One of the main reasons I've been so behind in my blog is that I recently started a new and exciting job at Booking.com and I've been doing a lot of traveling as a result of it. One of the fun things about the job is that it's HQ'd in Amsterdam, so I had to head over there in June for a few week of training. I hadn't been to Amsterdam in a really really long time, so I was really excited to check it out. Unfortunately, my schedule was jam packed with work stuff and I was super jet lagged but I was able to check out some good restaurants while I was there.
Sadly, I was so busy with work that I didn't really plan much in advance so when a colleague of mine suggested Kitchen and Bar for the first night we were there, I didn't have too much of an objection. It was conveniently located right by work, so it was easy enough to get to but it also meant that it was right off one of the main touristy squares. Luckily the weather was pretty decent, so we got a seat outside but the place felt more like an outdoor cafe where you grab a few beers while you people watch vs. a true restaurant experience. As a result the menu is kind of uninspiring but not totally void of decent sounding things to eat. We got a gem salad to start and I got the salmon (23 euros) as my main entree. Of course I sucked the table into getting fries to share because I can't so no to fries and also because we're in Amsterdam and every place serves fries. Both the salad and salmon were pretty good - the salmon was "Asian style" which just meant it came on a bed of noodles, shiitake mushrooms and had some curry sauce to it. It was an absolutely fine dish just not anything mind blowing. The sad part of the meal was surprisingly the french fries - while it's really the Belgians who are known of their fries, the Dutch also put french fries on a lot of menus, so you'd think they would be perfect. These were overcooked and wasted calories.
Overall the meal was fine - it kind of felt like a meal I could make at home myself but still in a appetizing manner. It wasn't necessarily a gang buster way to be introduced to the food scene in Amsterdam but then again, Amsterdam isn't really known as a food city (although it is getting better). Total bill was covered by a colleague but the prices were fairly reasonable for the area it was in.
Photo Credit: Yelp
Bakers and Roasters Eerste Jacob van Campenstraat 54, 1072 BH Amsterdam 4.5 Forks
Obsessed. I am still thinking about my breakfast here and can't wait to go back in a few weeks. A colleague in Amsterdam sent me a nice long list of places to check out and this got a lot of great reviews, so I put it as my first stop for breakfast. Not surprisingly, similar to the craze that is going on in the US, this popular breakfast spot is influenced by New Zealand/Australia. I honestly don't remember breakfast being all that good when I was in Australia but that was several years ago, so maybe things have changed? Apparently now, everyone around the globe loves a good "brekkie".
Everything about this place screams Instagram and millennials but I still loved everything about the place. The moment I walked in, I felt an immediate love to the place. The menu is adorable and everything on the menu sounded amazing - they have lots of yummy egg dishes, chia bowls, acai bowls, plus salads and sandwiches. It's like a hipster paradise. I opted to be more "healthy" and got the vege brekkie (14.50 euros) - it came with 2 organic eggs (I got them soft scrambled), grilled haloumi cheese, avocado, breakfast potatoes, creamy mushrooms, homemade chili jam, and hot buttered toast. The meal was HUGE and it could easily feed 2 people at once, so definitely come with an appetite. Everything on the plate was wonderful, delicious and very well prepared. The eggs were perfectly soft scrambled and the paired well with the chili jam (a perfect combination of sweetness with some heat). If anything, the only complaint I have is that it was too much food and the mushroom was almost too heavy for the dish. I would have preferred some fruit or extra avocado instead. Also, since I was in a bit of a hurry, it was hard to really enjoy my meal - it would be a perfect meal if you have a long lazy Sunday morning and could really spent hours sitting here with a newspaper and coffee.
There are two locations and I tried the one that is Centrum area but during my next trip out to Amsterdam, I'll look to try the De Pijp location and compared. Either way, this is a total must try breakfast/brunch list on my list. Total bill: 18 euros with tax
De FoodHallen Bellamyplein 51, 1053 AT Amsterdam 4 Forks
As many of you know by now, I am a sucker for food halls. I know they can be super touristy but I can't help myself. I love the variety that a food hall offers and the excitement and buzz around them. Sophia and I decided to check this place out after work on a random Tuesday and it was surprisingly packed.
Like most food halls, there was a good diverse line up of food stalls - there was Vietnamese, Chinese, Sushi, Spanish, Middle Eastern, Dutch and German just to name a few. All the food stalls have menus in English so it was super easy to figure everything out. The one thing I miss a lot when I travel is eating Asian food, so I opted to go for the Vietnamese stall since they had a banh mi sandwich on the menu. The wait was a bit long but the bar is literally right across the way, so grab a beer while you wait. Who would have thought you could get a delicious pork belly banh mi in Amsterdam? The bread was super soft and it came with the usual line up of pork and refreshing pickled veggies. The one con was that I was still hungry afterwards but the pro of being in a food hall is that you can always get more food. I didn't really want anything fried and while I'm usually skeptical of sushi in a place like this, I decided to go out on a limb and give it a go. And you know what? It was surprisingly pretty damn good. I got a simple spicy salmon hand roll and the fish was great, the rice was the right texture and the seaweed nice and crispy. Both Sophia (who lives in SF) and I were impressed with it and kind of regret not getting more.
I'm not sure if there are necessarily other stalls that I would want to checkout next time, but my initial impression of my experience here very positive and I would definitely recommend it to others to check as fun local experience. Plus everything was very affordable - everything I had was under 10 euros. Cheapest expensed dinner ever!
Photo Credit: Yelp
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