Category: amsterdam

Oliebollen – A Dutch New Year’s Treat

New Year’s Eve is approaching fast and the oliebollen street vendors have returned to the popular corners of Amsterdam to sell their greasy winter treats.

oliebollen - street vendor

The Dutch love their oliebollen, which translates to oil balls. And for good reason. The balls are deep fried by the street vendors in their stalls and you will be sucked in by the sweet and greasy smell from far away. The dough is made mostly of eggs and flour, with some yeast, milk and baking powder to give the balls a fairly puffy texture. They are then deep fried golden brown and served warm. The plain variety is most common and usually garnished with vast amounts of powdered sugar that will be all over you when you take a good bite out of your oily goodness. Olibollen with raisins are also popular.

Today, oliebollen are available throughout the winter. But traditionally they were had on New Year’s Eve to celebrate the new year with a glass of champagne. And to this day, December 31st appears to be some sort of frying contest. Besides the street vendors, all bakeries will bring large fryers out onto the sidewalk in front of their stores and hire extra staff to fry and sell massive amounts of oliebollen to people lining up. You usually get a discount for buying a dozen of balls and most New Year’s parties will be severely overstocked…

oliebollen - displayoliebollen - with powdered sugar

Oliebollen – A Dutch New Year's Treat

New Year’s Eve is approaching fast and the oliebollen street vendors have returned to the popular corners of Amsterdam to sell their greasy winter treats.

oliebollen - street vendor

The Dutch love their oliebollen, which translates to oil balls. And for good reason. The balls are deep fried by the street vendors in their stalls and you will be sucked in by the sweet and greasy smell from far away. The dough is made mostly of eggs and flour, with some yeast, milk and baking powder to give the balls a fairly puffy texture. They are then deep fried golden brown and served warm. The plain variety is most common and usually garnished with vast amounts of powdered sugar that will be all over you when you take a good bite out of your oily goodness. Olibollen with raisins are also popular.

Today, oliebollen are available throughout the winter. But traditionally they were had on New Year’s Eve to celebrate the new year with a glass of champagne. And to this day, December 31st appears to be some sort of frying contest. Besides the street vendors, all bakeries will bring large fryers out onto the sidewalk in front of their stores and hire extra staff to fry and sell massive amounts of oliebollen to people lining up. You usually get a discount for buying a dozen of balls and most New Year’s parties will be severely overstocked…

oliebollen - displayoliebollen - with powdered sugar

Winter Parade Amsterdam

De Parade is a popular yearly theater festival with focus on food and drinks. The shows take place in tents, built around a central market square of bars and restaurants.

The main event takes place in the summer in Martin Luther King park. Since it’s so popular, the organizers have added a winter edition. Winter Parade will be held in the Westergasfabriek from December 16 to 26.

The format is slightly different in the winter due to the restricted space indoors. Instead of being able to choose your shows, you will buy one ticket for general admission and all shows of the evening. Food and drink is extra and like in the summer, there is an interesting kitchen lineup including an oyster bar, a stamppot kitchen and a slow food central.

winter parade amsterdam

Sake in Amsterdam

Even though there is a fairly large Japanese community in Amsterdam, it is hard to come by good sake. Sure, people know about sake and the Japanese restaurants have it on the menu. But there is never any choice – you either have the house sake or no sake. And few shops carry sake and the ones that do only have a single option, the rather average Gekkeikan.

I wish we had a more vibrant sake culture like in New York where Asian restaurants have a sake list much like the customary wine list. And wine stores frequently have an entire aisle of sake, kept cool in a large fridge and with detailed descriptions for you to choose and then take to one of the many bring your own bottle restaurants.

There is hope though and I recently discovered two shops and one restaurant with at least somewhat of a sake selection!

sake in amsterdam

Meidi Ya on Beethovenstraat, Amsterdam outpost of the Japanese retailer with the same name, has the most impressive selection and is also able to provide good advice. Meidi Ya has more than 20 types of sake on offer, complete with an explanatory chart rating the available sake by their classification and dryness. We tried a medium dry Yukidoke Ginjou (Japanese), which was quite good and fairly priced at € 20,=. We liked its smoothness and subtle flavor and will try for a similar but dryer sake next time.

Then there is Roppongi on new hip neighborhood IJburg. Roppongi is a self-proclaimed Japanese lifestyle store that among other things sells sushi and sake. They even have a web shop where you can order sake online for Amsterdam delivery. We tried their Kizan (Japanese), a nama (unpasteurized) Junmai (pure) sake from the Nagano prefecture. We didn’t like it as much as the Yukidoke and thought it was expensive at € 27,50.

The restaurant that lets you pick your preferred sake is Kaiko, a very traditional Japanese restaurant in the Rivierenbuurt that is popular with the Japanese business crowd and has four or five kinds available. It seems that sake importer Yoigokochi is facilitating some of the improved availability.

The picture above shows the two sake bottles described above – the blue color is pure coincidental… I hope sake catches on a lot more in Amsterdam!

Vleminckx – The Best French Fries in Amsterdam

Named after the French and invented by the Belgians, the Dutch certainly love their fries no less than these nations and make and consume them in masses. Many restaurants serve them as a side dish and there is a snack bar with French Fries on just about every corner.

But where can you find the best French Fries in Amsterdam? Somewhat surprisingly, but undisputedly, hole-in-the-wall Vleminckx on Voetboogstraat makes the most delicious fries in my city, and possibly in the whole world.

Vleminckx is amazing and certainly deserves its spot on dutchgrub’s best authentic Dutch restaurants in Amsterdam list. It’s basically a small kitchen with a window through which the fries are sold. The first thing you will see, is a long line of people waiting for their fries. The wait is never short and always worth it. And the kitchen is buzzing with washing, peeling, cutting, frying and double frying of the French Fries, which is kind of fun to watch while lining up.

vleminckx french fries amsterdam - hole-in-the-wall

The fires are large, golden and crispy on the outside and hot and steamy on the inside. They are served in a paper cone with a large selection of sauces including tomato ketchup, curry and mayonnaise, as well as adventurous concoctions such as a mixture of raw onions and peanut sauce called “oorlog”, Dutch for war.

Vleminckx is open until 6pm daily. So if you’re in town shopping, drop by and get in line for a real Dutch treat of delicious home made fries!

vleminckx french fries amsterdam - cone of friesvleminckx french fries amsterdam - store front

Two Additional Michelin Stars for Amsterdam

michelin starThis week Michelin announced its stars for the Netherlands 2010. There were no less than eleven restaurants who received their first stars, two of them in Amsterdam.

Nothing changed at the top. Ciel Bleu and Ron Blaauw maintained their two stars while La Rive did not receive the second stars it had been rumored to receive. And there still is no three star restaurant in Amsterdam and surroundings.

Le Restaurant in de Pijp and Vinkeles in the Dylan Hotel on Keizersgracht joined the ranks of Amsterdam one Michelin star restaurants Aan de Poel, La Rive and Yamazato.

So in total Amsterdam now has seven Michelin star restaurants, most of them either part of hotels or located outside of the city. Le restaurant is the notable exception. It’s a fairly small restaurant that is run table d’hôtes style and located smack in the middle of party neighborhood De Pijp.