Café Hoppe

Café Hoppe is popular. Drop by on a Friday afternoon and join the crowd of people standing outside who grab a quick drink to celebrate the start of the weekend. Hoppe has been serving customers since 1670 and is one of these must-see and must-have-been places in Amsterdam.

Hoppe Now

Café Hoppe is popular with locals and tourists who come for the typical Dutch combination of bitterballen and beer. Hoppe is divided into two sections Standing Hoppe and Sitting Hoppe each with its own clientele. ‘Standing’ (which has seats) gives you a real pub feeling. Older regulars and visitors prop up at the bar and sip their jenever from small tulip shaped glasses. ‘Sitting’ (which has standing places) is for the younger ones, with louder music and more the feel of a Grand Café.

Hoppe Then

Café Hoppe wasn’t always a café, it was a distillery and tasting house where one could buy strong drinks and try them. The interior is very much like it was in the seventeenth century. Hoppe is no longer a distillery but you can still see the spirit barrels embedded in the walls, wooden wall benches and a sand-strewn floor. Chewing tobacco and spitting were the order of the day then. The sand made it easier to clean the floors.

Bitterballen

Bitterballen are a savoury snack – a roux of shredded beef, broth, butter and flour, rolled into balls, covered in bread crumbs and then deep fried. The result is a crispy outside and soft inside. Bitterballen are always served with a big dollop of mustard.

Address

Café Hoppe

Spui 18 – 20

1012 XA Amsterdam

Opening Hours: Sunday – Thursday 08.00-01.00

photo credit Marianne Crone