birthday in Berlin...or Amsterdam

srk · Joined: 09 Apr 2005 Posts: 85 Location: Berkeley, CA

I'm going to conference in Amsterdam at the end of May, and I'm taking a side trip to Berlin for a few days in early June. My birthday is the day I fly back from Berlin to Amsterdam, so I'm looking for tips for extra-awesome places to eat in either city. Heck, any tips about either city would be lovely! (Yes, I'm already drooling over the stroop waffles!)

Rachel · Joined: 22 Oct 2006 Posts: 296 Location: Santa Barbara, CA

Lucky you to be going to Amsterdam! Cool

A couple of these suggestions I made in the comments to Clotilde's entry on Amsterdam, but I'll repeat them here, along with a few others...

The absolute must is a trip to Lunchcafe Winkel (Noordermarkt 43) for a slice of their apple tart with cream. It's the best in the city and alarmingly addictive (possibly even more so than that other substance a lot of people visit Amsterdam to sample... Wink

) If you happen to be in Amsterdam on a Saturday, check out the Boerenmarkt (a fantastic organic farmer's market) on the same square.

Le Soleil (Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 56) is a great place for pancakes, and the cafe is so adorable you'll want to put the whole place in your pocket and take it home with you. (It's also very convenient to the Museumsplein without being so close that it suffers from tourist-trap prices.)

There are lots of good Indonesian places, but my pick is Cilubang (Runstraat 10). Runstraat is a good street for food shopping too, with De Kaaskamer (cheese) and Paul Annee (bakery) and, bizarrely (yet very logically), a toothbrush shop!

Talking of shopping, you should try to get hold of a jar of apple or pear syrup (any supermarket will have it, there's also a stall at the Boerenmarkt that sells an organic version). It's great drizzled over pancakes or spread on toast, but I've also found it works well in salad dressings (use it as you would honey).

Festina Lente (Looiersgracht 40b) is a wonderfully atmospheric and relaxed cafe-bar in the Jordaan, with good small plates and a supply of books and board games to while away the afternoon (or evening). De Jaren (Nieuwe Doelenstraat 20) is very different (large, modern and light-filled) but also lovely, with a view over the Amstel and a vast drink selection. And whatever you do, don't miss the chance to visit a bruin cafe (traditional bar) - there are too many good ones for me to recommend just one, but the canal belt, especially the Prinsengracht north of Leidesplein and the streets radiating off it, has loads.

Can't help you with Berlin, but I'm sure someone else can!

gingerpale · Joined: 23 Jan 2006 Posts: 1324

Really, a shop just for toothbrushes? How adorable!

msue · Joined: 18 Dec 2005 Posts: 368

I'd have to go to that toothbrush shop! Where else are you ever going to see such a place?!

gingerpale · Joined: 23 Jan 2006 Posts: 1324

I found a picture of the shop's front window--

http://www.photo-zen.com/slideshows/amsterdam65.html

"de Witte TandenWinkel" is Dutch for "the White Teeth Shop".

msue · Joined: 18 Dec 2005 Posts: 368

I wonder if they have other unique shops, such as a shop devoted to thumbtacks, or perhaps one that sells spoons.

Good sleuthing, gingerpale, to find an image online!

srk · Joined: 09 Apr 2005 Posts: 85 Location: Berkeley, CA

Thank you, Rachel! I'm particularly looking forward to eating Indonesian again (it was one of the most memorable things I ate the first time I visited Amsterdam, 8 years ago). I'd totally forgotten that Clothilde had posted on Amsterdam - I'll definitely look at that too.

The toothbrush shop looks hilarious. I may just have to check it out Smile

Barbara · Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 12:36 am Post subject:

gingerpale · Joined: 23 Jan 2006 Posts: 1324

Barbara of course this makes think of the movie--not set in Paris, but in the port city of Cherbourg. "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" ("Les Parapluies de Cherbourg") with Catherine Deneuve-- Charm...ING!
I think Zorba the Greek beat it out of being the 'best foreign film' (Oscars) that year. (1964 NOT a bad year for movies.) It featured a shop that sold only umbrellas. Old movie, *watch it* movie!

Little one-product shops are picturesque--they exist by the thousands on the Internet--sort of.. it's sad that we can't have the best of both worlds.

Rachel · Joined: 22 Oct 2006 Posts: 296 Location: Santa Barbara, CA

msue, I haven't come across any shops (in Amsterdam or elsewhere) devoted to thumbtacks or spoons... but that doesn't mean they don't exist somewhere! Last time I was there I did notice several shops selling vintage/antique light fixtures and nothing else, but that's not quite as unusual as De Witte Tandenwinkel.

srk, glad to have been helpful - though I did forget a couple of non-food-related tips:

- If you're interested in visiting the Van Gogh Museum, go on a Friday evening if at all possible. It's open til 10pm and is much less crowded than during the day!
- If you fancy seeing a film, go to the Tuschinski - it's the most incredible Art Deco extravaganza of a cinema I've ever seen. (the films are all shown undubbed, though you'll have to contend with the potential distraction of Dutch subtitles...)

Lilia Dignan · Joined: 23 Mar 2005 Posts: 159 Location: San Francisco

Thank you Rachel for all that info on Amsterdam. It would make any trip enjoyable be it short or a longer one.

Great find, Gingerpale - that should be a nice find for my petite fille who likes changing toothbrushes every week (mostly princesses').
_________________
"A man hath no better thing under the sun than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry."

Alina · Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 25 Location: Paris

Thank you Rachael for your tips. I was there for a couple of nights in amsterdam and already fell in love with the green city. might go back next month or Nov. It is just 4 hours train ride from Paris to Amsterdam. i love their pastries and of course not to forget Indonesian foods everywhere.

swan · Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 10:53 am Post subject:

I find it SO funny that you, from Paris, love our pastries - (not that they are not good, but they are just, I mean, pastries...!) and I, from Amsterdam, will deliberatily spend a night in Paris on my way home from Sable d'Olonne - just to get...PASTRIES!!!!! (Have to check if Pierre Hermé isn't on vacation yet on august 1st....).

(oh, and maybe buy some of that wonderful rabbit terrine as well, Debby!!)

Alina · Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 25 Location: Paris

Swan, you will be surprised! luckily one of the girls who are working there speaks french, so it is much more easier for me, not that i don't speak english, but you feel at home conversing in french there, hahah..
it is the bakery shop, next to where you buy tickets to Madame Tassaud. i will surely go there again.

swan · Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 9:22 am Post subject:

I'll make sure to visit them next time I'm in town ( I live in a suburb). Good to know, thanks!