Best family-friendly restaurants
This one is for fussy little eaters and their parents. Keep reading if your kids scour the menu for anything that looks remotely like pasta, pizza, nuggets, or fish fingers. These hip Amsterdam restaurants offer a great variety of food as well as a casual cool ambience. Try these places for a good time and not a pancake in sight:
Pof
Pof is the perfect Noord family hangout. The kids can run free on the open-air playground while the adults eat and enjoy local beer and wine. Pof is all about artisan cooking techniques steeped in tradition and using locally sourced ingredients. So expect all things smoked, stewed, pickled and roasted in a special ‘puff’ oven. The menu is mostly vegetarian with lots of vegan options, but you will find some meat dishes, courtesy of their neighbours. Everything is fresh, and the ingredients don’t have to travel far: they all come from the Netherlands. Don’t worry about the menu being too complicated for the little ones: there are apple syrup sandwiches, sweet soups and two types of poffertjes for your picky little eaters.
IJ-Kantine
This gorgeous restaurant on the Northside of the River IJ will quickly become one of your family favourites. IJ-Kantine is the perfect example of a grown-up place that also happens to be fantastic for kids. Aside from the bright colours and vast windows overlooking the water, they have a play corner with touch-screen TVs, stacks of games and toys for all ages. When the weather is good, there’s a sandpit on the terrace, and every weekend from 14:00 to 18:00, they provide kids’ entertainment overseen by a childminder in one of their lovely meeting rooms. Activities include necklace threading, cupcake decorating, dreamcatcher making or even settling down to watch a kids’ film. Having said all that, they’ve managed to preserve the grown-up cool in the main area, and it never feels overrun by children. Come armed with a book because chances are your little ones won't want to leave.
Café-Restaurant Amsterdam
Cafe-Restaurant Amsterdam ticks all the boxes. Located in a former pump station, this vast industrial space is full of fascinating turbines for kids to explore. As well as a kids’ colouring corner, they offer a children’s menu with crowd-pleasing favourites such as fresh fish nuggets, burgers and pasta; a gorgeous terrace for when the sun comes out and great food for grown-ups too. Perhaps most importantly, the fantastic acoustics mean that even the noisiest little ones won’t cause a disturbance.
Foodhallen
There’s no denying that De Hallen is one of the hippest places to hang out in the city. The whole complex is fantastic (be sure to check out whether there’s a kids’ film on at FilmHallen), and it’s the perfect lunch spot for meeting fussy foodie needs. Evenings are hectic, so it’s best to come around midday. Check out VietView for awesome Vietnamese street food. The kids are sure to enjoy fish and chips from The Butcher, Pizza from Renatos or a hot dog from Bulls and Dogs. The great thing is that due to the pick and mix variety of food on offer kids often end up stretching their food boundaries and trying something a little more adventurous.
Kanarie Club
If you make your way to the back of the Foodhallen, you’ll find the stylish Kanarie Club. It’s a place that actively encourages people to stay all day, plugging in laptops, having a bite to eat or a drink at the bar. Best of all, it’s the perfect place for little ones to join you. The star of the show is the ‘pool bar’: a small empty swimming pool seating area which kids go crazy for. Come for brunch on the weekend when it turns into an impromptu gathering of mini-hipsters.
Haddock
Haddock is a restaurant in a cool shed on the river IJ that’s more than family-friendly. You will find a separate kids’ room with table football, toys and even occasional movies, but the fun peaks on weekends with supervised kids-only discos and craft activities. With a huge lawn, a terrace packed with stylish seating, sprinklers and a sandbox, plus a menu of crowd-pleasing kids’ favourites, this is a children’s paradise as well as a cool place for grown-ups to kick back and enjoy.
De Pizzabakkers
Amsterdam’s four branches of De Pizzabakkers are hugely popular with families and deservedly so. From delicious pizzas baked in an authentic wood-fired oven to a ‘gelato bambino’ (ice cream served with raspberry or caramel sauce), the menu has got you covered. As a bonus, children get a ball of pizza dough to play with whilst waiting for their food (staff will even bake it for them if they’re not too busy).
Dignita
Looking for somewhere to hang out in the Oud-West area? Dignita might be the answer. It’s a lovely, airy café with a dedicated kids’ corner packed full of toys. Clearly designed by someone who understands parents’ needs, Dignita has a large table and a couch positioned right by it so that you can keep an eye on your little ones. Food-wise, there’s a dish called ‘Eggy’, which is a kids’ sized scrambled egg on homemade bread. As far as drinks go, no one can resist a Tony’s Chocolonely hot chocolate bar with whipped cream. For parents, it’s all about brunch, made from fresh and ethically sourced ingredients cooked onsite to produce ‘super lekker’ favourites and enticing cocktails.
For lots more family-friendly inspiration and tips on activities, restaurants or hotels, check out our guest blogger's website: AmsterdamWonderland.com.
