Café-Restaurant De Plantage

Mediterranean brasserie cooking inside the prettiest cast-iron winter garden in Amsterdam.

Next to the Artis zoo gates sits the 19th-century Ledenlokalen, a soaring hall of glass and mint-green cast iron that was restored into this all-day brasserie, and honestly, half the score is the room. Light pours through the wraparound windows onto marble, birch chairs and one enormous indoor tree; on a grey Tuesday it feels like being let off the hook for winter. The kitchen holds up its end with sunny Mediterranean cooking: ricotta-and-pea ravioli with lemon butter, barbecued squid stuffed with scampi, sardines with peperonata, and a slow-roasted Burgos lamb shoulder carved for two. Wines lean organic, prices stay reasonable, and the terrace faces the greenest street in the city. It runs from morning coffee to late drinks daily, takes groups without flinching, and is the rare parents-visiting option that locals use anyway.

Split the slow-roasted Burgos lamb shoulder for two, with frites on the side.

Photo: Café-Restaurant De Plantage