10 best Dutch restaurants in Amsterdam

Dutch cuisine is an acquired taste. You either like it or you don’t. While some give it flak for its plainness, others appreciate it for its simplicity. If you want to test it out for yourself, there are a number of restaurants in Amsterdam where you can tickle your tastebuds.

Whether you’re looking for hodgepodge (stamppot), Dutch pea soup (erwtensoep), or raasdonders, this is where you want to go this year:

Bistro Amsterdam

In the heart of the Jordaan sits Bistro Amsterdam. You’ll recognize it by the red and iconic triple x tables and chairs outside. But don’t let the furniture fool you into thinking it is just a tourist trap. This restaurant in Amsterdam is the best place to try out some authentic Dutch foods.

What makes this place particularly jump-up-excited is the oer-Hollandse menu. Raasdonders, stamppot, grandma’s beef stew (hachee), mussels, Dutch soles (sliptong) – there is too much to mention and you have to try it all.

Address: Prinsengracht 287H, Amsterdam
Price range: €16.50–24

‘t Zwaantje

This restaurant is so Dutch, even your new Dutch friends would say, “Yea, that’s typically Dutch (typisch Nederlands).” Always buzzing with locals, restaurant ‘t Zwaantje has been a staple in Amsterdam for nearly 50 years. They’ve had famous Dutch regulars and international visitors, including Ramses Shaffy, (the) Prince, the entire band of David Bowie, and Carmine Rojas.

This charming restaurant serves ‘the kitchen of yore’ (de keuken van toen), with a hint of French undertones. Notable dishes include hachee, fried mussels with fries, and a delicious creamy fish stew (romig vispotje).

Address: Berenstraat 12, Amsterdam
Price range: €16–25

Eetcafé Stoop & Stoop

Only the Dutch will say something is ‘not elegant, but just comfortable’, and mean it as a compliment. Eetcafé Stoop & Stoop in the Leidsedwarsstraat is a typical example of Dutch straightforwardness. Their menu is plain and simple, comes in big portions, and has reasonable prices.

Whereas other restaurants might lure you in with their fancy decor, this eatery in Amsterdam doesn’t need all that. Stoop & Stoop feels like a warm bath after a long day at work, when you’ve got the place to your own because your partner has taken your children elsewhere. Gewoon lekker.

Address: Leidsedwarsstraat 82, Amsterdam
Price range: €9–24.50

De Blauwe Hollander

De Blauwe Hollander on the Leidsekruisstraat proves that simplicity is best. This restaurant feels like a warm hug on a typically cold Dutch winter’s day.

The entire menu is authentic Hollandse pot: herring (haring), pea soup, stamppot, slavink, kalfslever, and Dutch soles. And if you have a sweet tooth, you can try a traditional vlaflip and be transported back to the Dutch childhood you never had.

Address: Leidsekruisstraat 28, Amsterdam
Price range: €15.50–22

Moeders

A list of Dutch restaurants in Amsterdam is incomplete without mentioning Moeders. This homely eatery has a beautiful instagrammable aesthetic, with its walls covered in photos of women and mothers.

Their menu has a mix of traditional and non-traditional dishes, including Dutch specialties like stamppot, a variety of stews, and pea soup. Be sure to reserve a table in advance – though it’s been around for more than 25 years, this place is still as popular as ever.

Address: Rozengracht 251, Amsterdam
Price range: €16–21.50

De Rozenboom

Located smack dab in the middle of Amsterdam is Restaurant de Rozenboom. The blue saucers on their walls aren’t the only traditional things they’ll serve you: the menu contains stamppot, mussels, chicken liver (kippenlevertjes), and kapucijners met spek.

Address: Rozenboomsteeg 6, Amsterdam
Price range: €14.50–21

Eetcafé Kop van Jut

For 20 years, eetcafé Kop van Jut has been named the coziest (meest gezellige) restaurant on the Leidseplein – and rightfully so! This is the type of restaurant where you saunter in for a nibble and a drink, and only leave after the doors have closed. Be sure to try out the stamppot, fries with beef stew, mussels with fries, and chicken roulade.

Address: Leidsekruisstraat 24, Amsterdam
Price range: €12.50–17

The Pantry

As said before, Dutch cuisine is only for the brave. The best option would be having a tasting of three stamppotten at once, so if you don’t like it, you have two more tries before you write it off.

Enter The Pantry. This family-run restaurant in Amsterdam has traditional, homemade specialties, as well as a bunch of other foods that are by no means less Dutch.

Address: Leidsekruisstraat 21, Amsterdam
Price range: €15–20

Bolenius

This place might be the most expensive on this list, but the dishes from Bolenius are absolutely worth the few extra euros. Serving Dutch haute cuisine, this gorgeous restaurant in the Amsterdam Zuidas has earned not one, but two Michelin stars.

Most items on their menu are prepared with ingredients from their own garden or other local sources. Expect classics like porcini mushrooms (eekhoontjesbrood), crayfish (langoustine), and pike-perch (snoekbaars).

Address: George Gershwinlaan 30, Amsterdam
Price range: €115

Loetje

Anyone living in Amsterdam has been to Loetje. Their perfect steak with buttery gravy and bread is a staple in the Amsterdam culinary scene. Though it doesn’t serve any of the other traditionally-Dutch specialties such as stamppot or hachee, you can’t visit the capital without going to Loetje. That is, unless you are vegetarian or vegan, in which case you might want to sit this one out.

Address: multiple locations, Amsterdam
Price range: €14–40

Honorable mention: Thúskomme

Thúskomme is more than just a restaurant. It’s a community where you can stop by to check out local art, read the newspaper with a cup of coffee (bakkie pleur), or have a few drinks with your friends.

What’s so great about this restaurant is that it is extremely sustainable. They use only local ingredients, electric furnaces, heat recycling, and solar panels.

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So why is this restaurant an honorable mention? That’s because their menu is Frisian. And if you ask anyone up North, they’ll agree that Dutch and Frisian are just not the same. All is forgiven, however, when you try the wild Wadden oysters, Sjerp Blom sausages, mushroom stew, and tsiisfondue.

Address: Batjanstraat 1a, Amsterdam
Price range: €5.50–22

Bonus: Blue Pepper

Dutch-Indonesian cuisine is the best that the Netherlands has to offer, and Blue Pepper is the best restaurant in Amsterdam where you can give it a spin.

This eatery serves Indonesian haute cuisine with fresh herbs and spices, and a rijsttafel that is absolutely scrumptious. Note that if you aren’t a fan of spicy food (pedis), this place might not be for you.

Address: Nassaukade 366, Amsterdam
Price range: €15–75