Amsterdam Bites and Brews

I'm back from my European adventure. Did you guys miss me? Since I have been doing a lot of eating and drinking and not a whole lot of cooking lately, I figured I could share some of what I tried while on vacation.
Brews

Amsterdam is home of Heineken and Amstel (now owned by Heineken) but they also have a killer beer culture. Great beers are available nearly everywhere and are relatively inexpensive compared to the states.

Delirium for 2 Euro - Not Bad!

Beervana

Heineken straight from the source. It tastes better there.

A random IPA I picked up

Trappistes Rochefort. Fell in love with this one at the Savannah Craft Brew Fest.

Some pretty nasty cough syrupy cherry beer.

Cool picture :)

Random picture that makes me laugh

Windmill turned brewery

Punk IPA. We also picked up a bottle of Tactical Nuclear Penguin from the same company. If you are a beer lover you WILL Google it.

Bites
When in Amsterdam eat like the locals, right? We had everything from traditional home style cooking, to Indonesian to raw herring. Have a looksee...

I could have spent hours in this store sampling cheese

One traditional food in Amsterdam is Indonesian. What today is Indonesia was a Dutch colony for over 300 years. Here we are trying 'rice table' at a restaurant called Long Pura . Its like a tapas menu ranging from regular to VERY spicy food.

Breakfast at Pancake Amsterdam. Awesome place but like the name implies, all they serve is pancakes.

My pancakes were stuffed with shredded apple and raisin and served with a fresh strawberry compote and fresh squeezed OJ

Ron got the special. The pancake was thin like a crepe, the fruit topping was fresh and that vanilla ice cream was some of the best I have ever had (second to Tahiti)

Ted got a savory pancake with bacon (more like ham) and cheese.

One night we ate at a restaurant called Moeders Pot. It is famous in Amsterdam for serving home-style cooking. Both of the guys ordered Hotch Potch. It is a pile of mash potatoes with sauerkraut mixed in served with a sausage, meatballs and bacon. Loved it. 

I had dutch style braised beef known as Draadjesvlees. It was some of the most tender beef I have ever had and was served in the perfect gravy. It even came served in its own cute little dutch oven.

My sides that night were potatoes and red cabbage. They were ok but nothing spectacular.

Reypenaer Cheese Tasting room. We went here to go to a wine and cheese tasting and it was sold out. Fortunately for us they offered free samples in the store so we had our own mini tasting.

Sweet cheese cutting board

Herring stand

That's right - raw fish

The serve the herring raw with pickles and onions. Yes I tried it and it actually wasn't that bad. I wouldn't go back for seconds but when in Amsterdam you should at least try it once.

We had sandwiches for lunch most days. Interestingly, they are usually served open face. Here's an open face ham and cheese with melted Gruyere on top

Salmon salad sandwich

Hope you enjoyed a mini food and drink tour through Amsterdam. Can you believe I tried the raw herring? What is the 'strangest' food you ever tried?