Terang Boelan
Tiny Jordaan counter, grandma-grade Indonesian takeaway, sells out most evenings.
A takeaway counter the size of a wardrobe on a Jordaan side street, run by an older couple who cook like your Indonesian grandmother, if you were lucky enough to have one. Terang Boelan opens at half past two, and the smart money is there early, because when the rendang is gone it is gone and the door closes whenever the trays empty. Order the rames: rice buried under a chicken dish, a beef dish, vegetables, egg in sambal and two satay skewers, all for around eleven euros. The beef rendang is dark, slow and properly spiced, none of the sweetened polder version. There is no seating, no concept, no music. You take your box to a bench on the Lindengracht, open the lid, and understand exactly why the neighbourhood has kept this place a working secret for decades.
Rames compleet with daging rendang and sambal goreng telor, extra satay
What to order
Full menu- Rames compleet± €11.00
Rice, chicken, beef, vegetables, sambal egg, two satay skewers; the whole repertoire
- Daging rendang± €4.40 as side
Dark, slow, properly spiced; arrive early or mourn
If you like this, also worth a table
More in Jordaan →
Enté
The self-styled nouveau kroeg: bitterballen under the counter, coq au vin and bavette on top, noon to midnight, no bookings.
Winkel 43
The appeltaart against which every Dutch apple pie is measured, served warm.
Monte Pelmo
The Jordaan's 1957 family gelateria where the queue is longer than the shop and nobody minds.
La Perla
Wood-fired Neapolitan pizza across two facing shopfronts; the Jordaan's consensus cheap dinner.
Vleminckx Sausmeesters
Amsterdam's fries window since 1957; the queue moves faster than your sauce decision.
Bistrot Neuf
The Haarlemmerstraat's proper French bistro, pouring forty wines by the glass since 2009.