Amsterdam: Restaurants

# Pop a Herring:

Amsterdam folk like their herring fresh and raw from a neighborhood fish stall. The best in the business is Van Altena, Stadhouderskade at Jan Luijkenstraat (tel. 020/676-9139). Eat your fish in the approved Dutch manner — whole, holding the fish by its tail, with your face to that wide Holland sky. Amsterdammers prefer theirs chopped, with onion.

# Eat on the Water:

I won’t go so far as to say you’ll never eat better than on an Amsterdam Dinner Cruise, operated by Holland International (tel. 020/622-7788). But you’ll have the music, the candlelight, the canals, and, if you’re lucky, the moon over the water.

# Feast in the Park:

Tucked away behind the trees of Vondelpark, Vertigo, Vondelpark 3 (tel. 020/612-3021) lends a touch of the country to a convivial venue that’s backed up by some fine food.

# Try a Rijsttafel:

Dutch settlers in the East Indies created the banquet-style “rice table.” Comprising from 10 to 30 little dishes, some as fiery as rocket exhaust, a rijsttafel is a great introduction to Indonesian cuisine.

# Live the Americain Dream:

Join tout Amsterdam for coffee, tea, and gateau in the stunning Art Nouveau and Art Deco ambience of the Amsterdam American Hotel’s Cafe Americain. You’ll be pleased to learn that the service has improved since a post-war Dutch writer described the waiters as “unemployed knife throwers.”

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