Ron Gastrobar

Ron Blaauw traded two Michelin stars for this, and won the trade.

In 2013 Ron Blaauw did something Dutch chefs still talk about: he handed back two Michelin stars, ripped the white tablecloths out of his grand pavilion on Sophialaan, and started serving sharp, star-level plates at democratic prices. A decade on, the gamble reads as prophecy, half of Amsterdam's dining scene now imitates the format, and the original still executes it best. The room is a handsome glassed-in pavilion in leafy Willemspark, all buzz and clinking glasses, with a terrace that fills the moment the sun makes any effort whatsoever. The menu runs from an immaculate steak tartare through slow-cooked meats and one properly decadent burger, every dish scaled so you order three and argue about a fourth. Locals bring parents, dates, colleagues and children here interchangeably. Geen poespas, as the man himself says: no fuss, all pleasure.

Build your meal around the tartare and the burger, then let the kitchen's daily specials fill the gaps.

Photo: Ron Gastrobar (Nina Slagmolen)