Kaap & Tein — Restaurant in Amsterdam

I used to come to this location 2016-2020, before it changed the owner in recent years. At the beginning of May 2022, I decided to visit again to see how things were going. Well, this is a completely new place now. Let's deep-dive.

The place looked good and was generally clean. The food was served on clean plates, and with sufficient utensils. Drinks were served in very nice glasses, with a lot of available ice.

The time of the day was lunch here (12-15). My order consisted of a Grilled Cheese Sandwich, the Salad of the Moment, and a combination of the green ice tea and a coca-cola, which I mixed together.

Let's talk about the sandwich first. Spoiler alert, this was a mind-blower. On its own, this is a good sandwich, grilled and sliced into two parts, served with a bit of a salad and a sauce (likely sriracha mayonnaise). The sandwich itself is good (4/5) but here comes the real deal: the sauce. I usually ignore sauces that are served with meals. But, for this one, I am very glad that I tried it. The sandwich and the sauce together created a new experience for me. The portion was on the generous side too. Thus, looking at value for money, this sandwich gets a 5/5 from me.

One nice touch to the sandwich is a newspaper-looking item that seems fine to be on the plate, and also has a piece of an article about Kaap and Tein (the name of the restaurant).

Salad of the Moment had a variety in it. Mostly green ingredients with bacon and an other meat. I skipped the bacon and green beans, but I won't take that into the scoring. What I missed a bit, however, is also some vinegar and olive oil, or also another sauce served with the salad. Such additions could bring this salad to a new level. Given the rather high price of the salad (some +60% more expensive than the sandwich), I would expect to receive a bit bigger portion (see the photos of both). Altogether, this is a 3-/5. Following the ingredient additions suggestion, together with a bit lower price could bring it to 4/5.

Drinks are standard, but the ice and a very nice glass made a lot of difference. This is 5/5.

Altogether, this...

Easily the best meal I had in Amsterdam. Kaap & Tein has it all - a beautiful courtyard and indoor bar, refreshing house-brewed beer on tap, and masterfully composed food. Service was pleasant and attentive, especially towards English-speaking tourists.

I had both house beers (named after the restaurant) - the Kaap blonde ale was extremely refreshing on a warm evening. The starter of rainbow tomatoes, soft burrata, and pumpkin seeds was the type of dish so gorgeous that you don't want it to disappear. It was delicious and and a wonderful contrast of texture. The main was a wonderful entrecote steak with fresh root vegetables, a delicious sauce, and of course fries with mayo.

As with any fantastic restaurant, it's a small rotating menu based on seasonal ingredients. There were some vegetarian options, but picky eaters may find themselves limited. The August menu was a bit lacking in terms of Dutch classics, but perhaps those heartier dishes appear on the menu in the winter time.

Desserts looked nice but I was looking for a waffle treat, which was not on the menu.

Highly recommended to visit Kaap & Tein on your visit to Amsterdam. I made a reservation for Thursday night, but there seemed to be ample room indoors on a beautiful evening. There were about 25 seats in...

Unusual to say the least. We visited back in November 2022 on a wet Friday, solely based on the rating on Google Reviews. It was surprisingly empty, so much so, we had to confirm they were actually open.

Venue is lovely. Looked very clean. Food was good, service slow. Glasses new and spotless but yet they have cheap salt and pepper utensils.

The menu is small but that can be a sign of good food, do less and do it really well.

The manager (or stand in manger) was a friend of the owners or Chef (I can't recall which) and didn't work in hospitality (worked in IT) yet he was front of house, serving etc. He had to check on questions we had with regard the food / wine with the chef.

Given it was empty the service could have been better (but not surprising as we only found out all this when we were leaving.)

All very friendly and accommodating but waiting to order drinks each time as the stand-in manger was off chatting with staff isn't great.

Ordered 3 affogato (just coffee and ice-cream) for dessert. They had no idea what they were, googled it and and when bill came back they charged as separate items. 31 euro for 3 coffees with a ball of ice-cream.

Has so much potential. I would go back but I'd certainly be reviewing the reviews first to see if it has worked...