Corridor guide · Amsterdam

The five back rooms of Amsterdam

From the office — written by the taste desk, signed by Elodie V.

An Amsterdam canal at dusk, boats moored along the quay — The canal at dusk — the second city is behind it

Every city keeps a second city behind it. Amsterdam keeps hers behind kitchen walls and up narrow stairs: five rooms that don’t take names at the door, don’t photograph well, and don’t need to. We hold a chair in each of them, which is the only reason this piece exists.

Flower stalls along the Singel canal — The florist on the Singel

A word on method, once: nothing in the Journal is a recommendation. A recommendation is what you give a stranger. These are the rooms the office itself goes back to — verified this month, seatable by us, and pulled from this page the day a chef moves on. The magazine is the address book; it simply has better manners.

I The counter behind the wall Six seats, no menu, the chef decides. Go before eight; leave when he does.
II The room above the bridge Canal on three sides. The table by the middle window is the one you want — in tulip weeks, insist on it.
III The cellar on the Herengracht A wine list with no prices and no mistakes. Ask for the ’09 — they know.

A candlelit dining room, tables laid — Candlelit, before eight

The address book continues — the florist’s table, and the room we don’t name even here. Members may ask; the office can seat you at any of them by Friday.

You were given a word →