Discover the Other Amsterdam

Discover The Other Amsterdam

Written by Susan Payton on 23 December 2010

When we tell people how much we love Amsterdam, we get raised eyebrows. “Ohhh! AMMsterdam!” (The insinuation is that we go for the marijuana).

Let me clear things up.

Yes. You can smoke pot in Amsterdam. The air is filled with the light fragrance of green. There’s a red light district. Sex is a commodity.

But that’s not why we love Amsterdam. We love it because it’s clean. Because the fashion is fresh, and unlike anywhere else in the world. We love the wafels (snack waffles) and the frites (french fries). We love the old buildings. The tram. The open, friendly Dutch people.

Lekker Warm de Winterin

This was our first time here in winter. It’s a different story from the streets packed with American backpackers here for the other attractions in the summer. It wasn’t as crowded, probably because the skies had dumped a boatload of snow on the streets and houseboats just before we arrived.

Suffer as we did in the snow, it always felt good to stop in a shop and warm up or sit down at a Greek/Indian/Japanese/Indonesian/Chinese restaurant for a good meal. The Dutch aren’t known for their own cuisine, but their colonies have made an imprint on the cuisine, and Asian food is excellent here.

Local Dutch Treats

I highly recommend trying Dutch pancakes. They don’t serve them for breakfast here, but you can get sweet or savory (or both) pancakes for lunch or dinner. We went to The Pancake Bakery for lunch (they gave us a special rate to review our meal).

I ordered a savory pancake with bacon (thick and salty), cheese (delicious) and mushrooms (fresh). It was huge but very good. I almost finished it. Max ordered a Magic Pancake and we didn’t know what to expect. What arrived was a giant pancake with powdered sugar and candy…and a magic wand and magician’s hat! Max was delighted.

The piece de resistance was Tirrell’s pancake. He ordered one with caramel and something else. What came was a decadent delight of pancake, sugar, ice cream, caramel and whipped cream. It was good, but enough for four people!

The syrup was thick and molasses-like. I had coffee with whipped cream, which was a surprising treat. This restaurant is a 10-15 minute walk from Centraal Station in a neighborhood far from the tourist area, so we felt like it was authentic.

Also try a wafel, a waffle meant more for a snack than for breakfast. You can get them plain or with chocolate, nuts or sprinkles on them.

Susan Payton is President of Egg Marketing & Public Relations and writes the blog The Marketing Eggspert.