5 Food You Need To Try in Amsterdam

There are many mouthwatering local delicacies on offer in Amsterdam ranging from tasty, sugar-filled desserts like tompouce or bossche bol to savoury, fast-food favourites such as patatje oorlog or frikandel speciaal. Here’s a round-up of some of the most popular dishes in Amsterdam, which are readily available at restaurants, stores and bakeries throughout the city.

* Kroket

These crispy meat-filled, sausage-like snacks are among the most popular fast food dishes in the country. Though there are several versions of the dish, most krokets in the Netherlands are filled with either lamb or beef ragout. This filling becomes molten after the kroket is deep-fried, but remains safe inside the snack due to its crispy outer layer. Krokets are very easy to find in Amsterdam and are almost always on offer inside FEBO – a fast-food chain that sells snacks via wall-spanning, coin-operated vending machines.

* Freshly Baked Speculaas

These delicious spiced cookies are eaten around Christmas in the Netherlands and seemingly contain every spice associated with the festive season, including nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves. These aromatic spices are mixed together with butter, flour and sugar to make speculaas batter, then cooked in a hot oven to give the cookies their distinctive, brittle texture. The cookies are exceptionally popular among Dutch people and are traditionally eaten during Sinterklaasavond – the main, gift-giving celebration in the Netherlands. There are also several varieties of peanut butter-like spreads made from smashed speculaas cookies available in the Netherlands and Belgium, which are based on well-known folk recipes.

* Patatje Oorlog

This classic Dutch fast-food dish combines several ingredients that aren’t usually considered complementary, creating a bizarrely satisfying, highly-calorific hodgepodge. To prepare the dish, cooks arrange a bed of crispy, Dutch-style french fries, then top this carb-heavy base with mayonnaise, raw onions and the pièce de résistance, spicy, peanut satay sauce. Though this mélange might sound rather strange to foreigners, it is surprisingly balanced and its ingredients work surprisingly well together, creating a dish that is simultaneously spicy, salty and incredibly filling. It is also usually served in a cone by fast-food vendors, which makes it perfect for anyone looking for a quick, hearty snack to fuel daylong excursions around Amsterdam.

* Freshly Baked Stroopwafel

Although these circular, syrup-filled waffles are available at basically every supermarket in Amsterdam, nothing beats freshly-baked stroopwafels. Thankfully there’s several old-school stroopwafel stands at markets around Amsterdam, including spots at Albert Cuypmarkt and Dappermarkt.

* Frikandel Speciaal

Another fast-food classic, frikandel speciaal consists of a long, skinless sausage served with raw onions, curry ketchup and mayonnaise. Sometimes, during national holidays, miniature Dutch flags are mounted onto the dish turning it into a meaty symbol of patriotism. The sausage in question (a frikandel) is also commonly served by itself as a quick snack or served with a portion of fries (think fish and chips, but with sausage). Like many other entries on this list, frikandel is sold at snack bars throughout Amsterdam, including at the city’s infamous FEBO vending machine restaurants.