Back in December, myself and my boyfriend Greg, visited Amsterdam (a couples cliche, I know) as a pre-Christmas getaway to, I want to say have a cultural experience, but truthfully I think we were more excited to eat all the food we could get our hands-on…
As soon as we booked our trip, I was straight online looking for recommendations and watching videos on YouTube to find the best places to eat and drink in Amsterdam (shoutout to TOPJAW who do the BEST travel videos!) and we ended up with a pretty hefty list which was a bit ambitious for a two-night stay but hey, I’m an optimist.
So, what you’re going to read next are my favourite spots that will see you through breakfast, lunch and dinner if you’re ever in The Dam! (with a few drinks thrown in there too).
Breakfast
If you’re looking for an Insta-worthy backdrop with your morning pancakes then you need to get yourself to Moak Pancakes. Moak has three locations in Amsterdam (all pretty in pink), we went to the one just down the road from the Heineken Museum in Ferdinand Bolstraat (to line the old stomachs, you know how it is) and I am not exaggerating, we ended up having the LARGEST portion of pancakes I have ever seen!
Greg ordered The G.O.O.D Morning which came with greek yoghurt, granola, strawberries, cinnamon & honey, and I went for The Infamous which was topped with banana, homemade chocolate sauce, melted peanut butter, fresh strawberries, fresh blackberries and cinnamon… I feel full typing that out.
The pancakes themselves were delicious, truly some of the best I’ve had but I have to admit, the amount of toppings that go on is a bit overwhelming, seriously, there’s only so much chocolate and peanut butter I can have at 10 in the morning (I’m a wuss, I know), but if you’re a toppings kinda person, you will be in heeeeeaven.
Lunch
Ok, so technically we didn’t have this for lunch and if I’m being completely honest with you, I can’t remember what we had for our lunches other than wine, beer and chips with mayo (I love Amsterdam for fueling my mayonnaise addiction) BUT what I’m about to share with you is, hand on heart, some of the best pizza I’ve had in my life and luckily, you can have it at lunchtime (I’ve checked).
De Pizzabakkers, in Leliegracht, is a takeaway only pizzeria and was conveniently 5 minutes away from where we were staying, meaning my favourite hobby of eating pizza late in bed happened – is it bad that this was a highlight of the trip for me?
We took home the Salami Finocchiona, which is basically if a pepperoni pizza glowed up, as they use Tuscan fennel salami which is just the most delicious thing to put on a pizza and I will now be disappointed with every pepperoni pizza I have in the future. Going away with just one pizza is a crime so we also ordered the Prosciutto which featured 14 month aged prosciutto and Gran Sasso d’Abruzzo (buffalo mozzarella) which is simply put on-top once the base is baked and this is now the only way I’ll have it from now on because Oh. My. God. what dream.
Ok, I’m drooling, so let’s move on.
Drinks
I’m going to interrupt this steady three-course meal with an all-important cocktail bar recommendation. Let me introduce you to, The Flying Dutchmen.
Located down Singel 460, we visited the cocktail bar our first night in Amsterdam before our meal and it was a treat. What makes this bar different is that they focus on the evolution of cocktails and take you through the journey of what cocktails were, to what they are now. This also meant we ended up ordering quuuuite a few cocktails but hey, all in the name of science.
We went with the Evolution of Genever Cocktails and bloody hell, that set woke us up. As The Flying Dutchmen states, ‘We must learn to walk before we can run before we can fly’, so we walked with Grand Royal Fizz, ran with the Jack the Ripper (you’ll understand why it’s called that if you order it because *wow*) and finally, flew with the Flying Dutchmen Cocktail.
The actual cocktail bar is pretty bougie, and we rocked up in jeans, trainers and parkas – you can imagine it, full tourist mode, however, as soon as we stepped in, one of the bartenders came straight over, found us a seat and handed us infused water and nibbles (I told you, bougie), which was all topped up throughout the evening.
Cocktails here aren’t cheap but they’re just so delicious and the customer service is great so set a couple of quid aside and pop in.
Dinner
This is it. The grand finale! Saving the best until last, my favourite place we ate during our time in Amsterdam, Cannibale Royale. Even thinking about it is making me want to book a flight back.
Vegans and vegetarians, look away now because this one is for the meat lovers.
Cannibale Royale brings you burgers, steaks, sticky ribs, mouth-watering wings and I’m going to state this now, the BEST chicken in the world (Greg can confirm, I said this there and then). I ordered Cannibale’s Jerk-style chicken, which was half a Caribbean spiced Jerk Chicken served with pineapple, with a side of 10/10 fries and Greg went for the Le Modeste, Flat Iron Steak USA Beef which was cooked to perfection. Although we had about seven cocktails before we arrived (so our judgement may have been swayed), I couldn’t recommend this place enough, if I know anyone who’s going to Amsterdam now, I force them to book a table (In the nicest way possible, of course).
Right, I’m just going to leave you to awe that is Cannibale Royale in the photos below while I book flights back to Amsterdam for next summer.
Thank you so much for reading, if you have any places that you would recommend that I visit next time, please tell me!
Sarah x
Recommended:
Read my Food Review: Dough & Brew, Warwick blog post here.