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'.
URBN By Novotel Amsterdam City
Amsterdam4.2
URBN sits inside the Novotel Amsterdam City on Europaboulevard, a 160 cover restaurant open from early morning through dinner. Chef Frank-Jan Mutsaers leads a kitchen that changes its menu with the seasons, built around what the chef calls fresh, pure and authentic cooking. The space blends a long bar, open lounge seating and a terrace, giving it a relaxed feel that serves hotel guests and locals alike. Weekly rotating chef's specials add variety beyond the core card. The restaurant operates under the hotel's Green Key Gold certification, and 25% of dishes are designated biodiversity friendly. Accor's wider responsible food model, which includes AI tracked food waste reduction through a partnership with Orbisk, shapes kitchen operations behind the scenes.
Cultureel Eetcafé 'Skek
Amsterdam4.5
Skek is a vegetarian eetcafé on Amsterdam's Zeedijk, operated as a cooperative without hierarchy under the Stichting Kriterion foundation. Every member of the team receives equal pay and takes part in shaping how the kitchen, the programming and the business run. The result is a venue that feels less like a restaurant and more like a second living room. The fully vegetarian menu changes every three months, tested by the kitchen committee and tasted by the whole team before it goes live. Dishes range from pulled jackfruit burgers and eggplant tempura to goat cheese tartlets with pear and thyme. Live music fills the room several evenings a week, with jazz, cabaret, open mics and rotating art exhibitions rounding out a cultural programme that keeps the Zeedijk address alive well past dinner service.
SLA - Amstelveenseweg
Amsterdam · Vondelpark4.1
SLA Amstelveenseweg sits at the southern entrance to the Vondelpark, on a leafy stretch of one of Amsterdam's most recognisable avenues. The branch shares the chain's open, design-led interior by Standard Studio, with indoor and outdoor seating that catches the afternoon sun. Ordering is counter-service: guests choose a base, toppings, and dressing from the seasonal menu and collect at the pass. The format suits a quick solo lunch as comfortably as a longer meal with friends, and takeaway or delivery is available for those heading straight into the park.
Café Binnenvisser
Amsterdam4.3
Café Binnenvisser occupies a striking corner building on Bilderdijkstraat, where stained glass windows and vintage furniture set the tone for a modern take on the traditional brown café. The kitchen, led by Guus Lourijsen, treats vegetables as the centrepiece of every dish, building strong flavours around what arrives each week from local growers. Meat and fish feature as accents rather than centrepieces; the weekly rotation of roughly five or six dishes is shaped by seasonal availability. Natural wines and craft beers fill the drinks list, and a bar menu of oysters, cured meats and cheese from named Dutch producers rounds out the offer. Walk-ins are welcome at any time. Reservations are only taken for groups of five or more, and the atmosphere sits somewhere between a neighbourhood pub and a considered dining room.
Tolhuistuin
Amsterdam4.2
Café Restaurant THT sits in the pavilion of Tolhuistuin, a cultural free space in Amsterdam Noord with views over the IJ. The kitchen, led by chef Rob Hofland, serves small plates from around the world designed for sharing, with dishes arriving within ten minutes at an accessible price point. Around three quarters of the menu is plant based, making it a strong destination for vegetarians and vegans without excluding flexitarian diners. Meat, fish and dairy come from named regional suppliers with organic and certified credentials, while seasonal produce shapes a menu that rotates quarterly. The restaurant opens onto an 18,000 square metre garden and riverside terrace, set within a cultural venue hosting concerts, theatre and community events year round.
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.
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.
Restaurant Merkelbach
Amsterdam4.3
Restaurant Merkelbach occupies the coach house of Huize Frankendael, the last surviving 18th-century country estate within Amsterdam. Chef Geert Burema, who initiated the Slow Food Chefs Alliance in the Netherlands, has built a kitchen that runs on seasonal, locally sourced ingredients since 2004. The regular lunch menu is fully vegetarian, with herbs picked from the ecological park that surrounds the building. For group dinners, the kitchen extends into meat from Lindenhoff farm in Baambrugge and day-caught North Sea fish from Goede Vissers, both prepared whole-animal. A large garden terrace overlooks Frankendael Park, offering a distinctly green dining setting within the city.
Kanarie Club
Amsterdam4.0
Kanarie Club occupies a former tram depot on the Bellamyplein in Amsterdam's Oud-West, part of the De Hallen cultural complex. The interior, designed by Studio Modijefsky, keeps the industrial bones visible: high ceilings, raw surfaces and exposed beams, set off by a bold yellow colour scheme and a sunken pool bar. The kitchen builds its menu around shared plates, with vegetables taking the lead. Sourdough from neighbourhood bakery Fort Negen anchors the bread offering, while the cheese board draws from the nearby Ten Kate market. Craft sodas, local Amsterdam beers and a wine list leaning towards natural and biodynamic producers complete the picture. By day the space doubles as a flexible workspace with coffee and breakfast bowls; by evening it fills with diners, cocktails and vinyl DJ sets on the weekends.
A beautiful mess Amsterdam
Amsterdam4.6
The menu is built around Middle Eastern and Mediterranean mezze, designed for sharing. Flatbreads arrive freshly baked and pair with dips such as hummus, moutabal and muhammara. Vegan options run deep, from oyster mushroom shawarma and spicy lentil soup to herb salads and caramelised carrots, making the menu well suited to plant based diners. Meat dishes are halal across the board, with highlights such as spicy Iraqi chicken and koefte. The kitchen also accommodates gluten free and dairy free requests. More details available here
Bagels & Beans Amsterdam Bos & Lommerweg
Amsterdam4.2
Bagels & Beans has been part of Amsterdam's cafe landscape since 1996, when the first branch opened on Ferdinand Bolstraat in De Pijp. The Bos en Lommerweg location sits in Bos en Lommer, a residential neighbourhood west of the centre, serving breakfast and lunch seven days a week. The menu is built around organic bagels with a wide range of fillings, from plant based cream cheeses and hummus to smoked salmon and organic turkey. About a third of the bagels are vegan by default, and all drinks can be made with oat, soy or almond milk. Salads, soups, fresh juices and specialty coffees round out the offering. The space is relaxed and spacious, with outdoor seating and free Wi-Fi. Counter service and takeaway keep the format accessible for both a quick stop and a longer stay.
Troost
Amsterdam4.3
Brouwerij Troost is Amsterdam's largest independent craft brewery, housed across two locations: a former monastery in De Pijp and the industrial grandeur of Westergasfabriek. Every beer is brewed on site from organic barley malt and hops, and the kitchen matches the brewery's self-sufficient ethos with bread baked from spent grain and coffee roasted in house. The atmosphere is relaxed and unpretentious, built around communal tables, open views of the brewing equipment, and a terrace that fills as soon as the sun appears. Weekly pub quizzes, brewery tours and Sunday brunches make Troost as much a neighbourhood fixture as a destination. The menu pairs plant-based options such as vegan burgers and celeriac schnitzel alongside classic Dutch bitterballen, with soft drinks and spirits all made by the brewery itself.
Hummus & Habibis Restaurant and Catering
Amsterdam4.6
Hummus & Habibis grew from a home kitchen in 2020, when founder Bader Dabbagh began sharing Syrian recipes as a way to rebuild connection after arriving in the Netherlands as a refugee. Five years later, the family opened their first restaurant and bar on Spaarndammerstraat in Amsterdam West. The dining room is dressed with golden hanging lights, colourful vases and mosaic boxes, setting the scene for meals built around shared plates. Most dishes are designed for communal eating, reflecting the spirit of Syrian hospitality. Every member of staff is a Syrian refugee, and the kitchen doubles as a platform for cultural exchange, from cooking workshops in refugee centres to thousands of community meals served across the country.
Mortimer
Amsterdam4.6
Founded in 2018 by chef Robbert van Zinnicq Bergmann, Mortimer occupies a compact corner space on Nieuwezijds Kolk, halfway between Central Station and Dam Square. Van Zinnicq Bergmann honed his craft at Gaggan in Bangkok and Vinkeles in Amsterdam before channelling that fine-dining precision into an all-day brunch format. The kitchen works exclusively with named suppliers: organic eggs and meat from Lindenhoff farm in Baambrugge, MSC-certified North Sea fish from Jan van As, and additive-free sourdough from Bakkery MAMA. Vegetarian and vegan options sit alongside the brunch classics. Upstairs seating and a small street-side terrace complement the intimate ground-floor room, where queues at peak hours reflect the reputation this small kitchen has built.
Poké Perfect Kinkerstraat
Amsterdam · Oudwesst4.0
Poké Perfect brings the Hawaiian poké bowl to Amsterdam's Kinkerstraat, offering a counter service format where guests choose from signature bowls or build their own from a selection of bases, proteins, toppings and sauces. Founded in 2016 by siblings Gerrit Jan and Quinta Witzel, the concept was born from a gap they identified in Amsterdam's quick service healthy food landscape. The menu spans fish, meat and plant based bowls, with proteins ranging from raw salmon and ahi tuna to sticky tempeh and vegan salmon. Bases include sushi rice, quinoa, kale and salad, giving guests flexibility across dietary preferences. The kitchen also serves sides such as vegan spring rolls and gyoza, a kids menu and vegan desserts including chocolate brownie and mango mochi. The interior leans bright and modern, with a relaxed atmosphere suited to quick lunches and casual dinners. Allergens are listed on every menu item, and the build your own format allows guests to navigate specific dietary needs.
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.
Smelt
Amsterdam4.7
Smelt brings together two Amsterdam institutions: De Kaaskamer van Amsterdam, a specialty cheese shop with over 25 years of history, and Cafe de Doffer, a well known brown cafe on the Runstraat. The result is a restaurant built entirely around cheese fondue, prepared from personally selected French, Dutch and Swiss cheeses. The menu runs from a classic Dutch fondue through Swiss, Italian, French and truffle variations, each paired with a recommended wine. A vegan fondue made from fermented cashew nuts widens the table. Seasonal vegetables, sourdough bread and a short list of starters and mains complete the offering. The space retains the warm, lived in character of the former brown cafe: vintage furniture, low lighting and what the owners describe as a living room away from home.
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.
The Lebanese Sajeria
Amsterdam4.6
Ziad Mansour and Lia Satzinger opened The Lebanese Sajeria in 2016, bringing the traditional Lebanese saj to Amsterdam after years on the city's food truck circuit. The kitchen revolves around manoushe, a flatbread baked on a dome shaped griddle and rolled with housemade dips, grilled vegetables and protein. Everything is prepared from scratch: hummus, falafel, labneh, babaganouj, soups, lemonades and desserts, with no ready made components anywhere in the operation. The space at Wijde Heisteeg is compact and fast paced, with an open kitchen on the ground floor and a small mezzanine above. Portions are built for a quick sit down or takeaway lunch, and the menu keeps deliberately short. The offering splits roughly into thirds: vegan, vegetarian and meat based wraps, with chickpeas, aubergine, pumpkin and lentils taking a structural role across all categories. Pantry products, including za'atar and olive oil, are sourced directly from Lebanese cooperatives.