Best Street Food and Dutch favourites

Discover local street food and taste Dutch favourites during your Amsterdam trip. Sightseeing makes hungry and a bit of snacking is the best way to restart your batteries. Amsterdam brims with places to stop along the way for a quick bite from herring stands to snack bars and hole-in-the-wall vending machines. This is the perfect opportunity to try a few Dutch fast food favourites such as herring, kroket and frikandel.

5 Places to eat Dutch Street Food

1. Vlaardingse Haringhandel for herring
2. FEBO for kroket and frikandel
3. Manneken Pis and Vleminckx Flemish fries
4. IJscuypje for ice cream and stamppot
5. Snackbar for deep fried fast food and patatje oorlog and kapsalon

TIP: Join the Food Walking Tour. You will sample several snacks like herring and deep fried snacks at the same time you will see some Amsterdam sights like the Schreierstoren and Dam Square and the Royal Palace.

1. Herring, Poffertjes and Stroopwafels

The Albert Cuypmarket is one of the best places to try typical Dutch treats like herring, poffertjes and stroopwafels. The Vlaardingse Haringhandel (Albert Cuypstraat 89), a herring stand with fresh herring all year round. Stroll along the market and you will find stands with poffertjes (tiny pancakes powdered with sugar) and stroopwafels.

2. Kroket and Frikandel

The FEBO, known for its hole-in-the-wall vending machine concept, is the best establishment to try a kroket or frikadel. (FEBO: Leidsestraat 94, Oudezijds Voorburgwal 33, Reguliersbreestraat 37). Kroket is a a deep fried roll with beef ragout inside, covered in breadcrumbs and deep fried. Frikandel is a deep fried minced meat roll.

3. Flemish and Dutch fries

The main difference between French fries Flemish and Dutch style is the type of oil used. Flemish fries use suet and Dutch fries vegetable oil. Another difference is that Flemish fries are cut thicker. Fries are served with mayonnaise or ‘frietsaus’. Frietsaus is similar to mayonnaise but contains only 25% fat (mayonnaise at least 70%) and it is usually sweeter.
Best places in Amsterdam for Flemish fries:

Vlaams Fiethuis Vleminckx de Sausmeester, Voetboogstraat 33. You have 25 different sauces to choose from, including mayonnaise, ketchup, curry sauce, sambal, applesauce, tartar sauce, green pepper sauce, lemon mayonnaise, garlic sauce, mustard, BBQ sauce and more.

Manneken Pis, Damrak 41. Portion are huge. A Schanulleke 300g best for children and small eaters, an Urbanus 450g and an Obelix is almost one kg of fries.
Schanulleke is a Flemish comic book character in the series Suske and Wiske, Urbanus isa Flemish comedian and Obelix is a cartoon figure from the book series Asterix.

4. Ice Cream in Summer, ‘Stamppot’ in Winter

IJscuypje, Prinsengracht 292 serves ice cream in summer and in winter stamppot, a Dutch classic made with mashed potatoes and vegetables. Indulge in classic ice cream flavours like vanilla, hazelnut and chocolate pr be a bit more adventurous and try stroopwafel, drop (black licorice), speculaas (spicy biscuit) or apple pie. IJscuypje also offers a variety of sorbets, including mango, lemon, strawberry and raspberry.

5. Deep Fried Fast Food and Patatje Oorlog

Snackbars are scattered all over Amsterdam: Heertje Friet, Herengracht 169, Emmanuel Snackbar Amsterstraat 47, Flemish Fries Snackland, Damrak 58 are centrally located. A snackbar is small eatery with an assortment of Dutch deep fried fast food such as bamibal, kroket, berehap, friet, kapsalon and patatje oorlog.

Kapsalon (photo above) translates as hairdressers salon and was invented by a hairdresser who asked his local snack bar to combine all his favourite fast food into one dish. This is what he got French fries covered with doner kebab and melted cheese, then topped with some lettuce and tomatoes and served with garlic sauce and sambal.

Patatje oorlog (photo above) translates as war fries, and consists of French fries topped with mayonnaise, peanut satey sauce, sliced raw onions and ketchup.

Photos: Marianne Crone

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