SmaaQt
Van der Pekstraat's dependable table: Big Green Egg dinners, market-day lunches.
The Van der Pekstraat pick: chef Gurkan runs this corner spot with the energy of someone feeding his own street, which he is. Lunch means proper sandwiches and homemade soups for shoppers drifting off the Van der Pek market; dinner shifts to fish and meat off the Big Green Egg, with a menu that rewrites itself every few weeks around whatever's in season. The room seats seventy without feeling like a canteen, and the sheltered courtyard garden out back is one of the buurt's quieter suntraps. This isn't destination cooking and doesn't pretend to be, it's the reliable neighborhood table that Noord's most photogenic shopping street deserves, priced accordingly and open from mid-morning until late. Go on a market day, order the chicken satay everyone mentions, and watch the Pekbuurt go about its business from the window seats.
The chicken satay off the Big Green Egg is the order regulars swear by.
What to order
Full menu- Spare ribs from the Big Green Egg€28.50
The house premium; most days there's a braised short-rib special reviewers call outstanding.
- Poké bowl€19.50
The lunch bestseller, sushi rice, mango, avocado, your pick of salmon or crispy chicken.
- SmaaQt-burger€14.50
Angus on brioche with bacon and cheddar; add the fries.
- Eggs Royale€14.50
Bagel, smoked salmon, poached eggs, hollandaise, plus proper barista coffee.
If you like this, also worth a table
More in Noord →
Il Pecorino
A Noord trattoria run by Tanya Spreitzer and chef Andreas Psyllas, with porchetta from the wood oven and a full alcohol-free drinks list.
Café Modern
A changing surprise menu of five to seven courses in Noord's former Twentsche Bank, where Sander van Melick has cooked since the start in 2012.
RIJKS
Bijdendijk's Low Countries cooking is the Rijksmuseum's best exhibit, and it's edible.
Hemelse Modder
Thirty-plus years of cooking for the neighbours, priced like it still means it.
VRR
Bakery by day, the resurrected soul of Restaurant As by night, in an 1895 warehouse on Oostenburg.
Wilde Zwijnen
The Javaplein pioneer that proved modern Dutch cooking is a real thing.