A few weeks ago we discovered online grocery store ruudmaaz.nl which quickly has changed all that!

ruudmaaz.nl is a small operation with a big dream. The name is a play on “duurzaam”, Dutch for sustainable, as Ruud Maaz is set on providing Amsterdammers with an easy way to order the tastiest foods from local producers and entirely without plastic packaging.

The basics seemed well covered. Delivery is next day during a two hour time window in the evening. The selection is great and we quickly managed to put the minimum of € 50,= worth of groceries into our shopping cart and place our first order.

The arrival of our food certainly was a happy moment. Being used to delivery by a grumpy and sweaty Albert Heijn kid, the tone was set when the delivery team rang the door bell with a big smile. It was obvious that they were completely sold on the sustainable idea and proud of the tasty groceries they had in their bag. Everything was delivered right into the kitchen which looked like we had just gotten back from the farmer’s market.

There was milk and yogurt in glass bottles from local dairy producer Weerribben Zuivel, fresh fish from Fishes who also have a store in Amsterdam, smoked salmon from our favorite Frank’s Smokehouse, individually packaged sausages and organic chicken from Amsterdam based butcher De Wit, a whole week’s supply of seasonal local fruit and much more. Basically it was like all of our favorite shops had huddled together and sent us a great package of their best foods!

We’ve quickly adopted placing orders regularly and hope that ruudmaaz.nl continues to expand while maintaining the small scale spirit!

The list also has stood the test of time. Surely the best restaurants in town can be expected to consistently serve great food for many years. And indeed all four restaurants on the list are still thriving.

Still, three years later it was high time for an update. Three restaurants from the original list are still featured: Balthazar’s Keuken, Marius and De Witte Uyl. Still being a fantastic location but having underperformed food wise one too many times, De Kas had to make room for two newcomers: Blauw aan de Wal and Madelief.

The new list also has pictures and full information on opening times and public transport direction. We hope you like it as much as the previous one and look forward to many comments!

Best Amsterdam Restaurants by dutchgrub.

This year it was Restaurant Lastage, located in a marvelous canal house near Nieuwmarkt, that was awarded the much coveted star.

With most Michelin stars in Amsterdam still associated with hotel restaurants, it’s nice to see another independent and less formal restaurant on the list, similarly to Le Restaurant in 2010.

There is now a total of 11 stars in Amsterdam: Ciel Bleu and Ron Blaauw with two each and Aan de Poel, La Rive, Yamazato, Le Restaurant (2010), Vinkeles (2010), Vermeer (2011) and Lastage (2012) with one.

Duikelman is somewhat of a kitchen supply institution in Amsterdam, sporting an enormous collection of anything a chef would need in a charmingly packed store.

Duikelman has an amazing selection of kitchen supplies. In the main store, you will find anything from pots and pans, knives, books, food processors, espresso makers, ovenware, cutting boards to anything else required for your next cooking adventure. In each category, Duikelman has a great range of options from simple to professional, along with knowledgeable staff to help you make a choice. In a more recently opened second store across the street, Duikelman also has a great range of kitchen appliances with a focus on fancy professional equipment.

It’s quite amazing how much supply they manage to stock in their rather small store. You will understand how they do it as soon as you enter. The aisles are narrow and the shelves filled with supplies from floor to ceiling. The shop kind of meanders on, occupying additional space in the neighboring buildings and continuing much further towards the back than you would imagine.

It might take some patience and high tolerance for crowds, but Duikelman Amsterdam certainly is great fun to explore!

www.duikelman.nl
Ferdinand Bolstraat 68- 68A
1072 LM Amsterdam
Tel.: +31 (0)20 6712230
Public Transport: Trams 16 or 24 to Albert Cuyp
Merchandise: Kitchen supplies
Neighborhood: De Pijp
Vibe: Packed

On one of the few pleasant evenings of this summer, we sat outside and eagerly poured over the menu. Making decisions wasn’t easy with too many of the tapas and pinchos sounding appealing. Luckily the waitress was more than happy to help out with recommendations and while doing so also set us up with an incredibly fruity Priorat wine that wasn’t on the wine list. We love restaurants that go the extra mile to make their guests happy and Restaurante Madrid certainly came through!

As for the tapas, we went with a large selection to share and let us sample as many as possible. We especially liked the classics. The Iberico ham was very smooth, the bacalao had great flavor and the patatas bravas a perfect sauce. Of the specials, the marinated pork with white beans and the chorizo in dough hit the spot.

Over a second bottle of the Priorat we started chatting with the next table, a group of Spaniards living in the neighborhood that had discovered Restaurante Madrid recently and quickly became regulars. When leaving, they asked us to keep the secret about this great restaurant as to not spoil a good thing.

www.restaurantemadrid.nl
Bellamystraat 11
1053BM Amsterdam
Tel.: +31 (0)20 4899375
Public Transport: Trams 7 or 17 to Ten Katestraat
Cuisine: Tapas
Neighborhood: West
Vibe: Tasteful
Price: €50 per person

Creative brain and part-time chef Jason Hartley started Lovefood in 2009. Then held at Café Finch and later at Café Bax, the first brunches drew a crowd of expats and their friends, looking to trade Dutch pancakes and hagelslag for sausage and beans for one lazy Sunday morning. Over here at dutchgrub we loved the idea immediately and quickly included Lovefood on our list of best Amsterdam brunches.

A lot has happened since and we were delighted when Jason reached out to invite us over for brunch so that we could try out the new and improved Lovefood and share our thoughts on the dutchgrub blog.

And Lovefood has come a long way. The monthly brunches now take place at Brasserie Vlaming, a larger space with open kitchen on Prinsengracht. There is a professional website and very active Facebook page. The menu has a lot more options. And most importantly the cooking and waiting staff have improved a lot, running a smooth operation while cranking out some 130 brunches in 3 staggered shifts.

The menu has all the brunch classics: pancakes, eggs of all shapes and sizes, French toast, burritos and two full breakfasts called “The Beast” and “The Full Mikey”. Just like two years ago, we loved our Beast, which hit the spot with sausage, beans, pudding and tomato. The self-proclaimed “most American of the table” was happy to report the same about the Full Mikey with bacon, pancakes, scrambled eggs and hash browns. It’s obvious that Jason loves food and puts incredible effort into finding the best ingredients needed to turn these simple, timeless dishes into everybody’s favorite meal!

Jason has big plans and wants to expand Lovefood in multiple directions, possibly including selling artisanal food products and extending the brunches to a daily format. It will be great to see where Lovefood is headed and we would love to see it open every day of the month. We hope that when expanding, Lovefood will stay true to its roots. My beast started showing a few signs of turning into a beauty, of which there already are too many in Amsterdam…

For now, keep an eye on the website or Facebook page for the next Lovefood date. And make sure you get your reservation early as tables will go within minutes.

www.jasonslovefood.com
Currently taking place at Brasserie Vlaming, Prinsengracht 193 1015 DS Amsterdam
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Jason.Hartleys.lovefood
Twitter: www.twitter.com/#!/lovefood_jason
Public Transport: Trams 1, 2, 5, 13, or 17 to Nieuwezijds Kolk, or trams 3 or 10 to Marnixplein
Cuisine: Brunch
Neighbourhood: Canals
Vibe: Trendy
Price: €25 per person

You might actually need some patience locating Madelief, off the beaten path in a residential street near Vondelpark, and marked only by a small table with a lantern and a chalkboard in the window with the daily specials. The inside is decorated sparsely, with bare brick walls, simple chairs and tables, visible cabling and the sliding mechanism of the bathroom door equipped with a big old jar filled with salt as counterweight. While simple, the decor is welcoming due to a lot of personal touches and eye for detail like your name written on a small chalkboard to hold your reservation. Everything puts you in the mood for slow food, although the chairs felt somewhat uncomfortable at the end of a long dinner.

Having found our table, we were generously welcomed with an aperitif of pear cider and an amuse of very flavorful local North Sea shrimp. The menu is small and distinctly French. And the host was happy to help us navigate between paté and fois gras and suggest the right wines, of which a few special ones were not on the list.

By now we had nicely settled down into slow food mode. And the starters of scallops with a wonderfully creamy saffron risotto and paté with quail and onion confit were well worth the wait. The many distinct flavors came together perfectly. The mains were equally satisfying. A well prepared monkfish with a smooth buttery sauce and, the highlight, quail filled with fois gras and an intense truffle sauce. Only for professionals, the menu had stated, and Madelief certainly had managed to get amazing flavors going in this dish. We loved the food, but would caution vegetarians and people with a distaste for fois gras against Madelief.

Madelief is not for everyone, and that’s exactly how the hosts intend it to be. But if you are a foodie who enjoys traditional cooking and loves to take their time savoring their flavors, you must venture out to Zocherstraat and pay Madelief and Jean Michel a visit. Ask them for recommendations and let them guide you through a slow paced evening of wining and dining.

Madelief (no website)
Zocherstraat 10
1054 LX Amsterdam
Tel.: +31 (0)20 6122000
Public Transport: Tram 1 to Overtoomsesluis
Cuisine: French
Neighbourhood: West
Vibe: Slow
Price: €70 per person

A great option to get some rest is to have lunch at one of the more upscale restaurants in the center of Amsterdam. Lunch at these places is much less formal and expensive than dinner, but still let’s you take in the atmosphere and sample the food.

Two great options for an Amsterdam lunch in style are the Dylan Hotel, home of one Michelin star Vinkeles, and De Belhamel, which has a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

De Belhamel is situated stunningly on Brouwersgracht right where Herengracht ends. From the dining room or the terrace you have an unobstructed view of the length of Herengracht. The lunch menu features fancy sandwiches, a ciabatta with vitello tonato for example, various salads and pasta. We quite enjoyed the spaghetti with pancetta and rucola. While the food and service are ambitious, the vibe is quite informal as the space is small and the personnel friendly.

The Dylan Hotel is another oasis of tranquility where you can enjoy lunch in a classy environment. Right next to the Michelin star kitchen of restaurant Vinkeles, you sit down in style in the lounge. The tables are set beautifully and the service is very attentive. The menu is a nice mix of simpler and haute cuisine dishes. There are a club sandwich with fries and a hamburger with cheddar cheese, but also dried fruit bread with melted tallegio or Gillardeau oysters. Our favorite was a sourdough bread with cream cheese and iberico ham.

Hopefully having lunch in style will help you recharge and enjoy the buzz of the city the rest of the day!

www.belhamel.nl
Brouwersgracht 60
1013 GX Amsterdam
Tel.: +31 (0)20 6221095
Public Transport: Tram 1, 2, 5, 13 or 17 to Martelaarsgracht
Cuisine: French
Neighbourhood: Canals
Vibe: Elegant
Price: €15 to €25 per person (lunch)

www.dylanamsterdam.com
Keizersgracht 384
1016 GB Amsterdam
Tel.: +31 (0)20 5302010
Public Transport: Tram 1, 2, or 5 to Spui
Cuisine: French
Neighbourhood: Canals
Vibe: Elegant
Price: €15 to €25 per person (lunch)

That’s changed now, in a rather innovative way, thanks to Bringo, an “advanced delivery service”. Bringo is a logistics company, specializing in providing delivery for shops and restaurants.

Several of dutchgrub’s favorite restaurants have already contracted Bringo to do deliveries for them. For example you can now have great Mexican food from Tomatillo or the excellent BurgerBar burgers delivered right to your doorstep.

The orders are usually placed through the thuisbezorgd.nl or justeat.nl food order portals. Check the Bringo site for available restaurants and ordering details.

Luckily there are a number of restaurants that have it all. They stand out for being trendy – drawing the in crowd and looking stylish. But they also serve great food. And they have made the first version of dutchgrub’s Trendiest Amsterdam Restaurants list. Be sure to check it out and read about Bistrot Neuf, De Kas and Hotel De Goudfazant.