Café 't Gasthuys — Restaurant in Amsterdam

I discovered this, my favourite bar in Amsterdam, in the late 80s when a colleague and I came over to my favourite city to write a commissioned script for a comedy show on the BBC. We sat outside the pub by the canal and were fuelled by beer and coffees to keep our creative juices flowing. After about three hours the bar guy came across and put a tray of sandwiches on our table. We told him we hadn’t ordered them and he said “On the house. You guys need to eat too!” Six months later I came to Amsterdam again and called in to the Cafe ‘t Gasthuys and the same barman was behind the bar. “Hi!” he said. “How did your programme go?” I was so impressed that he remembered me I have never missed dining and/or drinking in this hostelry every time I’ve visited Amsterdam (at least twice a year for over thirty five years!). Sadly, he’s no longer there, but the new guy in charge and his staff are very friendly and the food terrific. My sister and I visited yesterday and even though we were eating at our friends’ place in the evening I couldn’t resist the apple pie. As always - lekker! We’re in Amsterdam for two weeks so we’ll be dining in the Gasthuys a few times before our...

We ordered a burger each and without properly telling us, for whatever reason it was not possible, to order a burger without sides after 12 pm. Surprisingly the sides were pretty good, especially the salad. However, that is not what we initially ordered. Furthermore, we waited for a very long time. The main problem was the main dish the burger, which had very decent bread but a bun which was half the burger and which was absolutely raw ! I need to admit, that we ate most of the burger besides the bun, but we waited for a very long time and we were very hungry after a long time spent in Amsterdam. We complained and were offered a free drink each. After the waitress returned she gave us a discount which was the better solution in my point of view. The service was not the problem, but the kitchen, which served minced meat raw. This is not acceptable, as it is not excludable that one could possibly get food poisoning. Big thank you to the waitress but I would not recommend this restaurant. But for the clearance: it is better than the average restaurant in the more busy areas...

Great lunch! We really enjoyed our lunch stop here. I had their croquettes lunch which included two large veal and beef croquettes, two substantial slices of very good "brown" bread (like a rye) and a bite of lettuce with a slice of beautifully ripe tomato. The croquettes were truly amazing!

Our second dish was a "Toastie Italiano" sandwich of salami, cheese, tomato and lettuce on choice of bread. Very nice indeed!

Accompanied by a glass of wine our total was just 18 euros...a great bargain!

This little pub has a pleasant cozy atmosphere and a staff that delivered great service with a smile. Highly...