De Belhamel is a long-established and much-loved restaurant in Amsterdam and I don’t know why it took me so long to eat there. Well, I did today and it was fabulous. It is the kind of place you can really push the boat out and have a superb – and to be fair pricey –…
The Zaanse Schans is very pretty but very touristy. There is a museum and then various so-called museums that are actually shops, like the Bakery Museum, the Cheese Farm. What is totally worth seeing are the windmills along the river. I went the sawmill and the oil mill, €4 entry to each windmill. There is…
This is my favorite read about Amsterdam. Mr. Shorto writes narrative history, so picks out lives of people and uses them to illustrate and enrich the historical tale. I cannot recommend reading this book enough, preferably before you visit. It will enhance your stay here and probably get you coming back for more. I cheekily…
Scandinavian Embassy has been on my list as a place to try coffee for ages. Indeed the coffee was super. They have all sorts of fancy kinds and brews but the bog standard late hit the spot with me. What actually got me off my butt and across town on a cold winter morning was…
Greenwoods has been creating happy customers with their all-day breakfast for years now. Above is the always amazing Eggs Royal as well as ‘The Beast’ which is spinach, pulled pork, perfectly poached eggs with Hollandaise sauce miracle and on the specials board that day. Both were delicious. They have full English breakfasts, lunch offerings like…
Bakers & Roasters are great for breakfast/brunch. Their menu is extensive and service cheerful. Check out the link below to their menu to get just how interesting the offerings are. There’s a lot of Brazilian as well as Kiwi influence, as the place was started by 2 guys from those countries who missed their home…
The Northern Market or, in Dutch, De Noordermarkt. This is actually 3 markets in one. There is a Farmers Market with a Flea Market adjoining it as well as a Street Market just around the corner on the Lindengracht. So you really get the best of all types of a market! It is open all…
A full 4-hour food adventure in small groups of between 2 and 8 people. Hungry Birds invited me on their Daytime Experience’ and I loved it. I was curious to see how they would make a whole tour out of Dutch street food, which, let’s face it, people can be quite dismissive about. The food…
Some Reading For The Flight, The Dutch Tulip… I wrote the following article for people who’re coming to Holland to see the tulips. The idea being that you have a long flight and some hours to kill, and I thought I might keep you occupied with a relatively long read about the history of tulips…
At last, I’ve found a London tour that I can confidently recommend! I went on 2 thoroughly enjoyable tours, both given by Jonnie who owns a tour company called Bowl of Chalk (Cockney rhyming slang for ‘walk’). Because London is so big, Jonnie has 3 different 3-hour weekend walks that break it into smaller pieces….
