I had four days in Amsterdam, and this is how I spent it.
Friday
We arrived at 8am, took a cab (hello overabundance of Tesla cabs!) and checked into the hotel at 9:30am. I slept about zero on the plane, so I needed a nap. Woke up after 1pm and walked to The Avocado Show, a restaurant that serves only pretty avocado dishes. This hipster spot was packed, and we waited 30 minutes for our table after putting our name down with the fabulous hostess in sparkle spandex.
The Avo Garden – Two avocado halves filled with hummus, decorated with spices & flowers and sidekicked by crispy multigrain toast.
The Avo Garden – I loved the hummus and spices in the avocado.
The CAT Sandwich – Chicken Avocado Truffle stuffed in a stacked sandwich with thick dutch bread. My husband ate this; he said it was terrible (minimal truffle flavor, and the chicken and the bread was dry)
We wanted dessert and opted not to get the matcha avocado pancakes (which I now kinda wish we got), but instead left the restaurant and walked to the Albert Cuypmarkt for stroopwafels at the Original Stroopwafels stand.
Original Stroopwafel with chocolate. You should go to this stand to get a stroopwafel. I tried the other stroopwafels stands and they were not as good (or sanitary) in comparison. Original Stroopwafels | Albert Cuypstraat 182 | 1072 EA Amsterdam
I also bought a souvenir Amsterdam magnet, my husband bought some overpriced throw-away gloves, we sampled some Old Amsterdam gouda, and we then made our way to the museum district. It was pretty late in the afternoon by then, so the I Amsterdam sign was packed. If you want to get a great shot of it without tourists, go before 9am. Otherwise, your photo will look like mine:
I Amsterdam Sign – me and a bunch of other people trying to model at the same time.
We had dinner at Vermeer (managed by 1* Michelin Executive Chef Chris Naylor) that night and opted for the four course tasting. It’s a beautiful restaurant inside the NH Collection Amsterdam Barbizon Palace Hotel in the Red Light District. Here’s what we ate (sorry to the restaurant if some are misnamed):
Kohlrabi with sea buckthorn – eaten like a taco
Mushroom Carrot Ravioli with Carrot broth
Beetroot with fried shrimp
Red Mullet, panko cursted and with uni sauce
Veal Cheek Noordoostpolder with pumpkin puree, puffed grain salad
Palate cleanser: Wim Bijma Seaweed. Sushi roll with flavors of apple, seaweed, fermented black garlic, and an apple cider sorbet
Tompouce: mille-feuille with lemon custard and vanilla
Mignardes of chocolate served in a cacao shell
On the walk back to the hotel, I managed to get a cleaner shot of the I Amsterdam sign and the ice skating rink across from it.
I Amsterdam Sign at 11pm
Ice Skating Rink across from the sign
Saturday
9am Breakfast at the Corner Bakery. It was empty when we arrived and packed with a wait when we left at 10am. Europeans eat later than Americans so get to the popular eateries a little early.
The hub’s croque madame – grilled sandwich with ham and cheese with cheese omelette and fried egg
My Dragon Bowl – dragon fruit, banana, fresh fruit and homemade granola
Sis in law’s Avocado Smash – 2 toasts with avo, cucumber, tomato and homemade sauce
They also sell really pretty cakes
Next stop: The Van Gogh Museum, an art museum dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh. I loved seeing all the different stages of his life in painting, which I took zero pictures of. Sorry. Here’s a picture of the lovely staircase though.
Staircase inside the Van Gogh Museum
After a couple hours in a museum, all you want to do is eat. So that’s what we did.
A dozen delicious briny oysters- Boudeuse No.4, Umami No.3, Platte Zeeuwse 4 nul from The Seafood Bar
Slurp slurp
Fruits de Mer
Time for more museum. There was a Bansky exhibit going on at the Moco Museum.
Balloon Girl
Home Sweet Home – Banksy painted on top of another artist’s work
Diana £10 Note – these were thrown into a crowd. People tried to use them as real money, not realizing they were fake, thus inadvertently turning it from art into counterfeit money. Banksy is wanted for forgery. Lol.
Roy Lichtenstein 3D room
Dinner that night: time for some good ol’ American eatin’. We had burgers at The Burgerbar.
Free range premium aged Angus US beef burger with mushrooms and cheese
Sunday
Breakfast at Cosy by Mandy. Everyone in my family got a savory dutch pancake while I was the only one who got a sweet one. Mine was the best, obviously.
Nutella with strawberries and powdered sugar dutch pancake
The hub’s cheese, bacon, tomato dutch pancake
That wasn’t enough so we went to Foodhallen, an old train station turned international indoor food market.
Balls from De BallenBar by Michelin star chef Peter Gast. Beef, pork, truffle, etc balls. The one with sauce fell on the floor after this photo 🙁
I loved these balls
Petit Gateau – Fig Speculoos Crumble, Lemon, Chocolate & Pear
Baowowow – Shoyu ramen
le Big Fish oysters
Jabugo bar iberico charcuterie
Padron fried veggies
Some sightseeing was next as we walked off our second lunch.
Fermented coleslaw with pan fried black pudding and apple compote
Soup of Jerusalem artichokes with crispy Serrano ham, pesto and roasted almonds
Gnocchi with forgotten vegetables, feta cheese and kale chips
Ragout of forest mushrooms in a puff pastry shell from Patissier Wesselman
Venison steaks with potato gratin and red port sauce
Grilled chicken flattie with garlic butter
Linguine with vongole, coriander, chili pepper and tomato
Ricotta beignets with red fruits coulis and creme fraiche
Ice cream from Nelis, awarded with national and international prizes
Dessert of the day- fruit tart
Monday
Monday was exactly what Mondays always are: completely miserable. It rained all day and it was cold af. We took a day trip to Utrecht to walk around in the cold for a couple hours and made it back to Amsterdam by 4pm. Here’s what we ate in Utrecht:
I didn’t eat this in Utrecht. I ate it in Amsterdam before we got on the train to Utrecht. Overnight oats with fruit.
Belgian Beer Café Olivier – Croque Monsieur
Belgian Beer Café Olivier – Mussels
Belgian Beer Café Olivier – Croquettes
Belgian Beer Café Olivier
Dinner in Amsterdam: we went to Cafe Caron and it was fantastic. I only took photos of my own food to spare my family a wait to dig in.
Black Pudding – chicken liver, port, sorrel
Coquille St. Jacques scallop – potato, portobello, trout roe
Last day in Amsterdam before our 3pm train to Paris. We went back to Foodhallen ’cause it’s just so good with its variety.
Tacos from Taqueria Lima
Dim Sum from DimsumThing
Meneer Temaki hand rolls
Fento – green juice
Shirkhan – mango lassi
Jabugo – Portuguese egg tarts
Before we left, we got onigiri to go and ate it on the train.
Onigiri YA! Miso Mackerel onigiri
I think we ate more than we did sightseeing. It was an overall great time in Amsterdam. I love how walkable the city is, and I can only imagine how wonderful it would be in the spring.
There were a lot of things I wish we had more time for or would have done if the weather was better, but visiting a city during its cold and rainy season can be challenging and at times miserable. Yet even on a gloomy day, Amsterdam is a beautiful city. It made the short moments of sun and parted clouds even more appreciated and breathtaking.
