Hemelse Modder
Thirty-plus years of cooking for the neighbours, priced like it still means it.
On the quiet stretch of the Oude Waal, with the Montelbaanstoren doing its postcard thing across the water, Hemelse Modder has been feeding this corner of Nieuwmarkt since long before anyone said 'seasonal' out loud. The name means 'heavenly mud', the chocolate mousse it refers to still closes the menu, and you should let it. In between: French-boned, Amsterdam-fleshed cooking, think plaice with brown shrimp or a caramelised Cevennes onion tart, in three to five courses that stay mercifully under what one course costs elsewhere on the canals. Vegetarians get a proper parallel menu, not a shrug. The room is plain in the best Dutch Protestant way; the terrace out front on a July evening is one of the calmest canal-side seats in the Centrum. Book it for parents you actually like.
Finish with the hemelse modder itself, the dark-and-white chocolate mousse the place is named after.
What to order
Full menu- Hemelse modder (dark & white chocolate mousse)
The namesake dessert; skipping it is the only wrong order here
- Pan-fried hake, mussel-saffron sauce
The fish main reviewers keep photographing, saffron sauce does the heavy lifting
- Grilled lamb steak, horseradish gravy
Recurring review favorite; parsley-root puree plays the quiet supporting role
- Seizoensmenu, 3 courses€52.50
How regulars order, choice per course, canal-side calm included
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