Terrace*
Amsterdam summer lasts about eleven days and the whole city knows it. These are the terraces worth fighting for when the sun shows up.
Café Modern
Set-menu cooking in a former bank, with private dining in the vault.
Hemelse Modder
Thirty-plus years of cooking for the neighbours, priced like it still means it.
Restaurant Bridges
Seafood-first fine dining behind Karel Appel's mural at The Grand.
Visaandeschelde
Rivierenbuurt's grand fish house, plateaus, turbot, and zero trend-chasing since 1999.
Restaurant Barracuda
A 250-seat seafood hall running like an Italian beach shack on the IJ.
Wilde Zwijnen
The Javaplein pioneer that proved modern Dutch cooking is a real thing.
Restaurant Gitane
All-day Mediterranean with a Bib Gourmand and a natural-wine treasure map.
Winkel 43
The appeltaart against which every Dutch apple pie is measured, served warm.
Ron Gastrobar
Ron Blaauw traded two Michelin stars for this, and won the trade.
Balthazar's Keuken
One weekly menu, thirty seats, an old forge: the platonic Jordaan restaurant since 1995.
Il Pecorino
The proper Italian trattoria every neighbourhood deserves; Van der Pek actually got one.
Glou Glou
The corner bar that started Amsterdam's natural wine obsession in 2015.
Restaurant Merza
IJburg's home-style Turkish anchor: iskender, beyti and a breakfast buffet worth crossing bridges for.
De Belhamel
Art nouveau room, waterside terrace, Bib Gourmand cooking at the prettiest canal junction going.
Bar Bouche
A pocket-sized bourgondisch bistro punching far above its Wibautstraat postcode.
Brasserie van Baerle
The Concertgebouw crowd's canteen: oysters, crisp linen, and a secret garden terrace.
Brasserie Vrijburcht
Steigereiland's waterside brasserie inside a resident-built co-op, complete with boat mooring.
Café Loetje
The original Loetje: butter-soft biefstuk, legendary gravy, zero pretension since 1977.
Café-Restaurant De Plantage
Mediterranean brasserie cooking inside the prettiest cast-iron winter garden in Amsterdam.
Bar Jules
Valeriusplein's all-day living room: Spanish sharing plates, terrazzo bar, walk-ins meant literally.
Café Luxembourg
The Spui's grand café since the eighties, home of the Holtkamp shrimp croquette.
Hangar
Corrugated-iron hangar on the IJ doing côte de boeuf and long sundowners.
Pllek
Container-built city beach where the vegetables outshine the sunset. Almost.
Bar Basquiat
The Javastraat corner bar where the whole Indische Buurt eventually washes up.
Vishandel de Zeemeeuw
Noord's fish kiosk where cod kibbeling justifies the Saturday queue.
Mossel & Gin
Pots of mussels and matching G&Ts on Westergas's sunniest terrace.
De Neef van Fred
All-day French-leaning bistro with the best waterside terrace in De Baarsjes.
SmaaQt
Van der Pekstraat's dependable table: Big Green Egg dinners, market-day lunches.
Bar Baarsch
De Baarsjes' living room: smash burgers, pub quiz, drag queen bingo.