What to eat in Amsterdam: specialities and where to try them

Savoury specialities to try

Raw herring (haring)

Herring is the Dutch snack par excellence. It is eaten raw and lightly salted, after being gutted by hand using the traditional method (known as "kaken"). In Amsterdam it is served cut into pieces with chopped onions and gherkins, and you pick it up with a cocktail stick, often topped with a little Dutch flag. Elsewhere in the country, people hold it by the tail and eat it in one go. For something more filling, ask for a broodje haring, herring in a soft roll.

The most eagerly awaited herring is the Hollandse Nieuwe, the new herring of the season: to bear this name, it must contain at least 16% fat. In 2026 the first barrel was presented on 16 June in Scheveningen and sales began the next day, 17 June. It stays on sale through the summer, and herring is then available all year round. Like all raw herring sold in the Netherlands, it is frozen before sale: this is a health requirement, and it does not affect the taste.

You buy it from the fish kiosks (haringhuis) set up on bridges and squares. The best known among visitors, Stubbe's Haring, is a small kiosk on the Singel by the Haarlemmersluis, a few minutes' walk from Central Station. The fishmongers at Albert Cuyp Market sell it too, along with kibbeling, chunks of fried white fish served with a garlic sauce or a ravigote sauce.

Bitterballen and the kroket

Bitterballen are breaded, deep-fried balls filled with a thick beef ragout. They are ordered as a pre-dinner snack, by six or eight, with a small pot of mustard. Their name comes from "bitter", the herbal spirit once served with them. Almost every café in the city has them: they are the snack to order with a beer in the late afternoon. Be careful, the inside is scalding hot: let them cool for a minute.

The kroket is the elongated version, with the same filling, eaten on its own or in a roll with mustard. For a typically Amsterdam experience, try a FEBO outlet. This chain, born in 1941 in J.I. de Borst's bakery on the Ferdinand Bolstraat in De Pijp, sells its hot snacks from a wall of small glass-fronted compartments (the "automatiek"): you pay, the little door unlocks and you help yourself. There are FEBO outlets in every neighbourhood.

Fries (patat)

In the Netherlands, fries are eaten from a paper cone with sauce on top. The classic version is patat met ("with", meaning with mayonnaise). The most generous is patatje oorlog ("war fries"): mayonnaise, peanut satay sauce and chopped raw onions.

The best-known spot in the centre is Vleminckx de Sausmeester, Voetboogstraat 33, a small Belgian-style fries stall open since 1957 near the Spui. It offers more than twenty sauces, charged on top of the fries. It is open daily from 11am to 7pm, and until 8pm on Thursdays. The queue moves quickly.

Cheese

The Netherlands is a great cheese country: Gouda and Edam are the best known, but you will also find cheeses flavoured with cumin or cloves. Gouda comes in different ages: jong (young, mild), belegen (matured), oud (old, drier and crystalline). In the centre, cheese shops offer free tastings; compare their prices with those of the market cheesemongers, who sell by weight. To see cheese being made, the cheese farm at the Zaanse Schans gives demonstrations every day.

Ossenworst and winter dishes

Ossenworst is a speciality unique to Amsterdam: a raw beef sausage, lightly smoked and spiced, served sliced or diced with mustard and pickled onions. You order it at the café, just like bitterballen.

In winter, cafés and restaurants serving Dutch food offer simple, hearty dishes: stamppot, mashed potatoes mixed with vegetables (kale, carrots and onions, or sauerkraut), served with a smoked sausage (rookworst), and erwtensoep, a split pea soup so thick that a spoon should be able to stand up in it.

Sweet treats: stroopwafels, poffertjes and appeltaart

The stroopwafel

The stroopwafel, which originated in Gouda, is made of two thin waffles stuck together with caramel syrup. Supermarket packets keep well and make good gifts, but you should try one warm, fresh off the waffle iron, while the syrup is still runny. At Albert Cuyp Market, the Rudi's Original Stroopwafels stall, opposite number 182, has been making them on the spot since 1978.

Poffertjes and pannenkoeken

Poffertjes are tiny puffed pancakes, cooked in a cast-iron pan with small hollows and served by the dozen with butter and icing sugar. You will find them at markets, funfairs and some cafés.

Pannenkoeken, on the other hand, are large, thick pancakes the size of a plate, either sweet or savoury (bacon, cheese, apple). The Pancake Bakery, Prinsengracht 191, has served more than 75 varieties since 1973, in a 17th-century Dutch East India Company warehouse, a five-minute walk from the Anne Frank House. It is open daily from 9am until 8:30pm (9pm on Fridays and Saturdays); pancakes start at €8.50 at breakfast and €9 at lunch and dinner.

Appeltaart

Dutch apple pie is tall, filled with cinnamon apples and served with a big spoonful of whipped cream: ask for it "met slagroom". The most famous in the city is at Winkel 43, Noordermarkt 43, in the Jordaan. The café does not take reservations: on market days, Monday and Saturday, come in the morning.

Oliebollen, drop and hagelslag

In December, stalls set up on the squares sell oliebollen, doughnuts dusted with icing sugar, with or without raisins, eaten above all on New Year's Eve. All year round, take home some liquorice (drop), salty or sweet, and some hagelslag, the chocolate sprinkles the Dutch put on their bread at breakfast.

Indonesian and Surinamese cooking

The Netherlands' colonial history has left a strong mark on the plate. The rijsttafel ("rice table") was born in the former Dutch East Indies, present-day Indonesia: ten to twenty small dishes (satays, curries, spiced eggs, vegetables, sambal, prawn crackers) arranged around a bowl of rice. It is a meal for sharing, served in the city's Indonesian restaurants. For a quicker introduction, order a nasi goreng (fried rice) or saté skewers with peanut sauce.

Surinamese cooking, which came from the former colony in South America, is very present, particularly in De Pijp and the eastern neighbourhoods. Try roti, a flatbread filled with curried chicken, potatoes and yardlong beans, and the broodje pom, a sandwich filled with pom, a bake of taro root and chicken. Our guide to the De Pijp neighbourhood mentions a small Javanese-Surinamese canteen.

Where to eat: markets, food halls and cafés

Markets

Street markets are the easiest way to try everything in a single morning, on your feet and on a small budget.

• Albert Cuyp Market (De Pijp): Monday to Saturday, 9:30am to 5pm; herring, kibbeling, stroopwafels, poffertjes, cheese.
• Noordermarkt (Jordaan): Saturday from 9am to 4pm, with producers and organic food stalls, and Monday from 9am to 2pm, mostly second-hand goods and clothes.
• Dappermarkt (Amsterdam-Oost): Monday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm; a neighbourhood market, less touristy, with a wide variety of stalls.

The Foodhallen

In the former tram depot of De Hallen, in Oud-West, the Foodhallen bring together 19 street food stands (including an Indonesian one) and three bars, open daily from noon to 11pm. It is a good option for a group with different tastes, or on a rainy day; arrive before 6:30pm at weekends.

Brown cafés and jenever tastings

"Brown cafés" (bruine kroegen) owe their name to their dark wood panelling, stained by centuries of smoke. You drink a beer there while nibbling bitterballen or ossenworst. Café Hoppe, Spui 18-20, has been on the square since 1670; its oldest part is a listed national monument, inside and out.

Dutch genever (jenever), the ancestor of gin, is tasted in a "proeflokaal", a tasting room. The one at Wynand Fockink, Pijlsteeg 31, just behind Dam Square, dates back to a liqueur distillery founded around 1679. The glass is filled to the brim: tradition has it that you take the first sip leaning over the bar, without touching the glass. With a beer on the side, this is called a kopstootje.

For beer, the Brouwerij 't IJ brewery serves its beers on tap in its proeflokaal at Funenkade 7, in a former bathhouse at the foot of the De Gooyer windmill, daily from 10am to 10pm. For the history of the country's best-known beer, visit the Heineken Experience.

At a glance: what to try and where

Prices and opening hours checked in October 2026 on the official websites.

Practical tips

• Mealtimes: Amsterdammers often have a sandwich for lunch around noon and eat dinner early, around 6pm or 7pm. On Friday and Saturday evenings, book your restaurant.
• Payment: many cafés, stalls and restaurants accept cards only ("pin only"). The details are in our guide to money, payment and tipping in Amsterdam.
• Tipping: service is included in the bill; a tip of 5 to 10% is still appreciated in restaurants if you enjoyed the service.
• Budget: street snacks (herring, fries, stroopwafel, kroket) let you eat well for little money; to estimate the cost of sit-down meals, see our guide to the budget for a trip to Amsterdam.
• Around the Damrak: the restaurants with picture menus on the street running from the station to Dam Square mainly target tourists; walk a few minutes towards the Jordaan or De Pijp to find better.

Going further

The best foodie plan combines a morning at Albert Cuyp Market with a stroll through the De Pijp neighbourhood, or a Saturday at the Noordermarkt with our guide to the Jordaan neighbourhood. To fit these food stops into your stay, follow our Amsterdam in 2 days itinerary.