Amsterdam Food Guide: From Stroopwafels to Kaasbar
If you’ve been following my Amsterdam series, we’ve explored tulip season and planned six days in the city. Now it’s time to talk about one of my favorite parts of the trip: the food.
Travel Breakdown
🍟 Best Street Food: Fabel Friet
🍪 Best Sweet Treat: Van Stapele
🧀 Most Unique Experience: Kaasbar
🥪 Best Café: Chun Café
🛍️ Best Food Market: Albert Cuyp Market
⭐ Biggest Surprise: Amsterdam’s international food scene
If you’ve been following my Amsterdam series, we’ve already explored tulip season, planned a six-day itinerary, and wandered through some of the city’s most beautiful neighborhoods. Now it’s time to talk about another part of the trip that pleasantly surprised me: the food.
Before visiting Amsterdam, I hadn’t given much thought to what we’d actually eat. Aside from the obvious stroopwafels and fries, I didn’t arrive with a long list of traditional Dutch dishes or must-visit restaurants. Instead, we built our days around whatever neighborhood we happened to be exploring, stopping whenever something looked interesting or a recommendation kept appearing during my research.
That approach ended up working far better than I expected.
Amsterdam quickly became one of my favorite cities in Europe for casual dining. Whether we were grabbing a fresh stroopwafel from a market, waiting in line for a viral sandwich shop, or stumbling across an incredible grilled cheese stand, nearly every meal felt like part of the adventure rather than a break from sightseeing.
Perhaps what surprised me most, though, was how international the city’s food scene is. Alongside Dutch classics, we found excellent Japanese, Chinese, Italian, and even Peruvian food, making it easy to satisfy whatever we happened to be craving that day.
This isn’t meant to be a guide to traditional Dutch cuisine. Instead, it’s a look at the places we genuinely enjoyed over six days in Amsterdam and the food experiences I’d happily recommend to someone planning their own trip.
Amsterdam Is Built for Casual Food Lovers
One of the things I appreciated most about eating in Amsterdam was how naturally it fit into each day of sightseeing.
Unlike cities where meals often require reservations or careful planning, Amsterdam felt incredibly flexible. We’d spend the morning exploring a neighborhood, notice a line outside a bakery or café, and decide to stop because it looked good rather than because it had been on our itinerary for weeks.
That doesn’t mean we ignored the popular spots. In fact, we intentionally sought out several of Amsterdam’s most talked-about food destinations. The difference was that we rarely planned our day around a single restaurant. Instead, we planned around neighborhoods, knowing there would almost always be something worthwhile to eat nearby.
I also appreciated that many of Amsterdam’s most popular food spots specialize in one thing and do it exceptionally well. Whether it was fries, cookies, sandwiches, or stroopwafels, the menus were often refreshingly simple. Even when there was a line, it usually moved much faster than I expected because nearly everyone was ordering the same signature item.
As someone who’s happy to try a viral food spot but has very little patience for hour-long queues, that was probably my favorite discovery of the entire trip.
Chun Café, Fabel Friet, and ‘t Pareltje Frietzaak were three of the most popular food stops we tried during our six days in Amsterdam.
The Viral Food Spots Are Actually Worth It
I don’t mind trying a viral food spot. What I do mind is waiting in line for an hour only to discover the food was more popular on social media than it was in real life.
My general rule is that if the wait stretches much beyond 30 to 45 minutes, I’m probably moving on unless it’s a restaurant with reservations. Fortunately, Amsterdam made that decision surprisingly easy. While several of the city’s most famous food spots had lines throughout the day, they were usually well organized and moved much faster than they looked.
Here are the three viral stops that I thought were absolutely worth seeking out.
Van Stapele Koekmakerij
Every time we walked past Van Stapele, there was a line outside.
Normally that would have been enough for me to keep walking, but the queue moved surprisingly quickly because almost everyone was ordering the same famous chocolate cookie. After finally trying one, I understood the hype. Served warm with a rich chocolate filling, it was easily one of my favorite desserts of the trip. In fact, my only regret is that we didn’t stop here earlier in our visit, I absolutely would have gone back for another.
Fabel Friet
Of course, no visit to Amsterdam feels complete without trying the famous fries.
Our first stop was Fabel Friet, where we ordered one of the shop’s most popular combinations: fresh fries topped with mayonnaise and generous shavings of Parmesan cheese. When people say they’re loaded, they’re not exaggerating. We asked for the mayonnaise on the side, but even without it, the fries were crispy, flavorful, and lived up to the reputation.
Chun Café
Another place that consistently appeared during my research was Chun Café.
Known for its Japanese-style sandwiches, it has developed quite a following, so we intentionally visited on a rainy late morning in hopes of avoiding the lunch rush. The strategy worked. We waited about twenty minutes, found a table inside, and enjoyed one of the most comforting meals of the trip while watching the rain fall outside.
We ordered the garlic shrimp egg toast and the tofu puff sandwich, both of which were warm, satisfying, and worth the wait. By the time we left, the rain had stopped, the sun had come out, and the line had easily tripled in length, a good reminder that timing can make all the difference at Amsterdam’s most popular cafés.
From the grilled cheese at Albert Cuyp Market to the famous chocolate cookie at Van Stapele, some of Amsterdam’s best bites were well worth seeking out.
Albert Cuyp Market Was Our Favorite Food Stop
If I could only recommend one place for food in Amsterdam, it probably wouldn’t be a single restaurant.
It would be Albert Cuyp Market.
Located in the heart of De Pijp, the market ended up becoming one of the places we visited most during our six days in Amsterdam. Part of that was convenience, we were staying just a short walk away, but even if we hadn’t been, I think we still would have found ourselves coming back.
Rather than arriving with a checklist of foods to try, we treated our first visit as a chance to wander. We walked the length of the market, looked at what each vendor was offering, and simply stopped whenever something caught our attention. Looking back, that ended up being one of my favorite ways to experience Amsterdam’s food scene.
One unexpected highlight was stumbling across a small Peruvian stand. After chatting with the owner, we ordered a tamal that immediately reminded me of my grandma’s cooking, which is about the highest compliment I can give. Finding a little taste of home in the middle of Amsterdam wasn’t something I had expected, but it ended up being one of the most memorable bites of the trip.
Another discovery was Greg Monsieur, a grilled cheese stand that quickly became one of our favorite lunches. I ordered an Italian-inspired grilled cheese with tomato and pesto, and it was so good that we came back the next day and ordered it again. Sometimes the best endorsement isn’t a long review, it’s simply returning for a second meal.
The market also became one of my favorite places to simply wander. Between the fresh food, local vendors, flowers, clothing stalls, and constant energy, it felt like more than just somewhere to grab lunch. It was another neighborhood experience, and one that perfectly reflected why we loved staying in De Pijp.
Amsterdam’s International Food Scene Was the Biggest Surprise
Before arriving in Amsterdam, I had assumed most of our meals would revolve around traditional Dutch specialties. Aside from fries, stroopwafels, and cheese, I hadn’t done much research into the city’s food scene, and I certainly wasn’t expecting it to become one of my favorite parts of the trip.
Instead, we found ourselves eating our way around the world.
One evening after a long day exploring Keukenhof and the tulip fields, all we wanted was something warm and comforting. We ended up at Nanxiang Soup Dumplings, where I ordered a braised beef noodle soup while my sister and cousin opted for soup dumplings. It wasn’t Dutch cuisine, but it was exactly what we were craving after spending the day outdoors.
Another night, I found myself craving pasta, specifically carbonara. Rather than searching for the “best” Italian restaurant in Amsterdam, we simply picked a nearby spot within walking distance of our hotel. Was it the most authentic carbonara I’ve ever had? Probably not. But after a full day of sightseeing, it was exactly the meal I wanted.
That became one of my favorite things about Amsterdam’s food scene.
You can absolutely spend your trip sampling Dutch classics, but you don’t have to. Whether you’re craving Japanese sandwiches, Chinese noodles, Italian pasta, Peruvian food, or something completely different, you’ll likely find an excellent option just a short walk away.
For me, that flexibility made Amsterdam feel like an incredibly easy city to eat in. Every day could be different, and we never felt limited to one style of cuisine simply because we were traveling.
Kaasbar Amsterdam combines one of the Netherlands’ most famous foods with one of its most unique dining concepts, making it a fun stop for anyone looking to sample a variety of Dutch cheeses.
Don’t Leave Amsterdam Without Trying These
No matter how many international restaurants you try, there are a few foods that simply feel synonymous with Amsterdam.
For me, those were stroopwafels and cheese.
Fresh Stroopwafels
Before this trip, my only experience with stroopwafels was the packaged version you can buy in grocery stores or find at running races.
Trying one fresh was an entirely different experience.
Warm caramel, a soft waffle, and just enough chewiness to make you immediately understand why they’re one of the Netherlands’ most famous treats.
We ended up trying them in two different places: Hans Egstorf near Dam Square and Albert Cuyp Market. Most advice online will tell you to skip the touristy areas and head straight for the markets, but honestly, I thought both were excellent. If you happen to walk past a fresh stroopwafel stand, I wouldn’t overthink it.
Kaasbar
Our final food experience before heading to the airport ended up being one of the most memorable.
Kaasbar is exactly what it sounds like, a cheese bar where different Dutch cheeses travel past your table on a conveyor belt, allowing you to pick whichever varieties catch your eye.
It was a fun concept, but it never felt gimmicky. Instead, it became one of the easiest and most enjoyable ways to sample several different cheeses without committing to a single large cheese board.
My only regret was saving it for our last day.
Since my cousin had already left Amsterdam, it was just my sister and me, which meant I ended up eating most of the cheese myself. If I could plan the trip again, I’d visit earlier in the week with the full group so we could share more varieties and try a wider selection.
If you’re a cheese lover, I’d absolutely recommend adding Kaasbar to your Amsterdam itinerary.
Final Thoughts
One of my favorite things about eating in Amsterdam was that food never felt like a separate activity, it became part of exploring the city.
Some of our favorite meals came from places we’d researched beforehand, while others were completely unexpected discoveries we stumbled upon while wandering different neighborhoods. Between the markets, cafés, street food, and international restaurants, Amsterdam turned out to be one of the easiest cities I’ve visited for finding a great meal without overplanning it.
Looking back, that’s probably my biggest takeaway.
Come for the stroopwafels and fries, but don’t be surprised if your favorite meal ends up being something completely different. Some of my favorite bites of the trip weren’t the ones I had bookmarked before arriving, they were the ones I never saw coming.
Next up in the Amsterdam series: Utrecht Day Trip – The Perfect Amsterdam Escape.
After six days based in Amsterdam, there was only one day trip that made me wonder, “Could I have stayed here instead?” Join me as we explore Utrecht, one of the Netherlands’ most charming cities and a day trip I’d recommend to almost anyone visiting Amsterdam.