Traveling to Amsterdam with kids? Here's an insider guide for what to do and where to go, tested by us and proven to be kid-friendly and cool.
Tokyo Café
Do your children love sushi as much as mine? My daughter is especially crazy for sushi — she LOVES it… Including the seaweed salad! She really can’t get enough of it!
Good thing that at Tokyo Café you can eat as much sushi and teppanyaki as you like! Grown-ups pay a fixed price of around 20 euros and kids pay 10 (under 4s eat for free), and you can keep on ordering sushi (and other things) until you fall asleep in your chair, like our daughter did.
There are two shifts in the evening, the first one is from 17.30 onwards and the second one from 20.15. Especially during the first shift there are plenty of children around (and tolerated). High chairs are available — I would ask for one when you make the reservation (which is recommended)!
Tokyo Café is a good place to go after an afternoon of shopping or sight-seeing, as it’s located on the Spui (right in the main shopping area). (more…)
ALSO IN THE AREA:
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| Burgermeester | Broer&Zus | Such fun at TunFun |
Burgermeester
Even though they don’t serve French Fries at Burgermeester (Dutch for mayor), they do serve the most delicious burgers! Think burgers with Blonde d’Aquitaine beef and truffle, lamb with red onion compote, wild duck with Chinese cabbage, salmon with grilled asparagus and lemon mayonnaise… Or the vegetarian burger with falafel and grilled vegetables — all of them super tasty, and accompanied by potatoes, corn on the cob or salad, fresh fruit juices or milkshakes.
Even though the food is upscale, the setting is definitely super relaxed, like a fast food joint ought to be. Meaning food is served quickly, and kids crawling over benches won’t be a bother!
Best of all? All the deli burgers come in mini varieties — perfect for little tummies (or big tummies that like to try them all)!
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| Pancakes! | Tokyo Café | Raining? Go tropical! |
Bazar
In one of Amsterdam’s hottest neighbourhoods, de Pijp, you can find Bazar, a restaurant serving Arabic dishes in a middle Eastern atmosphere. I really like Bazar, mostly for it’s relaxed atmosphere. No dressing up, no big prices, nothing fancy but on the other hand super relaxed and kid-friendly. Mini picnic tables are put next to the grown-up’s table so the little ones can eat in style. Highchairs are available, colouring plates and crayons free to use and a little corner with television is present. A kid’s menu is available and the ice-cream is a favourite! Great to meet up with friends with kids, the staff really doesn’t mind the little ones running around. They even like to play ball!
xxx Esther (more…)
ALSO IN THE AREA:
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| De Taart van m’n Tante | De Pijp and the Albert Cuypmarket |
Utrechtsestraat
If you happen to be in Amsterdam and have a few hours to spare for some coffee and shopping, Utrechtsestraat is a good place to go.
The Koffiesalon, a lovely coffee-shop (in the true meaning of the word), has good seating, great espresso, yummy cakes and sandwiches and you can help yourself to as much water as you like. I brought my daughter here for some mummy and daughter time before and we both greatly enjoyed it. It’s also a good place to meet friends or even have an informal meeting.
Not far up the road, at number 74, you’ll find one of my favourite shops in Amsterdam, Jan. The shop owner, Janna, who obviously has great taste, has gathered a fantastic selection of products. Lamps, cushions, dinnerware and cutlery are amongst the stock, but the shop also features fashion accessories such as bags, belts, jewelery and watches, and some lovely toys and kiddie books. If you need a present or want to treat your own family (= yourself), don’t miss it.
Next door you’ll find Bellerose (they have good kids’ clothes). Funky ladies fashion can be found at Jan Lensen, beautiful French and Italian ceramics at Kom, great interior pieces at Mobilia, and there are many, many more great shops and restaurants. Maybe you’ll need more than a few hours!
ALSO IN THE AREA:
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| HEMA | Tokyo Café | De Bakkerswinkel |
Marqt
I’m sure I’m telling the food-concious Amsterdam inhabitant nothing new when I say the word ‘Marqt‘. Because Marqt came and conquered, and we didn’t look back!
The concept behind Marqt (not a supermarket but a ‘fresh market’) is fresh food, mostly organic, coming from local farms in the neighbourhood of Amsterdam and of very high quality. Everything is presented in a sublime and spacious interior (think wood, brick and stainless steel).
For people living in NY or London, where fancy food experiences (we don’t call them supermarkets any more) such as Whole Foods are around your corner, this concept might be nothing new. But to us here in provincial Amsterdam, organic shopping used to be limited to a couple of over-prized, sexless bio-shops where the shop assistants were as slow and un-enthusiastic as the food they were selling. But with Marqt in town, Amsterdam is back on the organic map!
P.S. When you go shopping at Marqt (BTW the bread is divine), you can leave your cash at home, because they only accept cards.
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| The Hollandsche Manege |
Cumin cheese
The Dutch are pretty famous for their cheeses. The ‘normal’ Gouda cheese is well known internationally, and also the plain Edam cheese is pretty much available in better cheese shops all over the world.
A cheese I have never found abroad though is ‘komijnekaas’ (‘cumin cheese’) — basically a Gouda or Edam cheese with cumin seeds in it, and a cheese we love in the Netherlands (at least I do)!
The cumin seeds give the cheese a mild, nutty flavour and it is very good on a slice of fresh bread or just as is on a cheese platter.
If in Amsterdam, make sure to step in to one of the many cheese shops (don’t worry — although they are certainly ‘cheesy’, they are not at all ‘just for tourists’)! They will gladly let you taste cumin cheese – and any other cheese you would like to try (and there are many)!
De Bakkerswinkel
These days we just love meeting friends for breakfast or brunch on a weekend morning. Breakfast is probably my favourite meal of the day to start with, but besides that, early in the day my kids are still well rested and thus more enjoyable (as opposed to overall crankiness at dinner time)! Also, like every other parent with little children, we’re awake early anyways, so we might as well start our social schedule before noon! (Of course the friends we are meeting have kids too – the friends without kids would be crazy to leave their beds before noon on a weekend morning! In fact, it should be forbidden – what a waste!)
My favourite breakfast place is ‘De Bakkerswinkel’ (The Bakers’ Shop). Not only can you buy yummy breads, cakes and scones at the counter of ‘The Bakkerswinkel’, they also serve a wonderful (Dutch style) breakfast, lunch or tea in the restaurant area, which always has a very cozy and homey feel to it! Think jars of honey and home-made jams on the table, big cups of cappuccinos (small cups of babyccinos for the little ones of course), baskets filled with delicious breads, scones, etc. The menu is big enough to have something yummy for everyone’s taste! (more…)
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| La Savonnerie | Pancakes! | Artis, an old and beautiful Zoo |
Le Fournil
Le Fournil is the first original French bakery in the Netherlands, and it is immensely popular. Getting fresh bread on a weekend morning means standing in line here, but it is worth it! The most delicious baguettes, croissants, brioches, madeleines… Yum!
Sébastien, the owner, comes from a family of many generations of bakers located in the Vendée (France). Together with his Dutch wife he owned a bakery in France for over 10 years, but when they were visiting family in the Netherlands the idea of starting a French bakery in Amsterdam slowly took form. An excellent idea, if you ask me! One of our neighbourhood treasures…
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| Issa | Imagine — a very special toy shop | Imps & Elfs |
Strand Zuid
Last week we finally had a nice and warm, summery day in the Netherlands, so a girlfriend and I took our children to one of the hip & cool city beaches here in Amsterdam: Strand Zuid (South Beach).
Behind the (big & ugly) congress centre, ‘Amsterdam Rai’, and on the border of the Beatrix Park pond, a lovely treasure is hidden: a beach in the middle of Amsterdam!
There are 2,000 square meters of sand, chill-out areas, bars & terraces with good food, sun-loungers, a beach volleyball field and showers. It’s great to bring your children here on a warm summer day; they can enjoy themselves in the sand and play with all the other kids, while you can relax a bit with a rosé and pretend to be in the Mediterranean…
It’s also not a bad place to come without children – for a stylish dinner on a nice summer evening… It’s open until midnight on weekends.
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| MIFFY SHOP | Kid’s shoes from Meys & Co |
Tony Chocolonely
Since we moved back to the Netherlands (now about a year ago), I’ve noticed these brightly-coloured ‘Tony’s Chocolonely’ chocolate bars around. The wrapping is very garish and in-your-face (cool though), and not at all like the packaging I usually go for in Chocolate Land (meaning matte dark-brown paper, golden accents and names like ‘La Maison du Chocolat’ or ‘Marcolini’ – I’m posh like that 
). But the fact that my hairdresser, who uses Aveda and makes an effort to be very earth-friendly and chic in general, had Tony’s Chocolonely’s bars on the counter made me decide to try one.
I must say, I was certainly not disappointed! I tried the blue 72% cacao variety and it was beautifully brittle and tasty. By now I was getting curious – what’s the story behind these different-looking chocolate bars with their weird name?
A visit to Tony Chocolonely’s website explained it all, and made me laugh and cry at the same time… (more…)
De Taart van m’n Tante
Yesterday morning I took my little family for a treat: we went to ‘De Taart van m’n Tante‘ (Cakes of my Aunt) for coffee and cake. ‘De Taart van m’n Tante’ is not just an ordinary tearoom with your everyday kind of cake — in fact, it might be the most kitschy tearoom of Amsterdam, with the most spectacular cakes!
The men behind ‘De Taart van m’n Tante’, Siemon and Noam, strive to make everybody (young and old, conservative and hip, Sikhs and nuns) at home in their cake parlour, and in my opinion they have succeeded. I especially love the grandma-style sofa and coffee-table in the back!
The cakes are yummy (my daughter was very happy to find out that they serve a super sweet strawberry cake entirely covered in pink marzipan – exactly to her taste!) and the owners really easygoing. They didn’t seam to mind at all that my little boy was screaming for cookies – in fact, they just gave him a plate full of them! (more…)
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| De Pijp and the Albert Cuypmarket | Bazar |
Issa
Every now and then, when I really don’t feel like cooking and it is still early in the evening, we take the kids to Issa, a little Japanese restaurant around the corner from us here in Amsterdam. This restaurant is particularly popular in our family because not only do we all love Japanese food (even the baby does), it also has a tiny private area in the back with traditional Japanese low tables. Such fun! My daughter loves taking her shoes off and sits at the table as if she is twelve years old instead of three; the baby likes playing the ‘climb onto the table’-game until we finally get enough of it and strap him into his Phil&Teds Me Too chair.
Last night at Issa we tried a new dish: Okonomiyaki, or Japanese Pancake. A true discovery! (more…)
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| Imps & Elfs | Imagine — a very special toy shop | Le Fournil |
Praq
Last weekend the weather in Amsterdam was nice for a change, so on Saturday we loaded all the children on the bikes, and off we went to our favourite kid-friendly restaurant: Praq.
Praq is located along the Amstel river in the beautiful little village of Oudekerk aan de Amstel — not very far from Amsterdam at all (I would say about a 40 minute, very scenic bike-ride). We love this restaurant so much because not only do they serve great food, they also have a complete section reserved just for kids (and their parents). All this is done in a really tasteful way – no Donald Duck in sight! Parents, children, even business people feel comfortable here! (more…)
Vondeltuin
The ‘Vondeltuin‘ is a lovely café/restaurant with a huge terrace AND playground in the most northwestern tip of the beautiful Vondelpark, a perfect place to bring children on a summery day. High chairs are available.
Bigger kids (and parents) can rent skates here — only 15 euros for a full day! Or 5 euros for the first hour and 2,50 for each next hour, if you’re less fanatic…
Don’t worry if you think you’re a disaster on skates – this is no excuse: a workshop can be booked at the Vondeltuin and before you know it, you’ll be an expert!
You will even be able to skate-carry that picnic around you picked up at the Vondeltuin (only by reservation)! (more…)
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| Kinderkookcafé |
Kinderkookcafé
On the edge of the Vondelpark in Amsterdam there is a wonderful place to bring your kids: the Kinderkookcafé (Childrens’ Cooking Café). The fact that it is a café is good news for the parents – they can meet up and have a cup of coffee and a simple snack like a sandwich, soup or apple-pie. The good news for the kids is that while their parents are catching up and drinking coffees, they can ‘cook’! (more…)
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| Vondeltuin |
