The Top 10 Pop-Up Restaurants And Food Experiences In Amsterdam

Fresh tastes, clever design and a relaxed vibe are the order of the day for Amsterdam’s innovative and pop-up restaurants

It’s good to share … &samhoud places street food specializes in small plates – and a neat twist on the burger

&samhoud places street food

Steps from Central station, the original &samhoud places has two Michelin stars thanks to Heston Blumenthal-esque molecular maestro Moshik Roth. Now, a more affordable sister venue has opened below, with the Israeli chef still at the reins. High-quality plates to share ape global street snacks: the delectable Sam (€13) – chicken, oyster and kimchi in a lettuce wrap – is Korean-inspired, while the Tomeato (€9.50) is a US-style burger in which the yummy “mince” is actually, miraculously, tomato concentrate.
• Oosterdokskade 5, +31 20 260 2094, samhoudplaces.com . Open Wed-Fri midday-10.30pm, Sat 2pm-10.30pm, Sun midday-7pm

Instock

Holland’s first “food waste” restaurant, Instock serves a daily changing, three-course menu for €20, making inventive use of supermarket leftovers “rescued” that morning. Open until 2 November, it is the result of four retail industry workers’ dismay at society’s profligacy. “We wanted to show that lots of produce that shops throw away is perfectly fine,” says Freke van Nimwegen. With two full rooms – part of an old gas factory fringing the stately Westerpark – and a packed patio each night, they seem to be succeeding.
• Polonceaukade 9, +31 6 4971 2261, instock.nl. Open Fri-Sat 5.30pm-11pm, Sun 10.30am-5pm

Pllek

Pllek is reached by a ferry across the IJ (bay), which takes you to Amsterdam-Noord – the city’s upcoming area. This playground of abandoned shipyards is now filling with creative types, and its patron saint is Pllek, a bar-restaurant assembled from scratch two years ago. Inside are cushy sofas and a disco ball; outside there are reclaimed petrol containers, cushioned decking, picnic tables, ivy-lined scaffold pipes and a sandy terrace leading to the IJ, in which visitors can swim. Yoga classes are common, as are exhibitions. Amid all the fun, chef Dimitri Mulder serves organic food all day: the pan-fried mullet with samphire (€18.50) is especially nice and fresh.
• TT Neveritaweg 59, +31 20 290 0020, pllek.nl. Open daily from 9.30am-10pm

Baut

If the north of Amsterdam is upcoming, the east has already arrived. Baut, a pop-up bar-restaurant occupying old newspaper offices, typifies the revived area. Michelle van der Vliet, founder of Amsterdam food blogStory 154, has tactical advice: “Arrive early and head skyward: OpBaut, a grassy first-floor suntrap, has just opened. After cocktails, descend to a dining room of mis-matched furniture, fairy lights and international sharing plates (from €8.50), and splash out on the chef’s four-course surprise menu (€44.50) to get all the best dishes.” Do this soon, though: Baut will close after New Year’s Eve 2014. 
• Wibautstraat 125, +31 20 465 9260, bautamsterdam.nl. Open Sun-Thurs 11am-1am, Fri-Sat 11am-3am

Trouw

Next door to Baut, in a former printing warehouse, Trouw is a temporary restaurant, club, record label and gallery all rolled into one. The Mediterranean food is reason enough to visit: generous, funky dishes emerging from an island kitchen into a long, low-roofed room of pot plants and industrial piping. Order the extensive vegetable tasting menu (€22.50) for maximum delight, and hope that the eggplant, feta and pomegranate salad is in season. Like its neighbour, Trouw shuts for good on 31 December 2014.
• Wibautstraat 127, +31 20 463 7788, trouwamsterdam.nl. Restaurant open Tues-Sat from 5.30pm till close

Canvas

Canvas occupies the seventh floor of more former periodical offices, opposite Trouw and Baut. In June, the edgy new Volkshotel opened inside the building and Canvas, bolstered by a new chef, upped its restaurant game. Visitors can now chew on Kloosterbig piglets (€8.50) or sherry-cooked catfishes (€15.50) as Amsterdam’s trendiest party animals begin to glide by. Arrive early to nab a seat on the balcony, and the city’s most Instagrammable vistas.
• Wibautstraat 127, +31 20 261 2100, volkshotel.nl/canvas. Open Mon-Thurs 7am-1am, Friday 7am-4am, Sat 8am-4am, Sun 8am-1am

BAK

Initially, BAK was a nomadic pop-up operation, materialising in various spots across the city to rave reviews. But last year, its three creators decided that their concept – Dutch-produced food, cooked to high standards at low prices – merited a permanent home. They chose a third-floor, loft-like spot in the Old Harbour, with attractive views of houseboats below. Daring and unusual, the menu changes weekly, and costs €34.50 for four full courses (dinner is four courses only, single dishes at lunch from €8).
• Van Diemenstraat 408, +31 20 737 2553, bakrestaurant.nl. Open Wed-Sun 11am-3pm and 6.30pm-11pm

The gastrobar

All the best treasure requires a good old hunt. The gastrobar’s location –on snoozy Java Island in the eastern docklands – and its nondescript frontage aren’t initially promising but a local-secret gem awaits inside. The range of minimal, beautifully presented, ambitious and scrumptious small plates is headlined by sea bass with avocado aioli and, for dessert, a rose parfait bearing traces of limoncello (dishes from €9.50). You can sit either inside, watching boats drift by, or on the sunny rear patio.
• Sumatrakade 613, +31 20 570 2014, olivergastrobar.nl. Open Wed-Sun from midday till close

Henk

Another temporary joint, Henk sits by the Prinsengracht canal, 10 minutes’ walk from Anne Frank’s House. It’s run by three beautiful, well-dressed sisters and serves a three-course menu made with seasonal veg and local meats for €33. Story 154’s Michelle is a fan: “The large terrace borders a busy bridge, making it the perfect place to sit and watch Amsterdam go by,” she says. You don’t have to leave after dinner, either: just head downstairs to Henk’s special G&T bar.”
• Prinsengracht 422, +31 20 233 3223,facebook.com/bar.restaurant.henk. Open Sun-Thurs 11am-1am, Fri-Sat 11am-3am

Restaurant As

Refreshed each week, Restaurant As’s menu is seasonal, locally sourced and intensely flavourful. Four courses for €52 might seem steep-ish but it’s actually a bargain: every item here is delicious, right down to the homemade focaccia. The venue – a brutalist former chapel in well-to-do south Amsterdam – scores it extra points. If the sun’s out, ask to sit at one of the long tables in the garden, under the pergola and cherry trees.
• Prinses Irenestraat 19, +31 20 644 0100, restaurantas.nl. Open daily 6.30pm-11pm for dinner, Tues-Fri midday-2.30pm for lunch, Sun midday-10pm special a la carte menu offered

Train travel was provided by Voyages-sncf.com (0844 848 5848,voyages-sncf.com), which has returns from London to Amsterdam from £118

• Contributed by Sam Gosling
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