Special party for a special gal?

July 3, 2007 12:20 AM

Planning a BirthDay event in Amsterdam?

So GalPal's birthday is Friday, and I'm having some problems planning a birthday event for her.

I live in London and GalPal lives in Amsterdam. I'm in Amsterdam for a few days, typically every other week but sometimes more frequently. I know the city fairly well and even not counting weekends with her I've spent several months there in total, but I don't know the city well enough(1) to plan a special birthday event.

Can anyone help me find a special place for a birthday dinner? Ideally I'd like a place that would also deliver up a nice cake to our table, with the entire restaurant breaking into song for maximum embarrassment.

Food-wise we both favour fish and international cuisine, but that's a secondary consideration. We'd be looking at a small table; her, myself and possibly her Paw. I'm not too fussed about money but would like to insure good value and a great, memorable birthday experience for her.

Many thanks!

(1) or speak enough Dutch yet! (*hangs head in shame*)

posted by Mutant to Grab Bag (5 answers total)

Best answer: I hope you'll get some responses from people who aren't just Dutch but also actually know Amsterdam well. In case you don't: IENS is in my experience a pretty good site to do some searching. Refresh the page a couple of time to see different top ten lists of restaurants (best locations, best food, etc.). There are reviews in both English and Dutch on the page, but also an option to show English reviews only.

Regarding something specific for a birthday: the review section on this site mentions sparklers with the dessert, and the restaurant gets pretty good reviews, but I've never been there so I can't vouch for it.
posted by Ms. Next at 6:56 AM on July 3, 2007

Best answer: I had a very good dinner at Viijff Vlieghen (Spuistraat 294-302) on Sint Nikolaas night; he didn't come in though, just banged on the window. I don't know if the Dutch act like Americans in restaurants on birthdays--personally I'd rather choose my own dessert in a place like this.
posted by brujita at 10:27 AM on July 3, 2007

I think Brujita is right in having doubts about the singing bit: while I haven't eaten in a lot of Amsterdam restaurants, I do know that in the rest of the country I've never seen/heard the whole restaurant singing like you described. The sparklers are about the most 'visible' signs of a birthday party elsewhere in a restaurant I've seen.

A link to the restaurant Brujita mentioned: d'Vijff Vlieghen.
posted by Ms. Next at 12:14 PM on July 3, 2007

Best answer: You may totally love De Kas - its in a converted greenhouse.

But the obnoxious, embarrassing birthday song, so popular in the United States and UK- that's very unDutch.
posted by four panels at 2:28 PM on July 3, 2007

There are a few 'singing restaurants' where the waiters are singing opera for instance. In Amsterdam there's Pasta e Basta for one.
posted by jouke at 11:39 AM on July 4, 2007