Café Cress
Amsterdam4.9
Caffé Cress occupies a bright, double-windowed corner on Johan van Hasseltkade, looking out across the IJ from Amsterdam-Noord. The room is laid out like a living room with games and colouring sheets on the tables, a south-facing terrace, and a clear preference for everyday hospitality over occasion dining. The restaurant opened in late 2023 under three co-owners who previously worked together at Floreyn: Cyril Martineau and Niamh Groentjes run the kitchen, while Jeffrey Klepper looks after the floor and the wine list. Cyril brings a French foundation, Niamh layers in Asian influence, and the dialogue between the two shapes the cooking. The menu changes every two weeks around what Cyril finds each morning at the Albert Cuyp market, with bread from city bakery Van As, a cheese course from Fromagerie Kef, and coffee from Zwarts'.
Fruittuinen van west tuincafe
Amsterdam4.5
Set on 6.5 hectares of orchard at the edge of Amsterdam, Fruittuin van West is a working biodynamic farm with a small café at its centre. The Tuincafé serves lunches built from what grows just outside, including apples from the orchard's own 22,000 trees. Guests eat at tables and in lazy chairs that look out over the rows of fruit. On pizza evenings, pies are baked thin and crisp in the clay oven on the terrace, topped with mushrooms grown in the on-site cellar and vegetables from partner growers visited each week. The whole operation carries Demeter certification, the biodynamic standard that adds welfare and closed-cycle requirements on top of EU organic. The café offers options for vegans, vegetarians, and meat eaters, with gluten-free desserts available.
Pelusa
Amsterdam4.9
Pelusa sits on the waterfront of Amsterdam Noord, a small neighbourhood restobar built around an Argentine parilla and a marble topped bar. Chef Steven Andeweg cooks in a robust, straightforward register, drawing on his time at London's St. John to shape a kitchen rooted in nose to tail practice and open fire grilling. The dining room, lined with Victorian green tiles and brass taps, doubles as a local meeting point. The menu is compact and moves with the seasons, pairing vegetable dishes with lesser used cuts of meat and offal. Pork arrives from Buitengewone Varkens, produce from Lindenhoff, bread from Bakkerij Solinger next door and coffee from Koffie van Kees. A drinks list built around wild fermented beers, natural ciders and natural wines gives the bar side of the operation equal weight.
Pllek
Amsterdam4.4
Pllek occupies a row of stacked shipping containers on the IJ waterfront at the NDSM wharf, Amsterdam's former shipyard turned creative quarter. Founded in 2012 by Sjoerd Steenbeek, the kitchen puts vegetables at the centre of every menu, with roughly three quarters of the dishes vegetarian and a quarter fully vegan. Chef Dimitry Mulder draws on Asian and international influences to shape a menu that rotates with the seasons. Much of the produce comes from the restaurant's own growing operation in Amsterdam, and the small amount of meat and fish on offer is wild or North Sea caught. Beyond the plate, the space doubles as a cultural venue with weekly live music, yoga sessions and community programming.
Sababa De Pijp
Amsterdam4.4
Sababa brings Middle Eastern street food to the Albert Cuypstraat with a menu designed to make plant based eating effortless. Roughly two thirds of the dishes are vegetarian or vegan, anchored by crispy falafel, roasted cauliflower with tahini and vegan lemon mayo made in house, while beef kebab sourced from Boerderij De Lindenhoff and chicken shawarma round out the range. The format is fast casual: sourdough pita baked on site, a focused list of bowls and sides, and a pace suited to takeaway and delivery as much as eating in. The De Pijp location sits on one of Amsterdam's busiest market streets, with a compact interior and pavement seating outside.
Abbey
Amsterdam4.7
Abbey sits on the Admiraal de Ruijterweg in Bos en Lommer, Amsterdam West, named for the Beatles' Abbey Road rather than the nearby Boomkerk church. Chef Joeri Quax brings a classical French grounding to a kitchen built around Dutch produce, keeping each plate to six ingredients or fewer. The result is cooking that is direct and uncluttered, with a clear preference for letting ingredients speak for themselves. The atmosphere is relaxed and low key, with three sun facing terraces, a full bar and a team that prioritises warmth over formality. Lunch revolves around sourdough from Fort Negen and in house preparations; dinner shifts to a seasonal set of dishes that changes with the market. Vegetarian, fish and meat options run across every course, with the kitchen willing to adapt for dietary requirements on request.
Elixer
Amsterdam4.6
Elixer is a social and circular restaurant in Amsterdam's Indische Buurt, founded by chefs Eva Evers and Valentijn Klap. The weekly rotating surprise menu builds on what a dedicated green picker harvests from the restaurant's own food garden and surrounding neighbourhood plots, including Anna's Tuin and Ruigte. Every course centres on vegetables, with North Sea fish or wild meat available as an optional supplement. Beyond the plate, Elixer reinvests profits into neighbourhood initiatives: charity meals for vulnerable residents, liberation day dinners, circular workshops, and community garden days. The interior, built entirely from donated and secondhand materials, reflects the kitchen's zero waste approach, where surplus is canned, dried, or fermented, and food scraps return to the compost.
Baking Lab Amsterdam
Amsterdam4.5
Baking Lab Amsterdam is a circular bakery, cafe, and educational space on the Linnaeusstraat in Amsterdam Oost. Founded in 2017, it brings together traditional sourdough craft, fermentation science, and a mission to reduce food waste. The kitchen transforms surplus ingredients into new products: old bread becomes the base for fresh loaves, juice pulp enriches cakes, and stale croissants find a second purpose as pudding. The cafe serves a fully vegetarian menu with vegan options, from stone oven toasties with organic goat cheese to vegan bowls and freshly squeezed juice. Beyond the counter, Baking Lab runs workshops and educational programmes in partnership with the University of Amsterdam and Artis Micropia, drawing around 100,000 visitors each year.
Margo's Amsterdam
Amsterdam4.8
Margo's is a fully plant-based bakery and cafe with two Amsterdam locations: a production hub at Bellamyplein in Oud-West and a takeaway counter in the Jordaan. Founded by Margot Abdine and her partner Ayden, the kitchen centres on a meticulous three-day lamination process that produces croissants, pain au chocolat and Danish pastries entirely without dairy or eggs. The savoury menu includes freshly baked soft submarine sandwiches filled with katsu tofu, hoisin-glazed seitan and crispy tofu with house-made chilli mayo. Ceremonial grade matcha sourced from the first harvest in Uji, Japan, and specialty coffee sit alongside kombucha and craft lemonades. Ingredients are chosen with care: Wildfarmed regenerative flour, Xoco direct-trade chocolate and Be Better plant butter form the base of the pastry programme. The Bellamyplein location offers sit-in service; the Jordaan shop is takeaway only.
Couscous Club
Amsterdam4.6
CousCous Club is a single-concept restaurant on Ceintuurbaan, next to the Rialto cinema. Owner Wouter Apituley opened the kitchen to fill a gap in Amsterdam's dining landscape: a dedicated couscous restaurant. The menu offers just three dishes, all built on the same foundation of hand-steamed couscous and seven steamed vegetables. The space feels like a Parisian living room, with chandeliers, baroque wallpaper and candlelight, accompanied by French chansons and Argentine tango. Behind the kitchen, a greenhouse (the CousCous Kas) supplies fresh herbs and vegetables directly to the plate. Everything is steamed. There is no microwave and no deep fryer in the kitchen, keeping both the food and the energy footprint light.
Thull's Deli
Amsterdam4.5
Thull's Deli is built around one principle: that fermentation makes food better. Owner Simone van Thull runs a combined lunch counter, traiteur, wine shop and fermentation workshop from a light filled space on the Van Eesterenlaan in Amsterdam's Oostelijk Havengebied. The kitchen works from scratch with simple ingredients, turning seasonal vegetables into sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles and condiments that appear across the menu and line the shelves. House brewed kombucha and water kefir sit alongside a considered selection of natural and biodynamic wines from small European producers, including Dutch importer De Vier Heemskinderen. Daily rotating meals, sourdough sandwiches on bread from Restaurant As and flatbreads feature the deli's own fermented products as a defining element. Simone's published cookbook, De Inmaak en Fermenteerbijbel, reflects the depth of knowledge behind the counter. The deli also supplies over 30 restaurants and shops across Amsterdam with its fermented products.
Today is Greenday Central Station
Amsterdam4.3
Today is Greenday Central Station opened on 1 November 2025 inside the Middenpassage at Amsterdam Centraal, the second location after the original on the Ceintuurbaan in De Pijp. &C magazine covered the opening, calling it their favourite salad bar. The concept positions itself against station fast food: healthy, seasonal bowls priced to compete with standard takeaway. Three founding families share ownership across two generations. Louise du Toit directs the food; Mark van der Geest designed the open-kitchen layout around a wood-fired barbecue called 'the Caveman'. Map van Arem, whose background includes the development of Marqt, brings sustainable food retail experience. Ingredients are sourced within a stated 20 km radius with no air freight. Service uses compostable packaging for both dine-in and takeaway. The menu rotates four times a year with the seasons.
Wilde Zwijnen
Amsterdam4.4
Wilde Zwijnen opened in 2010 as a pioneer of modern Dutch cooking in Amsterdam Oost's Indische Buurt. The kitchen works with regional produce, line caught fish, hand harvested shellfish and foraged ingredients, shaping each course around what the season provides. Diners choose between a three, four or five course set menu in meat, fish or vegetarian format, with a cheese board to finish. The dining room mixes exposed brick with wooden tables and hanging plants, creating a relaxed, industrial feel. Staff chalk guest names directly onto the tables. A seasonal terrace opens when the weather allows, and Bar Bachrach next door extends the evening with drinks and snacks.
Restaurant Barracuda Amsterdam
Amsterdam4.4
Barracuda fills an 800 square metre former industrial space in Amsterdam's Hamerkwartier with the energy of a coastal fish market. Co-founded by five friends from the city's hospitality scene, the kitchen is led by Joey Baal and Maus Meeuwig, both alumni of Toscanini and other respected Amsterdam kitchens. The approach is direct: fish arrives from local fishermen, the menu changes daily based on what was caught the previous day, and every dish is served for sharing. The space runs on a self-service ordering system that keeps the pace lively and prices accessible. By day the atmosphere is relaxed and family oriented, with a mini-cinema screening children's films; by evening the energy shifts, with bubble machines and a decorated service robot adding to the mood. A skybox lounge upstairs offers a separate space for groups. Beyond seafood, the kitchen treats vegetable and vegan dishes with equal attention. Vegan krokets, vegetable fritto misto and Mediterranean toasts sit on the menu alongside oysters, langoustines and whole oven-roasted fish. Wine is poured by the carafe from tap, keeping the drinks list approachable.
Bar Centraal
Amsterdam
Bar Centraal operates as a natural‑wine bar with a short menu of well‑considered sharing plates. It blends local, seasonal ingredients with a strong natural and organic wine selection, served in a cosy, low‑key setting. The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly, with vintage furnishings and an open bar where guests can linger. Minimal interior design and communal seating create a welcoming backdrop for tasting natural wines and simple, ingredient‑led dishes.
Trevi’s Amsterdam
Amsterdam4.7
Trevi's is Amsterdam's first entirely vegan Italian restaurant, set on Pijnackerstraat in De Pijp. Owner Salah Ait, who grew up in Treviso and has been vegetarian his entire life, built the interior by hand and runs the kitchen with a personal touch. The dining room seats just six tables, split across two evening sittings, with lunch service from Friday to Sunday. Flour is imported from Italy and the pizza dough proves for 72 hours, while the parmesan and pesto are made in house from scratch using cashews and fresh herbs. The restaurant opened in early 2020 as a two month pop-up and has stayed open since, drawing a loyal neighbourhood following. No alcohol is served.
Spirit Amsterdam
Amsterdam4.4
Spirit is a self-service vegetarian buffet where every dish is made from 100 per cent organic ingredients. Rooted in the principles of macrobiotics, the kitchen prepares around 55 dishes fresh each day, drawing on international flavours with a modern, plant forward emphasis. Roughly 90 per cent of the buffet is fully vegan, with each item clearly labelled. The spacious, light-filled dining room sits at the corner of Czaar Peterstraat, a short walk from the Brouwerij 't IJ windmill. Guests fill their plates at the buffet counter and pay by weight at the till. An adjacent Odin organic store complements the restaurant's organic sourcing. Local artwork on the walls, including a mural by Robert Rost, adds character to the space.
Bar Bachrach
Amsterdam4.7
Bar Bachrach brings the warmth of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean kitchens to Amsterdam's Javaplein, next door to its celebrated sibling Wilde Zwijnen. Chef Yaniv Lenga draws on years of cooking across three continents, layering flavours from Lebanon, Syria and Turkey with the seasonal best of Dutch producers. The compact space pairs a sleek tiled bar with reclaimed wood accents, creating a relaxed setting for long evenings of shared plates. Dishes arrive as individual courses rather than a fixed sequence, encouraging guests to graze and share at their own pace. The wine list, curated over fifteen years alongside Wilde Zwijnen, leans into organic, biodynamic and natural bottles that complement the bold, spice-driven cooking. Bread is baked in house daily, from shishborek to Jerusalem bagel, and the menu shifts with the seasons as Yaniv works Amsterdam's markets for the finest local produce.