Van Kerkwijk

7.8 /10

No menu, no reservations: the waiter recites, you choose, everyone wins.

There is no printed menu and there never will be. Your waiter pulls up, recites tonight's five or six mains from memory, always a steak, always a fish, usually something Indonesian-leaning or a proper vegetarian plate, and you decide on the spot, which is weirdly liberating. The room is tall, wood-panelled and candlelit, on the Nes, the old theatre street one block from Dam Square that tourists somehow never find. Mains hover around twenty-something euros, portions are honest, and the entrecôte with pan jus rarely leaves the rotation. No reservations either: give your name, take a drink at the bar or out on the street, and wait your turn like everyone else. Finish with the homemade appeltaart, the website is basically a shrine to it, correctly. Open daily from 11 until 1am.

Save room for the homemade appeltaart with whipped cream.

What to order

Indonesian-style burger€15
House oddball classic with sambal, cucumber and prawn crackers; recited daily, never written down
Steak with goat cheese and strawberry sauce€22.50
Sounds wrong, works, the dish reviewers dare each other into and then defend
Truffle lasagne€17.50
The vegetarian anchor on the spoken menu; truffle, pesto, mushrooms, Parmesan
Apple pie
Baked by the owner's mother for twenty-plus years; tart apples, huge slice