Amsterdam: Street Eats

While visiting ABF in London, we made plans for a quick weekend jaunt to Amsterdam. I'd never been, I didn't know that much about it (Tulips! The Anne Frank house! Bikes!), but it was a cheap flight, quick trip, and it was someplace extra to visit while we had a home base in London.

Neither ABF nor I were prepared for how much we would enjoy it. What's to like? How about friendly people? Every time we paused to look at our map, a local would walk up to us and kindly ask if we needed help. Sometimes we did, sometimes we didn't, but every time it was a delight.

What else? Oh, the museums! Rembrandt, Van Gogh, you name it! We actually found a great little snack spot right outside of the Reijksmuseum, the Dutch national museum.

"Real" American hot dogs--how could we not?

We got a kick out of seeing the extras--freshly-chopped raw onions (my favorite!), some sort of relish, mustard, ketchup, and in the not-quite-typically-American area: curry ketchup & sriracha!

Naturally I had to try those too-- I love sriracha, a very distinctive hot sauce, but had never thought to put it on a hot dog! Good idea! The curry ketchup was a bit too sweet for me. I like my hot dogs salty, not sweet.

(That's the sriracha on the left, curry ketchup on the right--test-sized portions at first!)
The texture of the dog was a little different--softer, no casing, I think, which is fine with me!

As we enjoyed our hot dogs in the afternoon sun, we spotted another treat a few yards closer to the museum entrance: a portable cappuccino stand! Oh Europe, I heart so many things about you!

A young woman was running this stand solo. In the back of her vehicle she had a fully-operational espresso machine. I ordered a latte to share with ABF before we went into the museum. It was a rich, creamy, robust latte, and for only 2.50 Euros (about 4-5 bucks). So much better than Starbucks, and a much better atmosphere!!

Look at the setup she has going on there! The miniature chandelier gives it a nice set of whimsy, and the back door of the truck serves as an awning/sunshade, and was plastered with postcards from all over the world.

It was a wonderful latte, and an unexpected treat to enjoy before making the trek through the gorgeous museum. Sightseeing takes a lot of energy--a little extra caffeine boost is always a good thing!

Note: If you're visiting anytime soon, the museum is under construction, so a lot of items have been rearranged and grouped together, but we found this made it possible to see everything even faster!

Rijksmuseum
Jan Luijkenstraat 1 Amsterdam 1070
The Netherlands
31 20 6747000
info@rijksmuseum.nl

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