Even more summer in Amsterdam

Cafe Koojse

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Restaurant | "Amsterdam's Cafe Koojse - nice outside terrace "

Cafe Koojse Photo - Cafe Koojse, Amsterdam, Netherlands

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We always like to find somewhere a bit different during any of our city visits, and so aimed for a pub called Brouwerij 't IJ that I heard brewed its own beers and was housed in a windmill. As such, even the walk to this pub allowed us to explore an area to the east of Amsterdam city centre, a patch of the city we don't usually visit given our love and natural affinity for the Jordaan to the West. On our way to our intended destination, our attention was caught by the attractiveness of a bar, the Cafe Koojse. Amsterdammers seem to spend their life sun worshipping outside a cafe with a little glass of beer in front of them, and so we decided to live like the locals and have a pit stop to e...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on August 12, 2012

Cafe Koojse
Plantage Middenlaan 37
Amsterdam, Netherlands 1018 DB
020 320 0817

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Restaurant Toscana

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Restaurant | "Great Good Value Italian Restaurant in Amsterdam"

Belgium Beer Photo - Restaurant Toscana, Amsterdam, Netherlands

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As the weather was starting to look to be taking a turn for the worst we dived into the lively looking Toscana restaurant. Fortunately, we found we had inadvertently landed in a reasonably priced great restaurant in the centre of Amsterdam. We were confronted with a large menu with a pizza range extending over onto two pages; with the most expensive pizza at 9:50 Euros it did not break the bank. There was also a good pasta range which was equally reasonably priced. The Toscana restaurant is housed in a large old building with some loose 1920s – 30s styling. The room had a lowered ceiling and I would have wanted to try and open up the original height and decoration of the place. Still, the...Read More

As the weather was starting to look to be taking a turn for the worst we dived into the lively looking Toscana restaurant. Fortunately, we found we had inadvertently landed in a reasonably priced great restaurant in the centre of Amsterdam. We were confronted with a large menu with a pizza range extending over onto two pages; with the most expensive pizza at 9:50 Euros it did not break the bank. There was also a good pasta range which was equally reasonably priced.

The Toscana restaurant is housed in a large old building with some loose 1920s – 30s styling. The room had a lowered ceiling and I would have wanted to try and open up the original height and decoration of the place. Still, the restaurant was certainly busy and we nabbed one of the few remaining tables.

For starter, we decided to share a bruschetta of 4 different topping; salmon, a lovely tapenade, mushrooms and grilled goats cheese. Our starter arrived promptly and was just enough for the three of us to share as a little snack. We ordered beer, and my dark Belgium Trappist monk beer was particularly noteworthy.

While we were happy to chat and watch the world go by, the wait for our pizza was notably long although we did not appear to be served out of turn. If anything, it seemed like the place was understaffed as the bar was piled high with dirty glasses, the kitchen which you had to walk past to use the bathrooms were piled high with used plates and tired looking staff were darting around.

When it finally arrived, my pizza was excellent and we were all quite happy with our respective choices. On a rare sense of having eaten too much, I even left some of mine; a two salami choice, and cooked with a large quantity of smoked cheese. The following morning I regretted having left some; not because I was hungry, but because it was so nice.

Overall, we found a good restaurant with the Toscana and the bill of around 20 Euros each for a shared starter, a main course and a couple of beers was certainly good value.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on August 12, 2012

Restaurant Toscana
Haarlemmerstraat 130
Amsterdam, Netherlands
+31 (20) 6220 353

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Brouwerij 't IJ

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Attraction | "Good Brew Pub next to a Windmill"

Brouwerij ’t IJ Bar Photo - Brouwerij 't IJ, Amsterdam, Netherlands

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Brouwerij ’t IJ is a little bit out of the way, being about a mile from the centre of Amsterdam, but we were keen to explore a new area of the city and we had heard it brewed its own beer. With all this walking, we would at least limit our drinking! The place is fairly easy to spot once you get into the area as it is housed in an old bath house at the base of a windmill. Where else but Holland?By UK terms, the home brewed beer is strong (between 5-9%) and my beloved didn't find them particularly pleasant, although I think they were strong home brewed lager type drinks, rather than the bitters we more regularly drink at home. However, I liked the walk and the change and the atmo...Read More

Brouwerij ’t IJ is a little bit out of the way, being about a mile from the centre of Amsterdam, but we were keen to explore a new area of the city and we had heard it brewed its own beer. With all this walking, we would at least limit our drinking!

The place is fairly easy to spot once you get into the area as it is housed in an old bath house at the base of a windmill. Where else but Holland?

By UK terms, the home brewed beer is strong (between 5-9%) and my beloved didn't find them particularly pleasant, although I think they were strong home brewed lager type drinks, rather than the bitters we more regularly drink at home. However, I liked the walk and the change and the atmosphere in the pub was very pleasant.

Inside Brouwerij ’t IJ is completely bare; just a bar and a whitewashed room with a few benches and a load of empty beer bottles for decoration. Outside is most of the sitting area, these consist of German style long communal benches where everyone sits and enjoys the sun and beer,

Drinks were pretty cheap (particularly for home made artisan beer) at around 2.60 Euros for a medium sized glass (about a half). There was a choice of about 8 brews ranging in strength between 5-9%. We had a dark beer to start and quite enjoyed its strong and bitter malty taste. The IPA was 7% and a very hoppy brew indeed.

We also had a plate of cheese with our meal and chose a lovely soft sheep's cheese which went down well with the beers. Apparently this cheese is made from sheep fed the malting from the beer, so there is a clever bit of recycling going on between brewer, farmer and cheese maker.

That the pub was housed in a windmill was a little bit of a lie as the bath house building was adjoining the windmill (with the brewery behind the bar). We didn't actually get to enter or sit in the windmill itself, although you could do a brewery tour if you wished. Still it was nice sitting outside the windmill in the sun.

On the other side of the real ale bar is another bar – this looked to be something of a more typical Amsterdam bar selling fizzy Heineken, so watch out for which bar you wander towards. Just look for the Ostrich logo of Brouwerij ’t IJ.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on August 7, 2012

Brouwerij 't IJ
Funenkade 7
Amsterdam, Netherlands 1018 AL
+31 20 320 17 86

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Stadsarchief Amsterdam

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Attraction | "Poor direction but a good museum"

Stadsarchief Amsterdam Photo - Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

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We were late for the trip to the Van Gogh Museum, and were starting to dread how busy the place was going to be, when we passed an interesting looking exhibition of an artist I admire – Isaac Israels, known as an Amsterdam Impressionist. His work has become more in vogue in recent years with paintings fetching around the half million Euro mark.The entrance to the museum Stadsarchief wasn’t particularly inspiring with a large entrance hall and a reception to one side; they almost didn't want to boast the charge or entrance to the exhibition. Also in the reception hall was a heap of very attractive photos of art deco and arts and crafts styled apartments. We weren't sure whether these image...Read More

We were late for the trip to the Van Gogh Museum, and were starting to dread how busy the place was going to be, when we passed an interesting looking exhibition of an artist I admire – Isaac Israels, known as an Amsterdam Impressionist. His work has become more in vogue in recent years with paintings fetching around the half million Euro mark.

The entrance to the museum Stadsarchief wasn’t particularly inspiring with a large entrance hall and a reception to one side; they almost didn't want to boast the charge or entrance to the exhibition. Also in the reception hall was a heap of very attractive photos of art deco and arts and crafts styled apartments. We weren't sure whether these images were of some of the upper floors of the grand building of the museum. I discovered later that it was not, but it gives an idea of the haphazard directions that it wasn't obvious during our visit.

The building the Stadsarchief is in is a former bank, and apparently there is a further display of artefacts within the old vaults. Again, this wasn't clearly displayed in English inside the former bank (or what the artefacts were), so they missed a couple of extra admission fees there.

The entrance to the Isaac Israels exhibition was 6 Euros, and I really enjoyed the display, although as it was a very mixed media of pastels, pencil and oils, the lighting must have been a curator's nightmare. As it was, it didn't always succeed with visitors peering at light flashed paintings..

Within the exhibition, the rough sketches and examples of the finished article gave a good idea of how the artist built up his work. A lot of Israels' work was done on the hoof, so a lot of the sketches are hurried with his attention on the people in the foreground rather than the static buildings which he could complete at his leisure. Israel was also fascinated by the working classes and people, and he paid maids and factory girls a few pennies to pose for him in their working garb on their way home.

The display narration was particularly good, taking time to explain the artist's time in Amsterdam, and to place some perspective to the scenes. Overall, I thought the gallery offered good value and I particularly enjoyed the quiet atmosphere of the place, rather than that of the more famous Van Gogh were everyone is tripping over each other.

We also enjoyed a browse around the museum shop although most of the wares were art books written in Dutch. However we did manage to find some lovely cards of Israels' work which looked a little unusual and good value at 9 Euros for 10.

Obviously, the display we saw was a temporary exhibit, but I can recommend any visitor to Amsterdam taking a little time out to check out what's on in this gallery at the Stadsarchief, even if it doesn't particularly advertise how to visit easily. The Stadsarchief is quite close to the Van Gogh and Rembrant museums in any case, so is easy to wander past to see whats on.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on August 11, 2012

Stadsarchief Amsterdam
Vijzelstraat 32
Amsterdam, Netherlands 1074 HZ
020 251 1511

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Café De Bazel at Stadsarchief Amsterdam

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Restaurant | "Excellent but basic Cafe De Bazel in the Stadsarchief"

Café De Bazel Photo - Café De Bazel at Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

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We were feeling a little peckish after our "art experience" at the Stadsarchief Museum and so decided to eat at the little cafe on the concourse near the entrance of the museum, the Café De Bazel. One tip I always have for Amsterdam is to eat in a museum restaurant; they are usually clean, reasonable value and fairly quiet. This one was no exception and a good place for a lunch pit stop. Like the museum itself, the restaurant obviously usually caters for locals and so the menu was written only in Dutch. Still, it wasn't too tricky to work out what a Tuna Sandwich and salad was and the 6 Euro cost. To accompany our meal we had either a cup of herbal tea or tea and coffee. The cafe also sold...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on August 12, 2012

Café De Bazel at Stadsarchief Amsterdam
Vijzelstraat 32
Amsterdam, Netherlands
020 251 1511

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