Dame aan de Kade

A 1970s glass-block bar on the Ruysdaelkade doing unfussy Mediterranean plates and serious natural wine.

Three friends, Quirijn Roozen, Niek Roozen and Dominic Aarts, built this themselves, and it shows in the details: terracotta walls, a disco ball, glass blocks lit from behind, none of it hired out to a design firm. Chef Freek Dekker and sous-chef Stan Burgman keep the menu short and Mediterranean, a grilled chicken supreme built for the table, charred leek with beurre blanc, a steak tartare that doesn't try too hard. The wine list is the real commitment: built with Zuiver Wijnen and Daxivin, chosen by taste rather than label, and it runs the length of the room alongside original cocktails. By day it reads as a neighborhood café on the canal; after dark the lights drop, the music climbs, and it turns into the kind of bar De Pijp didn't quite have. Weekends run past midnight, Friday until three. Barts Boekje called the whole thing cozy lingering without club vibes, which is close enough. Opened January 2026 and already filling on weeknights.

Wednesday and Sunday close at 23:00, Thursday runs to 01:00, Friday and Saturday later still. Closed Monday and Tuesday. Walk-ins welcome at the bar.

Photo: Dame aan de Kade