Restaurant Blauw
The rijsttafel that converts skeptics, served where Vondelpark meets Amstelveenseweg.
Ask ten Amsterdammers where to take a visitor for rijsttafel and Blauw wins the straw poll every time. Behind a moody, contemporary facade on Amstelveenseweg, a short stroll from the Vondelpark's quiet southern gates, Javanese cooks send out the spread that made the house name: a parade of little bowls that turns your table into a map of the archipelago. Rendang with real depth, sambals that escalate honestly, perkedel, sate udang, fried kepiting crab when you're lucky, all arriving in waves until surrender. The vegetarian rijsttafel is a fully realised menu rather than a consolation prize, which makes Blauw the rare Indonesian table where mixed dietary groups all eat like royalty. The room is dark, handsome and loud in the right way. Bring at least four people; rijsttafel is a team sport and this is the championship venue.
Order the authentic rijsttafel and add the kepiting goreng, the fried crab is the dish the regulars quietly guard.
What to order
Full menu- Rijsttafel Blauw
The award-winning spread, rendang, three satays, sambal goreng telor; order it for the whole table.
- Daging rendang
Slow, deep, properly spicy, the dish loyalists benchmark every other rijsttafel against.
- Ayam madu
Honey-marinated chicken, the house signature reviewers keep naming.
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