Albina

7.5 /10

No-frills Surinamese-Chinese roti canteen feeding the Albert Cuyp since forever.

Directly across from the Albert Cuyp market stalls, Albina is the kind of strip-lit, formica-tabled canteen that quietly outlives every concept restaurant around it. The menu is the great Surinamese mashup, Chinese, Indian and Javanese lines all crossing, which means bami and nasi heaped into takeaway trays, moksi meti over rice, and the city's most dependable roti kip: curry chicken, potato, long beans and egg with a griddled flatbread you tear and drag through everything. The broodje pom, Suriname's citrusy taro-and-chicken casserole packed into a soft roll, is the correct market-day lunch at a market-day price. Service is fast and unsentimental, portions are enormous, and half the clientele has been coming weekly for decades. When the guide says De Pijp is Amsterdam's belly, this room is a load-bearing organ.

Roti kip, and add a broodje pom for the walk home.

What to order

Full menu

Moksi meti speciaal€13
Roast pork belly, sausage and chicken, locals say white rice only, chili oil mandatory.
Roti kippenbout€12
Buttery flaky roti with drumstick curry, potato and egg, the review must-have.
Sate kip€7
Three skewers drowning in peanut sauce; the add-on everyone gets anyway.
Madame Jeanette sambal
Not a dish, but the fiery house condiment reviewers tell you not to skip.