Amsterdam Foodie

Since 1st October, I’ve been working four days a week. Well, I say ‘working’; in reality, I work harder on my fifth day (and the sixth day, and the seventh) than I do on any of the other four – but it’s for myself, and it’s a business about which I’m passionate… yup, you guessed it: food. Nevertheless, I’ve invented some company rules for my day at Amsterdam Foodie HQ:

• all employees must take a proper lunch break (with dessert);
• all employees must spend at least one hour being creative in the kitchen;
• Facebook is a viable networking/marketing tool and its use is encouraged.

In the spirit of the first rule, I’ve been ‘doing lunch’ on my working Mondays. Here’s my current top five:

Puccini: More than ‘just’ a chocolate shop, Puccini does generous sandwiches, cakes and coffees. Go early (or on a Monday) or a table may be hard to come by.

Foodware: Warehouse-type space (but you could’ve guessed that, eh?) serving hot dishes with great sides and salads – you can get takeaway for back at the office, or eat in for a proper break.

Cafe het Paleis: A favourite of mine when I studied literature at the UvA  ‘Bungehuis’ building, Cafe het Paleis is sometimes studenty but still chilled out and generally fab. I always take visitors there for coffee and appeltaart…

Omval: Right by the Amstel business park, Omval does posh sarnies and salads – which is good if you have friends who are things like business consultants in big tower-y offices.

Tea bar (Haarlemmerdijk 71): Not technically a lunch venue so I won’t add it to the database just yet, BUT it does have every variety of tea under the sun and nice coffee too if (like me) you just can’t cope with the idea of paying for boiled water with leaves in it.