Restaurant Merza
IJburg's home-style Turkish anchor: iskender, beyti and a breakfast buffet worth crossing bridges for.
Before IJburg had much of anything, it had Merza, and the island has repaid the loyalty ever since. This is home-style Turkish cooking done at volume and with pride: iskender arriving under its slick of tomato butter, beyti sliced into neat rounds, warm bread landing before you've taken your coat off. The weekend Turkish breakfast buffet is the local ritual, a sprawl of cheeses, olives, menemen and honey that makes a strong case for never eating a Dutch boterham again, with plenty for vegetarians. The room is family-run friendly rather than fashionable, the kids' menu is real, and the terrace catches IJburglaan's parade of cargo bikes. It runs long hours, takes walk-ins gracefully, and charges neighbourhood prices for cooking that would draw queues on a canal. On an island of new-build restaurants, Merza is the one with roots.
Weekend mornings: the Turkish breakfast buffet. Otherwise the iskender kebap, no substitutions.
What to order
Full menu- Broodje shoarma€9.50–12.50
Reviewers call it the best shoarma in Amsterdam, lamb, fresh bread, no shortcuts.
- İskender kebap
The sit-down favorite: sliced meat over bread with yoghurt and tomato butter.
- Beyti kebap
The other grill order that recurs in reviews alongside the İskender.
- Mercimek çorbası€7
Lentil soup starter regulars treat as mandatory.
More in Buiten de Ring
The whole chapter
Sahan
Osdorp's charcoal-grill palace where half of Amsterdam's Turkish families celebrate everything.
Switie Poort (Deli Company)
The broodje bakkeljauw of Amsterdam lives here, on Bijlmerplein, for pocket change.
Toko Bandung
An Indonesian toko running since 1963; the rames here outclasses most restaurants.