Cheese And Waffles Mark Amsterdam Adventure
• Upon arriving in any new city, I always research what food the city is known for. Over the summer, my family and I traveled to Amsterdam.
As I continued my research on what foods Amsterdam is known for, I realized I had not heard of many of the foods. I was very intrigued by all the dishes because Dutch food is not popular in Los Angeles.
My food adventure started the day we arrived in Amsterdam at an Indonesian restaurant called Aneka Rasa. At Aneka Rasa there are multiple rice tables which people can choose from. The rice tables consist of many dishes, and there are different dishes in each rice table and you pay per person.
My family chose the Rice Table Aneka, which is their most popular rice table. The rice table consists of roasted chicken on a stick with peanut sauce, beef marinated in a spicy coriander sauce, chicken cooked and marinated in soy sauce, chicken cooked with saffron and coconut milk, green beans in a spicy coconut sauce, mixed vegetables in coconut milk, vegetable salad with a peanut sauce, mixed sliced vegetables in a sweet and sour dressing, sweetened fried potatoes, shredded coconut that was spiced and fried, stewed eggs in Balinese sauce, layered cakes, steamed white rice, and fried rice.
All the dishes had amazing flavor but, my favorite dishes were the roasted chicken with peanut sauce, the chicken cooked and marinated in soy sauce, the vegetables in the sweet and sour sauce, and the sweetened fried potatoes.
A few days later we took a countryside tour and our first stop was Zaanse Schans, which is a neighborhood in the town of Zaandam. As soon as I stepped off of the bus, I could smell chocolate so I knew I would have to get a treat with chocolate even though it was only 10 in the morning.
The Netherlands is known for the Stroopwafel, which is a thin waffle sandwich with a sticky syrup in the middle that tastes similar to caramel. My brother and I knew we had to get a Stroopwafel so we got one. Not just a plain Stroopwafel but one coated in chocolate of course! The waffle was chewy and buttery and the rich chocolate on top made for a great second breakfast.
Our next stop on the tour was Edam which is known for the cheese market on Wednesdays.
Lucky for us, the day we visited Edam was a Wednesday. The cheese market was in the town center and in the old days, the cheese was brought by boat to be sold and were carried on wooden sleds. Cheese vendors surrounded all the men rolling cheese and sold cheese and cheese samples. To no one’s surprise, I went to any vendor that had free cheese and sampled whatever they offered.
I had to try Edam cheese which was spectacular and I tried some odd flavors such as cheese with herbs and pesto. I tried to stay away from the cheeses with lavender and coconut as they didn’t sound too appealing but they could have been great. Our third stop was to a beach side town where I walked by a street vendor selling Poffertjes.
Poffertjes are Dutch pancakes that taste like pancakes, but are super fluffy and have a crispy inside but a warm and airy inside. Despite eating a full meal before the pancakes, I could not resist and ate too many Poffertjes to count; they were that good. Amsterdam is also known for the bitterballen. Bitterballen is a similar to a fried meatball.
Anything fried turns out to be amazing so you probably have a sense of how good Bitterballen could be. Not only is it fried, but it is served with mustard and that tangy mustard balances out the fat from the bitterballen. Although Amsterdam may not be the typical famous food scene like Italy is, Dutch food can not be underestimated.
If you ever go to Amsterdam and sit by a canal eating Dutch food every day, you will never want to leave. If you have any questions or comments, I am always open to talk at culinaryjourneybyalexis@gmail.com. Stay tuned for the next food adventure in Belgium!
