La Perla
Wood-fired Neapolitan pizza across two facing shopfronts; the Jordaan's consensus cheap dinner.
La Perla occupies two shopfronts glaring at each other across the Tweede Tuindwarsstraat: the oven side, where wood-fired pizzas come out blistered and floppy in the correct Neapolitan manner, and the dining side, where you eat them. Ingredients get flown up from Italy, the buffalo mozzarella alone justifies the airfare, and the toppings stay disciplined; this is not the place for pineapple negotiations. The queue forms early, but it moves, and takeaway means canal-side pizza fifty meters away on the Lindengracht. Inside it's loud, quick and cheerfully cramped, all marble counters and shouted orders, which is exactly what a pizzeria should be. Skip the tourist-facing pasta barns closer to the Westerkerk; this is the neighborhood's actual pick, and two pizzas plus a carafe of house wine still counts as cheap.
Anything with the imported mozzarella di bufala, the margherita di bufala is the benchmark.
What to order
Full menu- Margherita€16
Buffalo mozzarella and basil from the wood oven, the benchmark reviewers use to crown it Amsterdam's best.
- 'Nduja from Spilinga€19.50
The Calabrian salami special with real heat; the connoisseur's order.
- Fennel salami with artichoke€20.50
Tuscan cinta senese salami, imported like most of the larder.
- Prosciutto di San Daniele€20.50
Ham, rocket, Parmigiano, the classic that never leaves the shortlist.
More in Jordaan
The whole chapter
Daalder
The Jordaan's Michelin star, back home on the Lindengracht and better for it.
BAK
Warehouse-loft tasting menus over the IJ, where Amsterdam natural wine grew up.
Bistrot Neuf
The Haarlemmerstraat's proper French bistro, pouring forty wines by the glass since 2009.