The Best Restaurants in Amsterdam
A comprehensively reviewed guide to the best fine dining and casual fine dining restaurants in Amsterdam
Month: July 2017
Beef wellington with mushrooms
Very few dishes can compete with the combination of tender beef, rich pate and a crispy pastry crust. The addition of slight acidity from the vinaigrette on the mushrooms and the salty fresh sauce of samphire though just raises it to a new height.
Vinkeles
(17.75 / 20) An absolute gem of a restaurant housed in the beautiful Dylan hotel in the center of Amsterdam’s historic canal belt. Elegant, precise and deceptively simple classic French preparations are given a Dutch twist and sent out to the beautifully calm dining room where diners are taken care of by the current Gault&Millau Maitre D’ of the year. (They also have a Chefs Table which I can’t recommend enough). For me, Vinkeles is so far out in front of the pack of 1 star restaurants in town that I already assume it has 2 macarons – an oversight I should hope is rectified by Michelin sooner rather than later.
Rijks
(15.75 / 20) One of the better casual fine dining spots in Amsterdam serving uncontroversial fare with the odd moment of brilliance. Despite now having a star, if you come here expecting Michelin-style food you may well be disappointed. Irrespective, it stays high on my list of recommendations in town, especially for those looking for good price/quality, in a very central location, and where it’s usually possible to get a table.
&Samhoudplaces
(17.5 / 20) A global smorgasbord of interesting and delicious plates infused with classic French technique and peppered with modernist influences. On a good day, which this certainly was, this is easily an 18. But the restaurant lacks consistency. And though I’d personally always prefer to eat somewhere inconsistent with a chance of brilliance than somewhere predictably mediocre, it would be inappropriate to think that that’s acceptable to everyone. Especially when paying this much to eat.
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