The Netherlands produce many comestibles of note, not all of which are ingested via the stomach. "Grow your own" in Amsterdam does NOT mean strawberries. Dutch cheese, fruit and vegetables, and chocolate are exported all over the world. However, unless you have a weakness for raw herring, you will probably find Dutch cuisine pretty bland and non-specific, and, as in Britain, the local cuisine is considered something for preparing at home and not for eating out. However, Amsterdam has a vast selection of foreign restaurants, and if you love meat, more "Argentinian" steak houses than any city this side of Buenos Aires.
Rijsttafel is the Indonesian cuisine which has become to Holland what Indian cuisine is to Britain, and for the same reasons: The Dutch were the colonial masters in the East Indies, and adapted the local food to suit their tastes. There are more Indonesian restaurants in Amsterdam there than you can shake a shadow puppet at. On a Saturday evening we must have got the last free table at Kantjil & de Tijger, so I would recommend booking in advance. It is a smart, modern restaurant with no kitsch Indonesian decor. Not having the faintest idea what we were ordering, we picked out a selection of meat and vegetarian dishes, two kinds of rice and one bowl of noodles. The Dutch and Indonesian waiting staff speak perfect English and can advise on all the dishes. Be careful, some of them such as ajam smoor chicken make a Vindaloo look mild, and there's nothing on the menu to warn you.
The dishes that arrived were very diverse, ranging from fresh fruit to blow-your-head-off chicken, but on the whole very tasty with more diverse flavours than a curry meal. I particularly liked the gado gado, which is a dish of lightly steamed vegetables with a peanut sauce, as well as staple dishes such as nasi goreng (fried rice) and bami goreng (fried noodles). With three beers and a bottle of house white, we came out for just under 25 euros a head, bellies full. A full rijsttafel menu can be had here for 22 to 28 euros a head, without wine, and if you can run to it, I'd recommend going for the full monty and getting a wider view of what Indonesian cuisine has to offer.
Kantjil & De Tijger
Spuistraat 291-293
1012 VS Amsterdam
Tel: 020 620 0994
www.kantjil.nl
Rijsttafel is the Indonesian cuisine which has become to Holland what Indian cuisine is to Britain, and for the same reasons: The Dutch were the colonial masters in the East Indies, and adapted the local food to suit their tastes. There are more Indonesian restaurants in Amsterdam there than you can shake a shadow puppet at. On a Saturday evening we must have got the last free table at Kantjil & de Tijger, so I would recommend booking in advance. It is a smart, modern restaurant with no kitsch Indonesian decor. Not having the faintest idea what we were ordering, we picked out a selection of meat and vegetarian dishes, two kinds of rice and one bowl of noodles. The Dutch and Indonesian waiting staff speak perfect English and can advise on all the dishes. Be careful, some of them such as ajam smoor chicken make a Vindaloo look mild, and there's nothing on the menu to warn you.
The dishes that arrived were very diverse, ranging from fresh fruit to blow-your-head-off chicken, but on the whole very tasty with more diverse flavours than a curry meal. I particularly liked the gado gado, which is a dish of lightly steamed vegetables with a peanut sauce, as well as staple dishes such as nasi goreng (fried rice) and bami goreng (fried noodles). With three beers and a bottle of house white, we came out for just under 25 euros a head, bellies full. A full rijsttafel menu can be had here for 22 to 28 euros a head, without wine, and if you can run to it, I'd recommend going for the full monty and getting a wider view of what Indonesian cuisine has to offer.
Kantjil & De Tijger
Spuistraat 291-293
1012 VS Amsterdam
Tel: 020 620 0994
www.kantjil.nl
