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Bump

Going to be in town from 3/25/19 through 3/31/19 with my future brother in law and his brother for his non-traditional bachelor party.

I'm the only beer nerd in the group, so looking for things that might be interesting to everyone and not just myself.

Going to try and convince our group to take the train to Brussels for a day, but aside from that I'm wide open for recommendations on food / alcohol / culture and things to avoid.

Cheers!
 
Bump

Going to try and convince our group to take the train to Brussels for a day, but aside from that I'm wide open for recommendations on food / alcohol / culture and things to avoid.

Cheers!

Haha, bit late reply... I think taking the train to Brussels just for one is worth it to go and pick up bottles or visit specific stuff, but you won't have time enough to properly explore since it's about 3 hours each way.

Personally I think Amsterdam is a bit too crowded these days with so many tourists. I'd go and visit a nice nearby town like Haarlem or something for a day. More quiet, lots of nice stuff to see and good food/beer.

In Amsterdam there's all the usual suspects as far as beer places go, but don't forget Foeders, pretty amazing bar.
 
Bump

Going to be in town from 3/25/19 through 3/31/19 with my future brother in law and his brother for his non-traditional bachelor party.

I'm the only beer nerd in the group, so looking for things that might be interesting to everyone and not just myself.

Going to try and convince our group to take the train to Brussels for a day, but aside from that I'm wide open for recommendations on food / alcohol / culture and things to avoid.

Cheers!

I forgot all about this
I'd never pick anything over Amsterdam as a tourist. There's a reason it's busy and it's not because Haarlem is more fun to visit. Really Amsterdam is the only thing that comes close to an actual city in the Netherlands, even though it still sort of feels like a village.

Anyway to visit; Le Fou Fow has good ramen. Vleminckx in the Voetboogstraat has the best french fries in the country, which is very much street food. Yuan’s Hot Pot has, you guessed it, good hot pot. Bar Alt wants to be good at beer and food pairing but really isn't all that great. Caviar and fresh Alt is really something though, so maybe sit at the bar and just stuff your face with that. Taste of Culture near the Leidseplein is open till late and has really good authentic Chinese food, think 2 AM off your face drunk pig intestines stuffed with shrimp roe, they do more easily liked dishes too of course. Sampurna does a fine Indonesian food (rijsttafel) which is pretty much Dutch food.
For other random good restaurants, there's Rijsel, Bak, Choux, Daalder (super place), Café Caron, Auberge Jean & Marie en Scheepskameel.

As for beer, Foeders is indeed great. You don't even need to go to Brussels to get your fix, he has Bokkereyder and a lot of speciallekes from the other breweries. In de Wildeman usually has a good menu and het Arendsnest is fun as they only do Dutch beers.


I think a good rule of thumb is to avoid everything that starts with "Amsterdam". Don't go to the Amsterdam Dungeon or the Amsterdam Sex Museum or something dumb like that. Also avoid any place that is proud of its "authentic" Dutch food.
 
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I forgot all about this
I'd never pick anything over Amsterdam as a tourist. There's a reason it's busy and it's not because Haarlem is more fun to visit. Really Amsterdam is the only thing that comes close to an actual city in the Netherlands, even though it still sort of feels like a village.

Anyway to visit; Le Fou Fow has good ramen. Vleminckx in the Voetboogstraat has the best french fries in the country, which is very much street food. Yuan’s Hot Pot has, you guessed it, good hot pot. Bar Alt wants to be good at beer and food pairing but really isn't all that great. Caviar and fresh Alt is really something though, so maybe sit at the bar and just stuff your face with that. Taste of Culture near the Leidseplein is open till late and has really good authentic Chinese food, think 2 AM off your face drunk pig intestines stuffed with shrimp roe, they do more easily liked dishes too of course. Sampurna does a fine Indonesian food (rijsttafel) which is pretty much Dutch food.
For other random good restaurants, there's Rijsel, Bak, Choux, Daalder (super place), Café Caron, Auberge Jean & Marie en Scheepskameel.

As for beer, Foeders is indeed great. You don't even need to go to Brussels to get your fix, he has Bokkereyder and a lot of speciallekes from the other breweries. In de Wildeman usually has a good menu and het Arendsnest is fun as they only do Dutch beers.


I think a good rule of thumb is to avoid everything that starts with "Amsterdam". Don't go to the Amsterdam Dungeon or the Amsterdam Sex Museum or something dumb like that. Also avoid any place that is proud of its "authentic" Dutch food.
I'm glad I saw this. The fiance and I will be in Amsterdam again in April (second time there) and I'm really hoping to find better restaurants this go 'round. We're staying at the Kimpton just south of Centraal and don't mind using Uber or navigating tram rides. A few restaurants I've had my eye on already are Cannibale Royale, Lion Noir, Bluespoon and Herengracht (it doesn't look terribly impressive, food-wise, but maybe would be nice to sit outside on our first night while recovering from jet lag). Any of these really worth it? I'll start going down the list of places you already mentioned above, Saind .

Gonzoillini , we had a great time at Foodhallen and Oedipus Brewing. The latter may be a hard sell if no one else is really into beer since it's on Amsterdam North and requires a short boat ride and a walk to get there (then again, you get to take a boat ride). Boom Chicago was much more entertaining than we thought it would be - not saying it's a 'must see' by any means, but we laughed a lot and it was interesting to see Chicago-style improv in a different culture (show was in English, audience was probably 50/50 Americans and Europeans). If you can, book a tour with Those Dam Boat Guys - smaller, more casual tours and the boats are BYO. We're also doing a walking/progressive dinner tour with Hungry Birds this trip, too.
 
I forgot all about this
I'd never pick anything over Amsterdam as a tourist. There's a reason it's busy and it's not because Haarlem is more fun to visit. Really Amsterdam is the only thing that comes close to an actual city in the Netherlands, even though it still sort of feels like a village.

Anyway to visit; Le Fou Fow has good ramen. Vleminckx in the Voetboogstraat has the best french fries in the country, which is very much street food. Yuan’s Hot Pot has, you guessed it, good hot pot. Bar Alt wants to be good at beer and food pairing but really isn't all that great. Caviar and fresh Alt is really something though, so maybe sit at the bar and just stuff your face with that. Taste of Culture near the Leidseplein is open till late and has really good authentic Chinese food, think 2 AM off your face drunk pig intestines stuffed with shrimp roe, they do more easily liked dishes too of course. Sampurna does a fine Indonesian food (rijsttafel) which is pretty much Dutch food.
For other random good restaurants, there's Rijsel, Bak, Choux, Daalder (super place), Café Caron, Auberge Jean & Marie en Scheepskameel.

As for beer, Foeders is indeed great. You don't even need to go to Brussels to get your fix, he has Bokkereyder and a lot of speciallekes from the other breweries. In de Wildeman usually has a good menu and het Arendsnest is fun as they only do Dutch beers.


I think a good rule of thumb is to avoid everything that starts with "Amsterdam". Don't go to the Amsterdam Dungeon or the Amsterdam Sex Museum or something dumb like that. Also avoid any place that is proud of its "authentic" Dutch food.

All great advice.
Completely agree, Amsterdam is an amazing city with so much to offer. Go to museums earlier, go to some of the smaller museums too, such as FOAM.
My favorite bars are Arendsnest and Foeders.
Oedipus is great and worth a visit.
Haarlem is a definitely worth a day trip too, if you are in the area for more than 3 for 4 days, otherwise just stay in Amsterdam.

Tons of great coffee too: lot sixty one, bocca, the Coffee Vine pop up, Scandinavian embassy

Some restaurants I really enjoy: Little Collins, Arles, Glou Glou (all 3 of which are near Foeders), Foodhallen (food hall w lots of cool places, something for everyone), Mamouche (Moroccan), vegetarian: Traffic Hummus, Dop Hert, Meatless District, Dutch Weed Burger Joint.

There is also a November Project in Amsterdam, always fun and a good workout, and free.

Cheers
 
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