By Jennifer Schlueter
I didn’t know I would end up with a new country on my must-visit list after my Eating Amsterdam food tour. But let me tell you how this happened and what other delicious dishes we indulged in:
Due to the best apple pie in town being sold out at Café Papeneiland for a few hours, our flexible guide Rudolph made a quick change in routes and headed to the next stop with us, after a quick introduction to the city of Amsterdam.
At the famous Butcher Louman, which was founded in 1890, we got to try a raw, lightly smoked ox sausage (ossenworst) and a cooked pork sausage (grillworst). Vegetarian options were served as well.
Our second stop was the reason I added Surinam to my must-visit list of countries. I had learned that this very diverse, tiny South American country used to be a Dutch colony and was thus included in our tour. The small takeaway Swieti Sranang serves Surinam and Indonesian cuisine from which we had broodje pom and baka bana. The first was a sandwich filled with a paste of shredded tayer, a South American root, lemon juice, spices, cucumber and shredded chicken. I had never tasted anything comparable before and loved it so much that for dinner, I went back to have the sandwich again! We also had fried plantain topped with satay sauce.
We then walked back to what should have been our first stop, Café Papeneiland, one of Amsterdam’s “brown cafes,” dating back to 1642. The Thiel family serves apple pie so good that former US President Clinton ordered 10 whole pies to bring back to the White House when he was visiting.
Because you can’t leave Holland without eating some of their traditional herring and kibbeling (battered, deep fried fish), we visited Vis Plaza, a small seafood place where we ate both. While our guide probably liked the herring the most, the rest of us indulged in the kibbeling and its dressing.
After a few minutes of walking, digesting, and learning more about Amsterdam, its buildings, and people, Rudolph took us onto “The Tourist,” a salon boat older than 100 years, whose guests had been Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and former Prime Minister of the UK Winston Churchill.
On our hour-long boat trip, Rudolph and the captain told us more about Amsterdam and took us through several canals of the main city, where we saw the main station, city hall, churches, and the most expensive part of the city, which you can recognize by its houses with tall windows and staircases. We were served three cheeses of various ages from De Kaaskammer with delicious fig bread and a light Dutch sider.
A bit later, we picked up bitterballen with mustard, meatballs in a sauce, and paired them with local beers from Brouwerij ‘t IJ.
We finished at Cafe Prins, across from the Anne Frank House, where we all got to enjoy our last meal of this four-and-a-half hour long tour, sweet poffertjes. These tiny baked goods reminded me of a smaller version of American pancakes; however, the poffertjes are not baked in a normal pan, but in custom-made, little forms. Topped with syrup and powdered sugar, they make for a great dessert along with coffee or tea.
Before we all went our separate ways, Rudolph offered us more tips on what to do while in Amsterdam and even more restaurants to check out.
Again, this time short & sweet, here are 5 reasons why I recommend this tour:
– You’ll eat delicious, great-quality, traditional food
– You’ll try things you’ve never eaten before
– You’ll learn lots about the history city of Amsterdam
– You’ll meet like-minded foodies and great people
– You’ll get to go on a boat tour through the canals
Eating Amsterdam Food Tours also offer a Jordaan Food Tour without the boat ride. You can book yours now at http://www.eatingamsterdamtours.com.
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