Asian cuisine in Amsterdam is very much dominated by Indonesian and Thai restaurants. To the point where it’s hard to find a good Chinese, available on each corner in many other large European cities. So we were very excited when we learned about a Vietnamese restaurant having opened doors.
Xinh is located just off the corner of Elandsgracht and Prinsengracht, in one of those locations that have become known for failing restaurants, having seen a series of bad restaurants going out of business, most recently Waldorf. Xinh did a great job of giving the inside a very different look, sparsely lit, coolish with a touch of 70s atmosphere.
Xinh has both an a la carte menu as well as a three course tasting menu. There are few surprises on the menu but all the Vietnamese favorites such as summer rolls, grilled meat on a stick, Vietnamese crepes, Pho, or dancing beef. The tasting menu is a good choice for those not very familiar with Vietnamese cuisine. It starts out with a fresh salad with shrimps and chilli sauce, and then as main has a combination of dancing beef, lemongrass chicken and caramel pork.
The highlight of our dinner was probably dessert, where we were allowed to switch the banana pudding for ice cream, one of which was durian flavor. At that point we briefly felt like being in Asia!
We weren’t blown away but liked it enough to come back. And we don’t think it will go out of business soon!
www.xinh.nl
Elandsgracht 2
1016 TV Amsterdam
Tel.: +31 (0)20 6240308
Public Transport: Trams 13, 14, 17 to Westermarkt or trams 1, 2, 5 to Spui
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Neighborhood: Jordaan
Vibe: Cool
At last! It has got to the point where I briefly thought about opening a Vietnamese restaurant myself. Albeit I would need to undergo a lot of time in Vietnam to learn the ropes first!
Do they also do takeaway? That would be my idea of heaven.
Hi Mel,
I don’t know about takeaway. It doesn’t look like it’s setup for it and I certainly didn’t notice anyone picking up food.
Too bad! You might have to embark on that voyage to Vietnam to learn the ropes after all…
–dutchgrub
hey there…i’m sure you guys both know about saigon cafe (http://www.saigon-cafe.nl/) and ken-san (http://www.ken-san.nl/), two additional new vietnamese places in town…no idea if they’re good, but it’s great to finally have some pho and banh mi options…..
Hey Mark,
Good to hear from you!
Have always kind of avoided Saigon Café based on location and the word lounge appearing one too many times on their site…
Didn’t know about Ken San. Curiously their site re-directs to the Saigon Cafe. Will have to investigate!
–dutchgrub
Hi, we recently tried Miss Saigon on the Bilderdijkstraat (no site) and we liked the place and the food.
I’ve been to Xinh many times and love the food! It’s originally Vietnamese and as I heard the others like Saigon cafe or Miss Saigon aren’t. So the food in Xinh is more expensive, but quality wise, the Pho is really good! Try the others and you’ll come back to Xinh. Nice review though!