Goodies, Amsterdam

While alone, you can sit in front of the window and watch people walking in the street. As for us, we prefered the cat's company around the fire ;-) The staff was very friendly and the food good and healthy. I especially appreciated the quiet and intimate atmosphere.

Favorite Dish: I had a pepperoni soup and a salad while my friends had noodles. Everything was excellent.

Huidenstraat, on the edge of Jordaan and near the Sunday Art Market, has a couple of nice places to eat and drink. We stumbled across Goodies on a hot Sunday afternoon. Even though the name and the menu was in English, this did not seem to be a big place for foreigners - the place was full of young Dutch customers. There were seats on the quiet street and wooden benches inside.

Apart from the food, drink and atmosphere, what made the place so nice was the very friendly staff. Full of smiles. And the nonchalant resident black cat (everywhere in Amsterdam seems to have a resident black cat!!).

Favorite Dish: A mixture of tasty salad dishes were on offer for the daytime menu. And more substantial stuff, like egg club sandwich. And a small choice of homemade puddings.

I had a blue cheese and spinach salad, which had a lovely walnut dressing. For pudding I tried the apple pie, which was very generous, filled with cinnamon and sprinkled with bitter chocolate, yum :-P

They also serve hot, sweet mint tea, which is perfect for a summer day.

And at the end of the meal you get a free lollipop. Anywhere that gives you a free lollipop is good in my view :-)

This tiny little place along not so heavily populated Huidenstraat in Joordaan is a right gem. The exterior doesn't look much and the interior is rather dull with an allure of a frat house living room more than a cafe, but the food is very good and the staff are very nice, with real smiles. It is popular amongst the hungry young urbanites and corporate career makers and is full on a daily basis. It is a while I last visited the place, but during the day, they do really gorgeous and very substantial sandwiches, bagels, fruity shakes, lush soups, pastries and the like.

In the evenings, the mains include pasta and salads. All ingredients are high quality and practically all dishes have clever names and many are named after real and fictional personalities such as Pavarotti, the opera singer sandwich and Victoria Beckham.

Occasional live music. Reservations are recommended due to the small capacity (60 seats).

Open:
Mon noon-10:30pm
Tue-Sat 9:30am-4:30pm and 6pm-10:30pm
Sun 11am-4:30pm and 6pm-10:30pm

Cuisine: Dutch, European, Italian
Dress code: Casual

Good Bagels, Sandwiches, Muffins etc. The cafe is nice because the interieur design is really simple (cuckoo (Oh my god, I'm German and I can't even spell this ;-) clocks etc) but it's a place to sit around for hours.

Favorite Dish: Just a creme cheese Bagel with chives...hmmmmm