgan & Mees - €€€ 248 Beyrouth - €€ 253
ALPHABETICAL INDEX 254 COLOPHON 256
CONTENTS
NORTH - 134 Vuurtoreneiland zomerrestaurant - €€€€ 134 Hotel de Goudfazant - €€€ 138 Stork - €€€€ 142
7
The two ‘brothers in arms’ do not dream of perfectly clothed tables covered in crystal and silver; their greatest attention goes to their guests. Is everything to their taste? The crisis led them to reflect on an alternative to filling plates with expensive, luxurious ingredients. The principle of ‘sharing’ is used here in a very unique way and I have seldom seen a restaurant of such high culinary level where dishes are shared between tables. The fixed menu is displayed in common dishes in the middle of the table so that everyone can eat as much as they want. In Amsterdam, these preparations are what they call ‘nouveau-ruig’ (nouveau rough). For me, these are dishes created by two experts who serve the food that they love. Informal, laid-back, but
always professional. The brothers are not comfortable in a five-star setting or with the mandatory fuss that goes with it. Their foundation is their craft. Their uncle was a butcher and their father was a carpenter – talk about two traditional trades! They are not innovators, and I find their refreshing lack of creativity a very positive and seminal characteristic; as a matter of fact, many restaurant owners have been inspired by this nononsense approach. Also, nothing is thrown away. This is the only restaurant I know that makes, for example, various fish sauces using fish heads. Sometimes, the work of the Hartering brothers is very similar to that of a missionary. It is amazing how many guests have never eaten offal and literally have to be won over. In this restaurant, they like to work with a charcoal grill, because it symbolizes a return to the roots. Their only signature dish is the Fleckvieh rib. This cow breed was isolated in 1830 when Simmental cows were exported from Switzerland to Bavaria and Austria to improve local breeds. The result is a breed that is stable and more robust than the Holstein while still producing the same quality of milk. The meat has a deep taste and texture and a nice proportion of fat, as is the case for the Holstein
23 Historisch Centrum
However, the menu changes every day and is timely posted on the website. There is always a crowd, hence some chaos. I actually enjoy this bustle; the dishes served here shine with simplicity and flavor. They added a somewhat improvised dining room with a few seats in the basement, and in the summer, they have a floating terraceboat where guests can enjoy the water. It is actually a fun place because every time a small boat sails by all the tables and glasses start wavering.
Gebroeders Hartering €€€€
Fleckvieh rib
CENTRE
TON TON CLUB Sint Annendwarsstraat 6 - 1012 HC Amsterdam www.tontonclub.nl
Ton Ton club â‚Ź
Mon.-Tue. 17.00-23.00, Wed.-Sun. 11.00-23.00, kitchen opens at 17.00
33 Historisch Centrum
Serdar is very passionate about good food and about old school arcades. Inspired by the Williamsburg Barcade, where the original arcade opened in 2004 in a former metal shop, he opened the Ton Ton club in the red light district.
Caramel and see salt artisanal ice cream
The ice barrier was broken when in 1533 Catherine de' Medici married the future king Henri II of France, bringing her ice cream with her from Italy. From then on, the popularity of ice cream spread like wildfire among the European nobility and royal homes. The Sicilian, Procopio dei Coltelli, first introduced common people to the magical, refreshing delicacy when he opened the world’s very first ice cream parlor in Paris, Le Procope. Benjamin Franklin and Victor Hugo were steady guests who came to lick and spoon the frozen mixture of milk, cream, eggs and butter in the house of the father of ice cream. People like Job are part of a dying race. Dedication and professional ethics are values that he considers to be of paramount importance. Additionally, he has a feel and talent that you actually don’t often find in this industry. My young daughter is a picky eater, but a small cone from Jordino is the only one that will not melt before she finishes it; she finds it so delicious. And she’s right!
Jordino €
Over the years, ice cream has come a long way. We know that the Romans mixed snow with flavoring such as honey and fruit, however, ice cream as we know it was born in various European royal homes. So for centuries it was a delicacy reserved for the super-rich. Alexander the Great (356323 B.C.) sent slaves to the mountains to gather ice, and Nero made his slaves collect fresh snow that would be served with honey and fruit at his decadent banquets. However, it is the Chinese who, around 700 A.D., figured out how
to refrigerate a mix of milk, flour and camphor in a metal bucket planted in the snow, creating the very first ice cream.
55 Jordaan
In terms of craftsmanship, Job Klebach is a maniac. He is a highly skilled artisan, and when you encounter him, the temptation is strong to surrender to a binge. I was able to put this to the ultimate test with an Italian winemaker, Giusto Occhipinti from Azienda Cos in Sicily, when during his last visit to the Netherlands we decided to stop in Jordino. It was a very hot summer day so I asked him if he was in the mood for ice cream. He jokingly replied: ‘I'm from Sicily; you can’t find better ice cream anywhere else than in our country. Besides, we invented it.’ Now, I appreciate chauvinism, but I like even better people who dare to change opinions. I was tense when he was handed the cone. The underdog revealed himself: Giusto claimed that the owners must be Italian. Nothing could be further from the truth.
CENTRE
ENVY Prinsengracht 381 - 1016 HL Amsterdam T +31 20 344 6407 - www.envy.nl
Envy €€€€
lunch Fri.-Sun. 12.00-15.00, dinner Mon.-Sun. 18.00-01.00 (Kitchen open till 23.00)
65 Negen straatjes
Envy owner Bert van der Leden is a real fan of Italy and more specifically of Rome. This restaurant was therefore envisioned and developed during the countless trips he made to this wonderful city.
And our ‘must eat’ is a very nice, complex flavor fusion. Shrimp is marinated in chermoula, or chrmla, a marinade best known in Maghreb cuisine. You immediately think of Morocco, Alge-
ria, or Tunisia. It is a spicy marinade made of herbs, oil, lemon juice, pickled lemon, garlic, cumin, salt, onion, coriander, and sometimes saffron and black chili peppers. It is mostly used in Morocco to flavor fish and meat prior to grilling. To counterbalance this ample taste, squid ink and a spicy harissa hollandaise sauce are used for this dish, which is then refreshed with pickled lemon and fresh parsley. A delicious combination that honors gastronomic cultures yet strikes you as being intensely modern.
83 Spiegelkwartier
The bar entrance is located at 494 Prinsengracht; if you are hungry, you should enter at 54 Lange Leidsedwarsstraat. Bo Cinq is a very popular place for appetizers or simply for a drink, although we shouldn’t ignore the eclectic French-Arabic fusion cuisine by Chef Mo El Mahraoui.
Bo Cinq €€€€
Chermoula shrimp with squid, harissa hollandaise and pickled lemon
Causa dos sabores
One of the most impressive examples of Nikkei is restaurant Central in the Miraflores neighborhood in Lima.
Here, genuine Nikkei cuisine is intentionally subdued somewhat because the Western palate is not ready for these potent, powerful combinations that contain a lot of lime, chili, raw onion, and fish sauce. Here, dishes are highly balanced while remaining explosive. I feel that Nikkei cuisine has waited a long time before quietly charming the culinary world. Certainly now that the Adria brothers have opened their own Nikkei restaurant in Barcelona, named Pakta. Mashua is located in a historical canal-side building and offers a modern, elegantly decorated setting, where Latin fusion and Nikkei rule the establishment.
99 Spiegelkwartier
Actually, Nikkei cuisine originates from Peru, where the second largest Japanese community in South America lives and works. There is a large presence of Nikkei chefs and restaurants, mostly in Lima. It is therefore no coincidence that the haute couture of the culinary world flocks there to find inspiration, and I’m being polite here. Nikkei is not new: it was born almost one hundred years ago when restaurants began to combine their Japanese clients’ love for fresh fish with yucca, potatoes, chili peppers, and corn.
Mashua €€€
Fresh potato tartlet with tartar of chopped raw tuna and avocado, dressing of fresh cheese and mild peppers
Enmoladas de pollo con mole poblano one of the best recipes in the world
Mole poblano is one of the best recipes in the world: chicken thigh is stewed in a complex mixture of chicken stock, various types of chili peppers, herbs, stale bread, nuts, and cocoa. This recipe was created when nuns in the Santa Rosa convent in Puebla got
Thor Lunstroo! His name doesn’t really sound Mexican, but his food tastes like that of a roadside restaurant a long way south from the Tijuana border crossing. Several years ago, he applied for the vacant chef job at Rose’s Cantina. When he was hired, he realized how little he knew of genuine Mexican food because like many others, he thought that this cuisine was only about putting tacos and nachos together. He fell under the spell of Mexican food as if a Señora de la Muerte had cursed him. He traveled to Mexico and worked aside many Mexican chefs. Today his dishes are a true revelation.
Done!
Rose’s Cantina €€€
Mexican cuisine is essentially a successful marriage between native Central-American and Spanish cuisines following the conquest of the Aztek kingdom by the Spaniards. Like true imperialists, the Spaniards tried to fully impose their eating habits on the populations, but it didn’t work very well. Eventually, a mix of ingredients and cooking techniques prevailed, creating Mexican cuisine with numerous local variants such as the Oaxaca, Veracruz, and Yucatan cuisines.
into a panic because the archbishop was arriving on a visit and they had nothing to serve him. The chicken looked amazingly delicious in this dark sauce.
115 Spiegelkwartier
Incidentally, it was the first cuisine to receive the highly coveted listing as Unesco World Heritage.
NORTH
STORK Gedempt Hamerkanaal 201 - 1021 KP Amsterdam T +31 20 634 4000 - www.restaurantstork.nl
Stork €€€€
Daily from 11.00
143 Noordelijke IJ-Oever
This restaurant is another great example of a quality restaurant in an industrial-chic setting. Just steps away from Hotel de Goudfazant it is located in a former Stork factory on the Northern bankside of the IJ-river. Founders Hanne and Erik managed to really keep the industrial feel by preserving a lot of original details that are still visible and perceptible.
ADDITIONAL EATERIES
ADDITIONAL EATERIES EAST
EAST
165 WILDE ZWIJNEN - €€€€ Javaplein 23 1095 CJ Amsterdam T +31 20 463 3043 www.wildezwijnen.com
The Butcher Burger
In Seymour, Wisconsin, there was a large concentration of German immigrants. One of them, Charlie Nagreen, aka Hamburger Charlie, sold hamburger steaks at trade shows and conferences: ground meat tucked in buns so people could eat while walking around.
A burger from The Butcher has absolutely nothing in common with one from McDonald’s. Here, nothing bland, no flavorings or anything that doesn’t belong to a great hamburger. Only Aberdeen Angus beef ground on the spot. At The Butcher, nothing is left to chance, and the house-made buns are skillfully and precisely filled with the perfectly grilled burger, fresh herbs, tasty tomatoes, and good quality pickles, and finished with housemade sauces. The interior seems somewhat raw; it feels underground-ish. With a little imagination, this could be a butcher’s shop or a set from the movie Hostel, although you can certainly bring your date to this trendy tent. Indeed, if you have reserved in advance, you can call, after your meal, through the intercom at the back of the hallway. The voice on the other side takes a look at you and lets you in ‘with one other person’. Suddenly, you find yourself in another world: that of a trendy hipster party where you think you are in one of New York’s underground clubs.
The Butcher €
Otto Kuase, a caterer from Hamburg, was the official inventor (in 1891) of our hamburger: a round bun with ground beef cooked with onions and served with a sauce, and at the time a fried egg. German sailors introduced this dish in the US. Or was it Delmonico’s, a steakhouse in New York, where the 1826 menu included a hamburger? Maybe it was Frank and Charles Menches who took wursts apart and molded the meat into round patties, then served them between two pieces of bread. However, the nameplate of Tulsa, Oklahoma, displays: The Real Birthplace of the Hamburger! This is where Oscar Weber Bilby sold a cooked meat patty in a bun in 1891.
In 1940, a company saw the light that would change the food world forever: Richard (Dick) and Maurice (Mac) McDonald opened their first restaurant in San Bernardino, California. Eighteen years later, they had already sold 100 million hamburgers.
189 De Pijp
Most people believe that Ronald McDonald invented the hamburger; nothing is further from the truth. During their conquest campaigns, Genghis Khan and his grandson Kublai carried pieces of beef under their saddles. The friction tenderized the meat and created a sort of ground texture. When Kublai Khan was in Moscow, eggs and onions were added to the ground meat, and the first burger was born.
House-made cold cuts
They begin every week almost like conspirators, developing their repertoire of terrines and pâtés and people can buy these glorious delights on Fridays and Saturdays. There is also a table where you can sample their creations. Another magnificent finding is their Schiphol goose rillettes. The airport wants to get rid of these birds; here, the meat goes through a 20-hour cooking process, to be transformed into the best, purest rillettes ever. Isn’t it nice that meat nobody wants can be changed into a delicious product? Many people talk about ‘nose to tail’, but in this shop the motto is actually applied. There is something powerful in people who are able to produce something noble from apparently worthless things such as driftwood, water, or pig snout. This place displays a rare level of purism and craftsmanship. Don't you even think of coming to Amsterdam without visiting this ode to taste!
De Pasteibakkerij €€
One day I entered a small, unassuming deli. You know, somewhat messy, happily chaotic, accounting books tucked away in a closet, the inevitable picture of the noblest farm animal, the pig, and where every piece in the meat counter seems to scream: ‘Eat me, I am even tastier than my neighbor’. Joyful sun rays give this little place an even greater feel of vacation. And of course, the owners have a glass of wine within reach! Then comes that magic moment, with the same tension a conductor tries to create in the nanosecond of silence before the first notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. That magic moment arises when a slice of pâté is cut and your palate receives a bite of it. This first bite is enough for you to know that here, cold cuts are serious business. This pâté makes you suddenly very still and emotional. Everything about it is perfect: the firmness, the glorious coarse texture, the perfect seasoning. Am I dreaming? No! The slice of blood sausage is also disarmingly pure. This is no place for amateurs; this is a place of craftsmanship at the highest level. If the ‘tête pressée’, a terrine of pressed pig’s head, was a painting, this version would surely be displayed in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. I had landed in the deli Walhalla, and by chance, it is located in the Amsterdam Rivierenbuurt.
Diny Schouten and Floris Brester, both former food writers, realized that the specialties they enjoyed writing about were slowly but surely disappearing from the Dutch landscape. Since they both had a passion for cold cuts, they found their mission, their mantra. However, to make charcuterie, you need a little perversion. To be really good at it, you must make it often so as to refine and improve the taste and texture. This is why they found it necessary to start a small business.
217 Rivierenbuurt
Likewise, I have no idea how many kilometers of sausage and kilos of these unique pâtés I have already devoured.
This part of town only just recently skyrocketed in popularity. Amsterdam West is booming and nice food shops and coffee joints are popping up all around, really changing the whole vibe. In the location of the restaurant, where well-known pâtissier Limmen was offering his delicacies, you can still see faint shadows on the walls where the oven used to be. They want to go back to the time before they were born: the romantics of a wooden cutting board with a fantastic piece of meat waiting to be cut by a skillful, respectful chef; a stove filled with pots, leaking steam from under the lids. Dishes are made all day long and fit the mood. Working like this brings back the love for cooking, preparing and sharing dishes. When a talented Parool culinary journalist invented the ‘Nieuwe Ruige keuken’ (new rough cuisine), a place like Speijkervet is probably what she had
in mind, starting with the ‘nose to tail’ philosophy, introduced to us by the iconic Fergus Henderson, and picked up by a handful of Dutch followers. It is in fact a simple but striking philosophy: in come entire animals and out go some totally useless bones, after full flavor extraction. All the rest is put to a higher cause, making damn good food. Gastronomical food is prepared in a simple setting, so that the content of the plate is the most important thing, like it should be. From the beginning, Fergus’ cuisine was wild, unconventional, daring, that initially resulted in an impressive number of empty chairs. However, Fergus’ furious talent and his tenacity to maintain the concept created paid off and ‘nose to tail eating’ became a reality. A combination between restoring traditional, impressive English cuisine and using every part, noble or not, of the animal into a flavorful preparation. Fergus Henderson is one of the chefs who deserve my deepest admiration. If I had known him as a teenager I would probably have had a poster of him on the wall of my room. This food should be called Fergusfood. Fergusfood is also the gospel that chefs at Speijkervet hold very close to their hearts.
235 Oud West
Matthias and Lennard van der Nagel thought it was time to go back to the future, so they created this elegant but simple restaurant where the day begins with the scent of freshly baked bread and the ovens keep their fires burning all day long.
Fa Speijkervet €€€
Breaded bone marrow and langoustines
Colophon www.lannoo.com Register on our website to regularly receive our newsletter with new publications as well as exclusive offers. Texts: Luc Hoornaert Photography: Kris Vlegels, except for the pictures of Librije's zusje Translation: Marguerite Storm Book design: Grietje Uytdenhouwen Cover design & illustrations: Emma Thyssen If you have any questions or remarks, do not hesitate to contact our editorial team: redactiekunstenstijl@lannoo.com. Š Lannoo Publishers, Tielt, 2015 ISBN: 978 94 014 2671 8 Registration of copyright: D/2015/45/212 NUR: 440/504 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.