Amsterdam

I had the same thought, but I think he recommended the place I needed up at. It was a Belgian restaurant. I'll try to find it when I get home. I also went to one of the Indian20 course meal restaurants. It would be good if someone would recommend one. Where we went was so / so. Pam

We had two great Dutch meals at Dubbel (restaurantdubbel.nl), on canal, Lijnbaansgracht 256 (or other entrance Leidsedwarsstraat 78-80), in sight of Leidseplein. Lovely canal-side atmosphere if you eat outside, nice old interior, great food.

I lived in Amsterdam for 8 years and cafes are really the main attraction. The Dutch aren't known for their cuisine (my Dutch teacher claimed it was even worse - they don't have a cuisine!) and they tend to eat simply or to pay to eat well. Also, many of the better restaurants are either too pricy or too inconvenient to meet the typical Rick Steves criteria. That said, I can add the following: If you like seafood, Lucius Fish Restaurant is excellent and convenient. www.lucius.nl. Reservations strongly recommended. Jamie Oliver's concept restaurant, Fifteen is a bit hard to find and outside of the canal zone, but very good, although pricy. The concept of the restaurant is that 15 disadvantaged youths are taken on as students in their kitchen. www.fifteen.nl Another very inconvenient but extremely excellent restaurant is de Kas. This restaurant grows much of its own produce and specializes in fresh natural ingredients. You will require a taxi to get there and it is pricy as well. www.restaurantdekas.nl I've had really good luck in European cities using TripAdvisor and going to well-reviewed restaurants from there. You might want to do a search (www.tripadvisor.com) on Amsterdam restaurants and see which well-reviewed ones strike your fancy. Eet Smaklijk!

I just noticed the "quaint" part of your request. Fifteen and de Kas are not quaint. I just found the site of a quaint restaurant in the canal zone whose name I had forgotten. De Luwte has excellent food and friendly (by Dutch standards) service. Reservations required. www.restaurantdeluwte.nl/en/flash_eng.html

Thank's to all who have posted. Have taken down the suggestions and will google.
Melanie loved the suggestion on Jamie Oliver. We will be in London and will be attending his restaurant there as well.

Melanie do you know is Kueken van 1860 is still there? It ised to be great, very simple, highly authentic Dutch food for just a few guilders. oops Euros. That dates me. ;-)

I've been to Amsterdam many times, and my experience with the cuisine is mostly as Melanie describes. There is a lot of variety, but it's all very mediocre. I gave up long ago trying to find an exceptional restaurant:) Though not quaint, IMO the best food can be found at the La Place eatery at Munstplien inside the V&D department store. It's an upscale cafeteria/marketplace format with everything prepared in front of you; most everything is organic/free range etc. Even though it's touristy and a bit pricey, the Pancake Barkey is a fun place to eat. It's near the Anne Frank house. Another interesting place to eat is the restaurant inside the Tropical Museum. All dishes are from countries tropical countries around the world.

http://www.seasonsrestaurant.nl/?lang=en We ate at this restaurant last year and it was great! Our B&B host recommended it to us as typical Dutch food. We are returning to Amsterdam in May and have already made reservations to dine here again! Small, quaint and very good food and service. Right downtown.