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Dinner time in the Netherlands?

Posted by (Sapulpa, OK, USA) on

I just got to musing yesterday: different European countries have vastly different dinner times. Many of them traditionally have dinner later than most American families, especially Spain, where some folks are sitting down to the "evening" meal about the same time some of us are thinking about bed!

What about the Netherlands? We have been there before, but I don't remember paying much attention to what time we should be heading into a restaurant or café in search of dinner.

Thanks for your help.

Posted by
4157 posts

I don't remember the times being much different from the States. This guide to Amsterdam restaurants seems to verify that.

"Amsterdam restaurants opening hours:
Most restaurants in Amsterdam are open from 18:00 till 23:00. Also, there are a lot of breakfast bars and cafés that are opened all day. The Dutch usually eat lunch between 12:00 and 14:00 and have dinner between 19:00 and 21:00. In most restaurants the kitchen closes around 22:00, however there are also places for midnight snacking."

I did notice that the places we went in Leiden were open later. College town!

Sidebar: I highly recommend the yogurt. Try it if you can. There are so many kinds. Go to a grocery store and take a look. Even the tiny market in Zandvoort had a dairy walk-in where one entire wall was filled with yogurt and kefir options. No wonder the Dutch men are world's tallest.

Posted by
11294 posts

I remember Rick saying in his book (at least in 2012) that the Dutch eat lunch and dinner at the same times Americans do. Maybe in Seattle, but not in New York. Dinners, particularly outside of Amsterdam, were early - about 6-7 PM. I remember going to a restaurant in Utrecht at 8:30 PM and it was almost empty, and I was clearly a late customer. I went past there the next night at 6 PM and it was packed. I asked my hotel hostess about this, and she said the Dutch were boring, so they eat an early dinner, then go home and watch TV (yes, her words). Sure enough, since the Dutch famously don't put curtains on their windows, I can confirm that at 8 PM, many of them are indeed watching TV.

Amsterdam, as is often the case in larger cities, ate dinner later.

Posted by
6316 posts

Thanks, everyone. Lo, I'm a big yogurt fan, and I haven't had kefir since I lived in Poland years ago.

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