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Things to do in Amsterdam East


Cheeses at Dapper Markt

Things to do in Amsterdam East

In this post is a random collection of tings to do in Amsgterdam East. Here is a quick list of what is below:

Street market –  The Dappermarkt

Small Museum – ‘t Kromhout

Snacking – The Best Kebab in Amsterdam

Drinking – The Brewery by the Windmill

Eating – Some restaurants, on Suranimese, one Tha and one Dutch / International

Street Market

Cheeses at Dapper Markt

The Dappermarkt / Dapper market, in Amsterdam East, is a real neighborhood street market with absolutely no tourist element or focus so if you want to see where locals shop for cheap stuff, this is the place to  see! The market starts at 10m, quite late, like most of the rest of Amsterdam, On Mondays, there are many stalls with piles of clothes to rummage through and they cost 50 cents or a euro a piece. You will always find a wide selection of cheap clothes, shoes, underwear with funny prints, veg, fish, meat, flowers, electronic accessories, appliances and a whole lot of plastic rubbish. It’s closed on Sundays.

Museum ‘t Kromhout

Inside 't Museum Kromhout

If old engines are your thing, then you can find a little slice of heaven here in Amsterdam East! Kromhout museum is a working ships wharf where boats are now repaired and renovated. In times past, Kromhout was an important designer and manufacturer of steam and then diesel engines.

This small museum is run by volunteers who also look after the many vintage engines on display. They are all older chaps who have some history in the industry and clearly love their job, showing people around, explaining the engines and starting them for you. I am not especially interested in engines but found the whole experience charming and interesting. Just turn up on a day they are open and they will show you around, it takes about an hour to see everything slowly!

Open Tuesdays 9:30 am to 3:30 pm

May to September: also open 3rd Sunday 12 am to 4 pm

Cost: 7 euros adults, 4 euros kids

Snacking

Amsterdam East Doner at Beste Doner

SAVOURY – This little gem of a kebab ‘tent’ is at the Western entrance to the Dapper Markt. Their large lamb doner kebab (pictured), €4.50 is fantastic!  The bread is light, slightly warm and crispy on the outside and the meat and salads, relish and sauces plentiful and fresh.  If you like spicy then request the Madam Jeanette sauce as well as everything else!  I seldom pass this way without having one and I pass this way a lot!

SWEET  – There are various snack places on the market, about half way down the market, on a main cross road, you will find Oma Bob’s Poffertjes being sold from a little free-standing trailer. They are very tasty and if you haven’t had these before, this is a great place to try them. His stall is just outside the KFC.

 

Drinking

Brouwerij ‘t Ij

Outside Brouwerij 't IJBROUWERIJ ‘T IJ is a local microbrewery and if you are in Amsterdam East then you really should drop by to sample a few of their excellent locally brewed beer.  Doesn’t this part of town just keep getting better and better!

I’ve already blogged about Browerij ‘t Ij in my Top 5 Amsterdam Beer Bars so you can read about there. It’s the brewery right next to the windmill that is visible from the Western side of the market. Their beers are great and its open daily from 2pm to 8pm dailly.

BAR JOOST – is a real local corner bar with a fun vibe and a great selection of intersting craft beers.  The address is Molluckenstraat 33.

Eating

Lalla Rookh – Surinamese

Surinam was a Dutch colony on the north coast of Brazil. Enslaved Africans were forced to work in plantations and, post-slavery, workers from Indonesia, China and India were taken there as paid labor. All those cultures had distinct cuisines that they mixed and merged with local ingredients a globe away from where they originated. Suriname was granted independence in 1975 and the Surinamese were given the option to stay there or move to the Netherlands and half came here, bringing with them their rich and eclectic cooking traditions.

Lalla Rookh out in Amsterdam East makes excellent roti.  I grew up eating Roti in Durban, South Africa, where there is a large Indian community so I happily try it wherever I can.  What I love about Roti is the crumbliness between the layers of dough – no idea what that is exactly but they get it really right at Lalla Rookh. They have roti with various stews, from vegetarian to goat. My favourite is the beef, the tenderness and richness of the beef is amazing and their hot spicy side sauces are pefect if you like a bit of heat. They do takeaway if you are staying in the area but if you have it in the rerstaurant fresh from the kithen. I ate the beef roti recently in their restaurant (2019) and it was perfect, every mouthful a joy!

What will also get me coming back again and again was the starter, Telo Terie: crispy cassava ‘fries’ with super spicy little dried fish all stuck up in a dark red hot chili sauce, HELL YEAH! , read more about these little fishes on a super food blog, Amsterdam Bites to Die For.  On a previous visit, I tried the Telo Bakkeljouw thinking it was the Telo Tertie that I had read about on Patricia’s food blog.  It arrived and I had a bite and to my horror, it was salted fish: my nemesis, I have never eaten it and usually retch at the smell alone.  The place was empty and I was sitting in full view of the counter and felt too embarrassed so to throw it away so I forced myself to just get on with it and eat it.  I was quite shocked that by the third bite I was loving it! Check out their extensive menu. Open daily noon to 10pm

Thai Tiger

Thai Tiger is in Amsterdam East on the Javaplein.  If you like hot and spicy, then this place is great!  The Tom Yum Koeng was very good, the other starter, the Tiger mix was very ordinary. It was recommended by the waiter but the fish cakes were just blobs of dough, the chicken satay, right out of a cheap box and the pastry-wrapped prawn was okay but I would never order it again. Things looked up with the mains though.

The duck larb was really spicy which was perfect for me with the rice powder aroma coming through strongly. Duck larb is not actually on the menu, they have chicken or beef on the menu and it happened here like many other Thai restaurants that the duck is not minced precooking, the way larb should be. Turns out that the duck is bought in precooked so they dice it and then add it to the lab recipe, not ideal but actually tasted great and I would definitely order it again here. If you prefer larb the proper way then perhaps stick with the chicken or beef. The Keemao Talay was a real treat: tiger prawns, tender squid and really large, plump, fleshy mussels in a delicious thick soy sauce with sweet basil, also very spicy.

Kitchen open daily from 17h00 to 22h30. 

Wilde Zwijnen – Dutch / International

Wilde Zwijnen is in located on the Javaplein in Amsterdam East and worth the journey for a fancy dinner. I went the whole hog here and tried four courses. The place certainly justifies the fuss that is being made of it. The food was superb, every course in every way. Next time, I am going for the sirloin which looked amazing. The cheese was a bit mean for 12.50€ but overall the value was good I thought. 4 courses plus a pre-dinner cocktail and glasses of appropriate wine with each course, including dessert wine came to 75€ per person.

They advertise the food as from the Dutch kitchen but I found it pretty international. There is no menu online as the menu changes frequently but there will always be a good selection. The prices for set menus are 3 courses = 31.50€ and 4 courses = 37.50€.

Other Things and Places in East

Amsterdam East is getting nicer and nicer with a huge variety of new places to try out. Frank’s Smoke House is a great place to have a bite in the afternoon. They smoked salmon is spectacular.

The whole of the Javastraat is worth walking down just to take in the variety of this vibrant neighbourbood.