10 Best Places to Eat in Amsterdam: Local Guide

Balthazar’s Kitchen

Balthazar’s Kitchen was previously a blacksmith’s forge, later founded in 1995 by Chef Karin Gaasterland and Alain Parry. With an open kitchen concept, this place feels like you’re dining in someone’s home and that’s exactly the chefs’ motive. The menu serves a three-course menu that is rustic and seasonal with dishes like Red mullet along with saffron and candied lemon risotto and guinea fowl with roasted potato, onion, and Brussels sprouts. You can check the restaurant’s website to check the menu so that you don’t waste time deciding. 

Foodhallen

Because of the outstanding servings from recreated Dutch classics to Vietnamese to Mexican, Foodhallen earns its position among other food halls in Amsterdam. Foodhallen, which was earlier a tram depot, runs at all hours of the day. The beer bar serves more than 60 different local and international beers that include brewed specifically with various ingredients for Foodhallen. You need to guard your table very well here and visit for an ideal refreshment especially during winter. 

Restaurant Fraiche 

Restaurant Fraiche opened in 2011, is a beautiful and picturesque food place that presents contemporary European cuisine. Owners and Chefs duo Noah Tucker and Anthony Joseph are popular for their work and have worked with UK's most renowned chefs like Marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsey. The menu keeps changing as per the seasonal produce and includes beet gnocchi with parmesan, truffle, and spring veggies, warm octopus with fresh potatoes, shallots, yogurt, and smoked paprika, or duck breast with black olives. 

Spectrum 

The stunning two-Michelin starred restaurant, Spectrum constantly serves high-quality meals and stellar service. The exceptional Chef Sidney Schutte prepares imaginative plates with highly unusual flavor combos like squid with coffee, periwinkles, and mango or carabinero prawns with watermelon, xo crème & oxtail. The detailing on the plates as well as in the dining room is admirable and the meal is certainly worth the spending.

Guts

‘Guts’ is a two-storey hotspot with a target for serving seasonal dishes along with barbecued meat and fish. The menu contains a five or seven-course dinner while at lunch you can go for a la carte along with two specials – barbecued turbot and rib-eye. Previously named Guts & Glory, this place has a long narrow room with changing the theme and new chapter every season. After the transformation to ‘Guts’, they kept the menu guided by the ingredients instead of a quarterly concept while the inventiveness never vanished.    

Yamazato

Yes! You came to Amsterdam and not Tokyo, so you aren’t looking for Japanese cuisine. But, Yamazato might want you to rethink that. The serving here excels in kaiseki cuisine along with pre-decided Japanese décor with a garden that might be visible through the dining room. This Michelin star awarded restaurant serves creations like shrimp sushi wrapped in bamboo leaf, or sashimi of tuna, yellowtail, seared sea bream, and sea urchin. 

Restaurant de patio

This pleasant and cozy restaurant got its name from the butcher shop previously based in the same location and is also the owner of Trip Advisor’s Certificate of Excellence in 2014. The simple Italian and French cuisine consist of risotto cake with aubergine, celery caponata and herb salad, chicken with kimchi, snow peas, and avocado. Vegetarian options include buffalo mozzarella, spinach, tomato, and aubergine. The place has an inviting aura and relaxed atmosphere with a lovely outdoor seating area during the summer months.

BAK Restaurant

At BAK, you will experience seasonality, creativity, and simplicity at the core along with modern Dutch cuisines alongside beautiful views by the river IJ. Initially, a vegetarian restaurant, BAK’s Chef Benny Bistro prepares a tasting menu focused on vegetables with local meat and fish. At the interiors, you’ll see wooden stairs up to the third floor of a warehouse and step into a minimalistic room with huge windows giving a sighting of the river IJ. The wine list is amusing with various selections of natural wines at reasonable prices.  

Café Modern

Café Modern was one of the big dining room openings in North Amsterdam and continues to serve affordable modern Dutch cuisine. The daily menu includes options of fish and meat that just comes in 45EUR for five courses and also available in a veggie option. The restaurant’s house bakery churns out fresh bread and also some of the charcuterie. The wine served here has a natural, organic, and biodynamic taste while the margin is reasonable. 

Rijsel

Rijsel has been known as one of the pioneers of the Amsterdam bistronomy movement. Chef Iwan Driessen controls the kitchen by putting a changing menu of French and Flemish classics like Rotisserie chicken, Boeuf a la mode (pot roast), Huzarensalade (Olivier salad), and Côte de Boeuf. This place is based in a former domestic sciences school and now has a low decorative setup. The locals love this place and hence it is always packed, so don’t forget to book to avoid any delays.  

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