Kitchen Impossible

The all-vegan sister of Men Impossible on a quiet Pijp square, home to what Ramenko calls the best tsukemen in Amsterdam.

Atsushi Ishida left a corporate career to make plant-based ramen nobody believed in, and his Men Impossible on the Hazenstraat is already in this guide. Kitchen Impossible, opened in September 2023 on the leafy Van der Helstplein, is the casual sister: same owner, different address, different idea. Where the Jordaan original is a communal-table tasting affair, this is a corner shop where you walk in, order at the counter and watch the square go by. Everything is fully vegan and none of it plays the substitute game: the Tan Tan Men blends sesame, soybeans and aromatic vegetables under house chili oil, the miso bowl carries crispy fried seitan, and the noodles are rolled in house from spelt flour. The Tsuke Men is the order of record; Ramenko, the Japanese blogger who ranks every bowl in town, calls it the best tsukemen in Amsterdam, and the yuzu soup wari they pour at the end to loosen the last of the dipping sauce backs the claim. Google holds it at 4.8, HappyCow at a straight 5.0, and lunch is the quiet bargain.

Open Wed-Mon, lunch 12:00-14:00 (weekends to 15:00) and dinner 17:00-21:30, closed Tuesday. Walk-in only, and the €10 lunch set of onigiri, miso soup, cauliflower tempura and kimchi is one of the best cheap Japanese lunches in De Pijp.

Photo: Ramenko