Netherland offers a fantastic choice of mouth-watering food. And even if you are short of time, like we were, there is still no reason to miss out on the food adventure!
The quintessential snack from Netherlands - Bitterballen
Bitterballen: The quintessential snack from Netherlands is small bite sized round deep fried meat balls – and has been traditionally served as accompaniment at the bar with beer and other drinks. Bitterballen has a soft gooey inside made up of beef ragout and a kroket like crispy breadcrumb outer casing usually served with mustard. We had our taste of these yummy parcels in a bar in the neighbourhood of Zaanse Schans.
Kibbeling - The common comforting street foods of Netherlands
Kibbeling: One of the most common and comforting street foods of Netherlands, Kibbelings are battered and deep-fiend small pieces of white fish like cod traditionally served with a mayonnaise-based dip like tartar sauce. This easily available street food derived its name from the part of cod that was traditionally used in making this – kabeljauwwang where kabeljauw means cod and wang means cheek in Dutch. Nowadays, as cod cheeks quite expensive, fillets of cod, hake, haddock, Pollock etc. are used in make Kibbeling. Almost every street market in Amsterdam offer vendors selling Kibbeling. We tried this from a street vendor at Albert Cuyp Street market.
Dutch pancakes
Dutch Pancake: Dutch Pancake or Pannenkoeken is a common in almost every Dutch kitchen and are more commonly eaten at dinner. Sweet or savoury, Dutch pancakes are thinner than American pancakes but usually thicker than French crepe. There are multiple toppings of ingredients like cheese, bacon, apple and raisins among others. We ate this for breakfast on both mornings at Amsterdam. As there are lots of places to try Dutch pancakes, we recommend researching for the best ones is essential for an authentic experience!
Poffertjes - Fluffy, bite -sized mini pancakes, best eaten warm
Poffertjes: These miniature fluffy bite-sized Dutch pancakes are quite popular at street food markets not only in Netherlands but other European cities as well! Best eaten fresh and hot, these mini pancakes are most commonly and traditionally served with butter and powdered sugar, though many other toppings such as whipped cream, strawberry, chocolate sauce etc. We tried a couple of varieties at the Albert Cuyp Street market –the traditional butter and sugar and also strawberry with chocolate sauce.
Stroopwafel
Stroopwafel: Originating in Gouda during early 19th century Stroopwafel was once considered as rarity outside of Netherland. But this pasty is now found all over the world today! These are baked thin waffles with a sweet filling inside. The caramelised sweet syrupy filling is the ‘Stroop’. The freshly baked waffles are cut open into two slices and filled with Stroop. Although available in all supermarkets though out the Netherlands and everywhere else now, the best Stroopwafel are undoubtedly the ones that are freshly made and served warm by street Stroopwafel vendors.
Delicious Dutch Cheese!
Dutch Cheese: Being the second largest cheese exporter in the world and with an average consumption of nearly 17 kg of cheese per person yearly, the love affair of Dutch people with cheese is not really a secret! With over 1500 years of tradition in cheese making, Netherlands offers many verities of hard to semi-hard cheese like Edam, Gouda, Geitenkaas, Maasdam etc. We tried and brought back a few varieties of cheese from the Cheese farm Catherina Hoeve in Zaanse Schans.
Comforting and warm street food throughout winter - Patat Frites
Thick Dutch Fries – Patat Frites: Originating in Belgium, these Dutch potato fries are traditionally thicker than their French counterparts. Generally served in a paper cone, with a choice of the sauces like mayonnaise, ketchup, garlic sauce, peanut satay sauce among others! The most popular one is peanut satay which came after the Dutch colonisation of Indonesia which lasts until the mid of 20th century. Patat frites are available throughout Amsterdam, but the most popular is Vlaams Friteshuis Vleminckx and Manneken Pis. We tried this snacks along with the peanut satay sauce and mayonnaise from Manneken Pis (located near the Amsterdam Central Station), which offers 20 different types of sauce.
Pickled Herring - Amsterdam experience is not complete without trying a bite of it!
Pickled Herring: Another well-known street-food of Amsterdam, the pickled Herring is served with raw onions and gherkins (pickled cucumber). Street stands all over Amsterdam sell theses throughout the year, through the Herring available between May to July/August are the most delicious due the fat content in the fish during this time. These are then cleaned, frozen and salted (picked). The pickled Herring can be eaten either on its own or inside a bread like a sandwich called Broodje Haring. The traditional Dutch way of eating herring is grabbing it by its tail and lowering it in the mouth! We tried both and we preferred the sandwich!