Amsterdam: The city of Appeltaart and Slagroom

This time I decided not to research restaurants too much before heading to Amsterdam. I thought for once I'd wing it. Turns out that wasn't such a good idea. I didn't see Mark Bittman's recent article on good Dutch restaurants in Amsterdam till after my stay but he does make a point in that it's hard to find actual Dutch food there. Guess it's back to thorough research for whatever my next trip is. I did, however, find one restaurant before I left for Amsterdam that I would have loved to try but knew I wouldn't feel like trekking out to all by myself as it wasn't anywhere near my hotel: Restaurant de Kas. I love the idea of them using their own grown produce in their dishes to create seasonal and local fare. 

Most of what I ended up eating in Amsterdam was comfort food. I arrived early Saturday morning and was starving by the time lunch rolled around. I decided to go for a pannenkoek (a pancake), which is a common Dutch food, and went to The Pancake Bakery which Lonely Planet and The New York Times both recommend. I went for a pancake with cheese, ham and onions. If you're starving and want to put yourself in a food coma, then that's definitely the place to go!

Although I was stuffed after lunch I decided to go to Villa Zeezicht (Torensteeg 7) to enjoy a piece of their famous appeltaart met slagroom (apple pie with whipped cream). Definitely not the smartest thing to do but I was able to enjoy it nonetheless. 

Appeltaart is available in many cafés. On Sunday I had a slice at Café Nielsen (Berenstraat 19) after eating a veggie sandwich that was good but not special. The apple pie definitely made up for the sandwich. It had tons of cinnamon and was served with a nice portion of slagroom. Although it looks like a lot on the photo, most of it is unfortunately air. A cup of hot chocolate went well with the cake but I could only stomach it because I had spent a few hours at the Tropenmuseum in the morning and had worked up quite an appetite.

Amsterdam really catered to my current whipped cream addiction. Monday morning I went to the Dutch chain Coffee Company for breakfast. I had a fruit and nut muffin (tasted like it had flavorings in it, which I really don't care for, but at least the texture was good) and a panna montata, which is a strong coffee with milk topped with whipped cream. While I was deciding which drink I should get I told the girl at the counter that I really wanted a drink with whipped cream so she asked me whether she should put as much as possible on and I said "yes". She put so much whipped cream on top that by the time I got all comfy at my table it was starting to melt and drip down the side. A little girl nearby was so fascinated by the whipped cream that she kept saying "ijsje", the Dutch word for ice cream. It really did look like an ice cream cone.

Good thing I did decide to do some research on foodie places Sunday night and found out that what I had thought was a jewelry or fashion shop was in fact a chocolate shop selling locally made chocolates: Puccini Bomboni. I bought myself a box of chocolates to try as well as some presents to take back home. The chocolates were very fresh but a little on the sweet side for me. My favorite one was the raspberry. I got marzipan bars topped with almonds as well as chocolate-covered almonds to take home. The marzipan bars were good but the almonds on top could have been crunchier, as crunchy as the chocolate-covered ones, which are really good.