‘Typical’ Dutch food tends to be wholesome and hearty, rather than elegant. Large towns, however, have a wide range of restaurants specializing in international dishes. Indonesian cuisine, a spicy legacy of Dutch colonization in the East Indies, is particularly good in The Netherlands.
National specialties:
• A Dutch breakfast usually consists of fresh bread, cheese, cooked meats and sausage, butter and
hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles), jam or honey and often a boiled egg. Lunch is generally similar.
•
Broodjes (sandwiches) are a common daytime
snack, served in the ubiquitous sandwich bars -
broodjeswinkels.
•
Poffertjes (pancakes) served with butter and sugar are a teatime favorite.
•
Matjes (salted herring) is widely available from street stalls, and smoked eel is another seafood specialty.
•
Bitterballen (deep fried meatballs) are a favorite snack with the first drink of the evening, the 5pm
borrel.
• Holland is famous for its cheeses, among them the
Goudse,
Edammer and
Leidse varieties, also obtainable with flavorings such as caraway seed and cumin.
National drinks:
• Coffee, tea, chocolate and fruit juice are drunk at breakfast.
• The local spirit is
jenever (Dutch gin), normally taken straight and chilled as a chaser with a glass of beer, but it is sometimes drunk with mixers. It is available in numerous flavors.
• The most popular beer brands in Amsterdam are
Amstel and the ubiquitous
Heineken, which is also produced in the city. There are also a number of smaller breweries producing specialist beers and ales for the connoisseur, including the
Trappist Brouwerij De Koeningshoeven.
• Dutch liqueurs are excellent and include
Curaçao,
Parfait d’Amour,
Triple Sec (similar to Cointreau) and Dutch-made versions of crème de menthe, apricot brandy and anisette.
Legal drinking age: 16 to drink beer and wine, 18 to drink spirits.
Tipping: All hotels and restaurants include 15% service and VAT. It is customary to leave small change when paying a bill. €0.50-1 is usual for porters and doormen, and around 10% for taxi drivers and waiters.
NightlifeThe Dutch like to have fun, and have a reputation for an open-minded approach, so a night out in The Netherlands can be something of an eye-opener for the first time visitor. Large cities are well-supplied with sophisticated nightclubs and discos, but the late opening bars and cafes are just as popular. There are no licensing laws dictating when one can enjoy a drink, so it is possible in the big cities to get one more or less at any time. There are theaters and cinemas in all major towns - the arts are popular in Holland and play a big role in life. Amsterdam is a cosmopolitan city, with some of the liveliest nightlife in Europe. The brown cafes are an institution - Holland’s equivalent of the local pub. Its famous (or infamous) red light district,
de Wallen, is a magnet for visitors, and there are numerous bars, clubs and ‘coffee’ shops (for those in search of a different sort of stimulant) in the vicinity. Another popular option is a dinner cruise through the canals and harbor aboard a glass-topped boat. There are legal casinos in Amsterdam, Breda, Eindhoven, Den Haag, Groningen, Nijmegen, Rotterdam, Scheveningen, Valkenburg and Zandvoort; all have an age limit of over 18 (passports must be shown). A newly opened attraction is the
Xtracold Ice Bar (website:
www.xtracold.com).
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