It&s all too easy to eat your way around the world in Amsterdam. Tuck into Turkish delights in a cosy restaurant, sip a stout and sup some home-made stew in an Irish pub, or get a south of the border taste in a Mexican cantina.
If you really want to treat the tastebuds to something different Tim’s Top is to visit one of the city’s many Indonesian restaurants and order a Ristafel. You get a bowl of fluffy white rice and up to 20 or so tea-cup sized dishes.
Beef in peanut sauce, coconut and prawns, spicy vegetables, fried bananas, chicken with pineapple – the list goes on and on. The cost of a Ristafel varies with your choice of restaurant and the number of dishes. The Sampurna Indonesian Restaurant by the flower market in Singel is excellent, it even has a vegetarian option and all for about pounds 12 a head.
Rather than order off the wine list, save some money and do what the locals do – drink a bottle of cold beer with your meal. Remember, all you need is a good appetite and sense of adventure. For the best of South American meat and some Scandinavian salmon, try Iguazu at 703 Prinsengracht. The mixed grill, with tangy Argentinian sausage is wonderful.
The sights of Amsterdam are as varied as its menus. You can see the greatest collection of Van Gogh paintings in the world, visit the house where Ann Frank wrote her diary, and of course you must take a cruise on the canals.
Even here the food does not go away. An after-dark canal trip under some of those 700 bridges will find you sipping wine and nibbling cheese. Amsterdam is more like a string of adjoining villages than a big city. Almost everywhere is walkable and it is really difficult to get lost as everyone seems to speak English.
When your feet get tired the tram system is easy to understand with two or three-day passes amazing value for money. Most major tour operators feature short city breaks to Amsterdam and most of them make use of the daily services from Birmingham International Airport.
The price of your break will probably include a Danish breakfast. Cold meats, cheese, a boiled egg, breads, tea or coffee. As with Amsterdam itself, you’ll leave the hotel with a smile but no slimmer!
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