Coffee - Screaming Beans
Seeing as we had to leave Edinburgh at 5am on Sunday morning - once we arrived in Amsterdam, a café was our first, desperate port-of-call. As easy as it is to fall into a tourist trap when you're absolutely knackered, and to just accept your fate, we managed to avoid this. We had been to the city before, so we knew to head to the beautiful area of 'De Negen Straatjes' or the nine streets, where independent shops, cafés and restaurants are aplenty (the area around about is nice too). After a quick search (and waiting impatiently till 10am for all the cafés to open), we discovered a café called Screaming Beans - a relatively trendy, welcoming place where coffee was abundant. A very nice atmosphere and full of locals, we were pretty sure the coffee was going to be good, and it was. Not too strong or heavy, the cappuccino I ordered had quite a fruity taste and was relatively fresh. A lovely brew. A great place for a hot drink, Screaming Beans is one of many cafés in the city offering top quality coffee. So, all you coffee lovers out there, you are bound to adore what Amsterdam has to offer in this respect.
Lunch - Singel 404
A wonderful aspect of the Dutch is the fact that they understand the joy of a good sandwich. You can get one, hot or cold, in most cafés, however what they had to offer in Singel 404 was a step above. The cosy, homely feel of the café is complimented by the very friendly and welcoming staff. The massive list of open sandwiches makes it almost impossible to choose, but you'll probably be happy with your choice regardless once it arrives. Presentation wise, these sandwiches were probably the best I've ever seen. Some real care had into how they looked, which is quite a nice touch for a bustling lunch time place. My smoked salmon bagel was layered aplenty with fresh salmon, lettuce, cucumber, avocado, tomatoes and capers on top of a really well made bagel - simple yet delicious. My girlfriend went for the tuna melt, which, again, was generously portioned on top of some tasty bread. The added touch of thinly sliced red onion and watercress upon it made it better than most. An excellent wee café, and the coffee wasn't half-bad either.
Dinner
Now, I have a few options for this - mainly because every dinner we had was excellent and each completely different. It was hard to pick and choose, so here are three great places to fulfil your evening hunger.
Himalaya Restaurant
Love a good curry? then this Nepalese and Indian restaurant is for you. Now I know we have some great South Asian food in Edinburgh, but we were craving a spice fix, and this place was highly recommended. An unexciting interior is of no concern when the food smells as good as it does. The staff are extremely friendly, as each platter is brought out with a big smile and an announcement. We went for a couple of classics, a chicken tikka saag and a mutter paneer, with a side of garlic naan. Both dishes were cooked to perfection, the chicken was melt in the mouth and the paneer had a lovely, slightly rubbery texture to it. The naan was excellent too, packed full of garlic, crispy and soft at the same time, you'd be hard pressed to find a better South Asian meal in the UK. A great wee restaurant and a must for all curry lovers.
The Seafood Bar
I do like my seafood, so a restaurant named 'The Seafood Bar' was bound to tempt me. After jumping out the taxi, we saw that the place was absolutely packed - and we hadn't booked. No matter, we were quite happily sat in the waiting area with a glass of prosecco for half an hour perusing the menu. Choosing, again, was almost impossible, seeing as the menu offered a good sized list of some classic seafood dishes, including oysters, scallops, mussels, sushi, lobster and four types of fish and chips. I went for the pan fried scallops to start and my girlfriend went for the scampi. The scallops were beautifully cooked and so sweet, accompanied with salty noilly prat sauce. Unbeatable. The scampi was well cooked too, with great, garlicky flavours coming through. A couple of great, classic starters which set us up nicely for our mains. I went for half a grilled lobster, whilst my other half ordered battered cod and chips. The lobster, again, was perfectly cooked. Soft and sweet, the meat practically fell out of the shell, and the flavour was only enhanced by the horseradish sauce it came with. The fish and chips were delicious, the cod had a great flavour to it, and the batter was light yet crispy. A lovely dish. If you love your seafood, you have to come here - no excuses.
Restaurant De Kas
Seeing as our trip to Amsterdam was based on a special occasion (our three year anniversary) we thought it best to try somewhere really, really special. After some wonderful research conducted by my girlfriend, we found Restaurant De Kas - a restaurant inside a greenhouse where they grow all of their own herbs and vegetables. Only using the freshest ingredients, their chefs create a specific fixed menu every day, making your dining experience truly unique. As soon as you walk in you know you're going to be treated well. The interior is breathtaking, a beautiful, huge greenhouse encapsulates a beautifully designed restaurant, using natural materials and colours to create a relatively warming atmosphere.
After a while, the food is brought to you - three small starters are then followed by a main course, a cheese course and finally a dessert. Our starters consisted of a carrot and ginger soup with blue cheese ravioli, slow cooked fillet of smoked salmon with barbecued lettuce and chargrilled celeriac with poached pears. An amazing array of flavours and unusual combinations that work perfectly together. We were mesmerised by the flavours, slowly starting to understand them as we worked our way through them. This was then followed by a hearty main course of veal with purple radish and sauerkraut - which was quite simply spectacular. The cheeses were great, a few that I had never heard of before, and the dessert was quite unusual. A trifle of beetroot, goat's yoghurt and blood orange sorbet was topped with chocolate soil and a beetroot crisp. Certainly not my favourite dessert, but a very tasty one nonetheless.
De Kas is a culinary experience, and somewhere that is well worth a try to further expand your understanding of food. It is like nowhere else, and well worth a visit if you're feeling brave and you don't have trust issues. I know that I will remember this dinner for the rest of my life.
So there we have it - Amsterdam has some amazing offerings food wise. There is such an array, and I'm disappointed that I didn't have more time to try a few more places. Nevertheless, the cafés and restaurants above were quite excellent. So if you're heading to Amsterdam any time soon, make sure to try some of my recommendations - you'll love them!
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