Chapter 05 · Oost & Plantage · Amstelkwartier / Amstel Station

Café-Restaurant Dauphine

7.9 /10

French brasserie classics in a gorgeous former Renault showroom by Amstel station.

A 1960s Renault showroom turned all-day brasserie, which explains the acreage: soaring glass, leather banquettes, and enough floor space to park the cars that used to live here. Dauphine has been feeding this unglamorous corner by Amstel station for years and remains the definitive answer to several Amsterdam problems, where to take eight colleagues, where to meet your parents off the train, where to eat a proper steak tartare at half past two on a Tuesday. The kitchen does French-Italian brasserie standards without irony: tartare cut to order, a côte de boeuf for sharing, bavette-frites, decent oysters. Nothing chases trends, everything arrives competent and generous, and the room does the rest. Note the summer rhythm: weekdays only, kitchen from ten in the morning. It's the neo-bistro's older, better-tailored uncle, and Oost is lucky to have him.

Steak tartare, cut to order, with a mountain of frites.

What to order

Full menu

Steak tartare€26.50
Brioche, poached egg, black-pepper mayo, the brasserie classic regulars measure the place by.
Kalfskroketten van Holtkamp€12.50
Amsterdam's benchmark croquettes on sourdough; the fast, safe lunch order.
Gegrilde ribeye, Café de Paris€28.50
With mousseline and haricots verts; carnivore default at lunch and dinner alike.
Ribeye 500g to share€59.50
Grain-fed, pommes dauphine, Café de Paris, the deal-closer for two.