My darling and I had a night off so we decided to go out and, instead of dropping into something familiar, visit something new. Not that Kamer 401 opened recently – it’s just that I don’t normally frequent bars in Amsterdam, but rather spend my time in cafés. As I later concluded, there’s a good reason for this.

 

Intrigued by the name, I found Kamer 401 on Marnixstraat 401 to be a pretty dull place where a homogeneous crowd of students and beautiful kids meets. It was all easy - the lounge music, the relaxed interior, the overall ambiance, but for me a bar should be slightly different. Thus after a couple of drinks we choose to look for something less tedious elsewhere.

Knowing the building only as the former headquarters of the newspaper I used to read (de Volkskrant), I was pretty curious when I heard that since the editorial department moved, a restaurant and club opened in their former canteen. So after the dull evening in Kamer 401, I thought it a perfect occasion to sample this new place on Wibautstraat 150. Some people compare this street with the Karl Marx Allee in Berlin. I don’t completely agree, but it’s true both streets have heavy traffic and ugly buildings – including Canvas op de zevende (on the 7th).

As the name indicates, Canvas op de zevende, is located on the seventh and top floor. While I was walking around in the entrance hall searching for the lift I heard shocked mutterings: “she did it herself… she strangled her cat with her bare hands”. Not much of a hero I didn’t dare to have a look at the murdered animal even though it was supposed to be art. Finally in the lift, with evident traces of a cat’s existence (food containers) I reflected on what next in the name of arts should be killed.

Photo: Bravoure Media

After this dodgy experience we arrived on the seventh floor. I stepped into a space with grey concrete, graffiti on the walls, vintage sofas, white tables and chairs, and a marvelous view. My first impression was that I had stumbled into a garage - a place where teenagers have their hangout - but the second glance convinced me I had to stay a little more. The interior decorator has left Canvas to deliberately like an off location. That seems a huge trend in Amsterdam, but since I am living in Berlin it displays a watery copy of the original.

Canvas' terrace on a summer day                                                                                     Photo: Pr1001

However I liked the mixed crowd, the great cocktails, and the heavenly view. On our night the terrace was closed but the windows enabled a panoramic view over the city.

Photo: Henryhill125

I used to live around the corner of the Zeedijk, the main street of Amsterdam’s Chinatown. From the window of our tiny apartment I could see the St Nicolaas church and the bridge that tourists pass while getting into town. Nine out of ten made a photo from that bridge, and the recurrent flashes of reflecting blue lit up our room and reminded us of the wealth we could have made if we had possession of those image rights.

Photo: Bartvanpoll

During daytime, life in Chinatown is just as you’d find in a sleepy little provincial town - Chinese women rushing down the streets, muttering incomprehensible phrases, old ladies looking out of their windows, silence and boredom everywhere.

The district is a puzzling mix - authentic restaurants next to crap ones, next to hairdressers, shops, eastern massage, and so on – all existing harmoniously side by side. On the Zeedijk (literally: dike against the sea) the Thai snack bar Bird has achieved a sort of cult status. The place serves delicious food and is a good option when you don’t have time to cook, but it’s extremely crowded and after years of ongoing success they are no longer so kind and attentive.

Therefore I was really happy that the former cook of the Bird started a place for herself called O-Cha. The Thai ladies at O-Cha seem to have such fun while working that their chatting and laughing is more than contagious. Instead of the nerve killing experience at Bird, a quick bite at O-Cha or something to go will guarantee I leave the place in a much better mood.

Another institution on Zeedijk is the Chinese restaurant Nam Kee. This place has served as the décor of a novel, a film, and (I can’t help it), my own imagination as well. Every time I pass Nam Kee and have a look at the exposed animals hanging in their windows my imagination runs high speed, but since I am vegetarian I bet you don’t want to know more...

Although I often can’t get rid of the feeling that Chinatown is all fake or artificial, I know it’s not that simple. For instance, the Temple may look at first glance like a dummy from an advertisement, but it is indeed a place for religious contemplation.

Things are less complicated at Wah Nam Hong - this Chinese supermarket on Geldersekade 90-92 attracts me like Pandora’s Box without the bad surprises. My last treasure: perfect scarlet sachets decorated with golden Chinese signs.

Go further: Read John Rambow's guide to his favourite places in New York's Chinatown. 

The ‘shop around the corner’ is back! It’s so obvious that even I see them pop up everywhere in town. Not like in the old days with a clumsy stock of lifesavers and other alibi food, but now as a stylish place where products for sale are chosen with a curator’s care.

Related to this phenomenon is the increasing focus on regional products and cuisines. Recently I read in the newspaper that members of the parliament demanded Dutch food made of local products during state banquets instead of having products flown in from all parts the world.

The closer the better has become a mantra so vegetables, dairy products, fruit, bread coming from a village not far from town suddenly are immensely popular.

A perfect illustration of this trend is the Warmoesmarkt on Warmoesstraat 135, a classy bio-supermarket in the red-light district. Andy Verdonk, is one of the initiators behind Warmoesmarkt that opened in the summer 2008 and he explained the concept to me. 80 percent of the assortment comes from Amsterdam’s backyard or other Dutch regions and the remaining 20 percent (products such as wine, oil and balsamico) comes from Europe. Andy, a professional chef himself, owns one of the farms (Anna Haen) which supplies the shop.

Instead of cozy decorations and studied arrangements, a noticeable simple interior indicates that Warmoesmarkt is all about food. Although plain with wooden crates and neon lights, the ambiance in Warmoesmarkt is warm and friendly.

A volière at the end of the shop and a little herbarium, where strange looking mushrooms are cultivated, invite the curious visitor to linger around in the shop just a bit longer.

At the moment guests can enjoy five different Dutch cheeses (of course) at the workshop table. But I hope that in the near future the people behind Warmoesmarkt will realize their plan to offer take-away and arrange picnics – all with the delicious bread and pastries from the nearby De Bakkerswinkel.

Not only does the Warmoesmarkt fit perfectly into Amsterdam’s mayor Job Cohen’s master plan to ennoble De Wallen (the red-light district) once again. It is also a genuine enrichment for the neighborhood.

DE BAKKERSWINKEL, Warmoesstraat 69, Amsterdam

Photo: 800X600 

Sex and the City: a dream combination. As everybody over six knows, sex sells and for quite a long time now the erotic industry has been an important feature of Amsterdam’s reputation. Even an enlightened journalist like D, who I know in Berlin, was astonished to see what the shops so frankly offer in their windows.

The Red Light District (de wallen), in fact a very picturesque part of the city, often causes its inhabitants nausea. Filth everywhere, the sleaziest characters you can imagine, women behind their windows, the drunks, the junks – they altogether make out this inferno.

A friend of mine, who organizes the best New Year’s parties, lives in the wallen. So every year after the party, dragging two little girls with me in the middle of the night avoiding disgusting blokes and suspect liquids on the street, I can’t help thinking: is there an escape from this living hell?

It’s hard to believe but it’s true. We have had a farewell party and the day after, a friend took me to Blauw aan de Wal, a restaurant in a former warehouse, which is the neighboring house to our party location. Only a small sign, I obviously failed to notice, shows its existence.

Tucked away, a little porch leads to an abundantly green patio decorated with small white tables that are lit by candlelights. Again, it’s the light that gives this place its heavenly atmosphere keeping in mind I had just left the street with the neonlights and hordes of tourists. I almost felt a foreigner in my own city, since it’s seldom you’ll find such old fashioned, decent, warm and professional service I somehow associate with books like The Remains of the Day.

Moreover the food and wine were superb, delicate in their choice and quality. To quote the owner, one day a really good meal the next day water and bread. Therefore it will not be a cheap dinner but for a night in heaven I would be willing to pay the double.

BLAUW AAN DE WAL, Oudezijds Achterburgwal 99, Amsterdam 

I was really looking forward to this weekend, but then the babysitter cancelled, all my friends pretended they were extremely busy and even the grandparents suddenly decided to have a life of their own. So what was supposed to be a romantic weekend had all the characteristics of a nightmare – a city trip with the kids! I had to forget about museums, skip all my shopping fantasies and even worse: nightlife would be over at 9 p.m.

Luckily it didn’t turned out as bad as I feared, cause exploring Amsterdam with kids can be fun as well!

I went with my daughter (6) to see an exhibition at the Jewish Historical Museum (Joods Historisch Museum). In the basement, she kept her fingers to her nose because she said it smelled badly. So after 5 minutes I was ready to leave but luckily a guard prevented us from leaving before we had visited the children’s museum.

In a museum, my kids are trained with Prussian discipline and not only because of their East German papa. Now that museums all over the world seem to have discovered the market of education just waiting for them to make a profit, children museums and galleries open everywhere. Usually, there isn’t any mentionable difference between these and ordinary museums, meaning that our children are encouraged not to touch anything that catches their curiosity.

Therefore the Jewish museum in Amsterdam is such a relief: Children visit the exhibition,which is conceived as a visit to the Hollander’s home (a Jewish family) and they are very welcome guests. This gives the children a unique opportunity to explore Jewish culture, pose questions, touch, draw, compare - just name it.

It is so simple and yet so brilliant in its concept and design, and I also learned a lot about Jewish life.

Instead of the traditional guard observing the guest suspiciously, we were invited into the kitchen to make the Challah, the traditional Sabbath bread. While baking, the kids posed a thousand questions about kosher rules and they all were seriously answered.

Therefore don’t have a bad conscience, just visit the collection of the Jewish museum in the old synagogue yourself and leave your kids exploring the place on their own: they will love it.

To increase your credits there is a hard-to-find playground nearby: Speeltuin de Waag on Oude Schans 10. Even when closed, you can enter through the fence as many others have done before you.

JOODS HISTORISCH MUSEUM, Nieuwe Amstelstraat 1; Amsterdam

www.jhm.nl

Go further: Read about Henry having fun at Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood here.