Food Review: London to Amsterdam!

Good evening my foodies!

I promise you all I'm changing my life and my posts will be on time LIKE PROMISED at 8pm on Sundays.

So this week I'm back on my meal prepping and healthy eating, so this post will be a shorter food review of the couple of dishes I had whilst out in Amsterdam!


The week of 18-20th November I visited Amsterdam for the second time this year. I love Amsterdam, the city is beautiful and vibrant and I can spend all day walking down the canals and quaint little streets. The first time I went to Amsterdam was earlier this year in March and I honestly fell in love with the city. It's grown so close to my heart. I would say my trip to Amsterdam was even better than my first time back in March because I knew the streets a bit and got to relax more whilst also doing some really great activities such as The Anne Frank House, Heineken "Rock the World" Experience and A'dam Lookout.

Without further ado, here's a little insight into the kind of food you can find:

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Pho Long, Van Woustraat 23, 1074 AA Amsterdam, Netherlands

The first place I ate at was a little Vietnamese restaurant down the road from my hotel called Pho Long. I had never tried Pho before and was so excited to try something new! 

Appearance

The food looked absolutely stunning. I ordered their traditional Pho and the second picture shows a beef stir fry with rice. The way it was presented felt very homely and made me want to dive in!

Score: 4/5 

Taste

For my first time trying Pho, it was really nice. The broth was super savoury, however after a while I didn't really LOVE it. Maybe it was a case of too much of a good thing, I'm not too sure, but I couldn't finish it at all! The real star of the dish was the beef. It was so delicious, literally fell apart in my mouth, I could've had a bowl of that beef. The other components of the dish were nice as well, the only thing I would have loved is something to heat up my dish as I love spicy food and really think an element of real heat would have added another layer of flavour to this dish. The Pho itself though is super warming and was the perfect lunch to heat up my insides as it was quite cold in Amsterdam. Overall a good first experience. 

Score: 4/5

Ambience

This restaurant was very cute. We sat upstairs which had ample seating as we were the only ones there! The restaurant has a huge chandelier upon entry and is decorated with a casual modern vibe. The waitress was very polite and attentive. Overall a lovely little spot for lunch. 

Score: 3.5/5

Value for money

The price for my meal worked out to be about £18 with a 200ml bottle of Fanta so it was pretty good value for money and I definitely felt full afterwards! 

Score: 5/5 

Overall Score: 16.5/20

The Butcher Social Club, Overhoeksplein 1, 1031 KS Amsterdam, Netherlands

After I went to swing off the top of the A'dam Lookout building, I had built up an appetite and decided to pop to the restaurant in the hotel below to grab a bite to eat. 

Appearance

Presented beautifully the food looked so appetising! The way everything was placed really encouraged me to get stuck in. 

Score: 5/5 

Taste

For my starter I got the wings. To my own admission I was a little tipsy as I had gone to the Heineken Experience prior to this and had not eaten a single thing all day so waffed them down, however the wings were very average. They were fried well but lacked flavour/seasoning. The sauce that came with it was also very forgettable. 

The burger I ordered was very average also. Nothing about it stood out to me, and in fact despite being starving I didn't finish it. The patty was so dry and without a juicy patty the whole burger loses its integrity, that being exactly what happened here. The chips are also chunky canteen style chips which were okay. 

The real mention goes to the ribs which were so delicious. They fell right off the bone and had a lovely smokey flavour. I was kicking myself for not getting the ribs as they were the only good thing I tasted. 

Score: 2/5

Ambience

This restaurant is decorated with a games club, chic hipster type vibe in mind. The leather and fabric sofas provide a super comfortable seat and the low tables encourage eating and socialising all in one. There was what I like to call 50/50 table service in that the waiter came to take our order however then proceeded to give us a buzzer which would go off and prompt us to collect our food from a collection window. 

To me, I didn't mind getting my own food as it tied in with the theme of the restaurant however I would prefer if either I placed my own order on an iPad for example and collected it myself or the food order was taken and served by the waiters. The partial service didn't really make sense to me. 

Score: 4/5

Value for money

The price for my meal worked out to be about £16 for the burger and wings (I drank water which was free). I'd say if the food was nicer that it was a good value for money but as of my experience, definitely not. I've had better McDonald's burgers :( 

Score: 3/5 

Overall Score: 14/20

That's all for Amsterdam! It was a great trip and I would recommend going for a cheeky weekend if you live in Europe. If you go there soon and find a nice place to eat, please do let me know as I will be going back soon hopefully. 

Until next week, God Bless! 

CCC: Releasing your inner chef.