Popular breakfast foods are bread with chocolate sprinkles (hagelslag) and breakfast cake (ontbijtkoek), a cake containing cinnamon, cloves and ground ginger.

Popular lunchtime dishes include ‘uitsmijter’, bread with slices of cheese or meat, topped with fried eggs or Dutch pea soup (erwtensoep). Bitterballen are deep-fried meatballs filled with a beef ragout, with a crispy outside, and are often eaten dipped in mustard. Kroketten are a larger version of the bitterballen and can be eaten on their own or covered in mustard and put in a bread roll. A popular snack, whilst on the move, is French fries (patat) smothered in mayonnaise or sate sauce.

Raw herring is an Amsterdam speciality, particularly in May when the first batch of new green herring arrives in the market.

For the sweet-toothed, there are plenty of cakes, pancakes, waffles and Dutch apple pies.

Wines & Drinks

Beer is probably the most well-known drink in Amsterdam and there are many famous Dutch beer brands, such as Heineken, Amstel, Bavaria, Dommelsch and Oranjeboom.

Served ice-cold, jenever is the Dutch version of gin and is the nation’s favourite spirit. Another popular drink is brandewijn, which is, literally, burnt or distilled wine.