Saurabh "Renaissance Man" G.'s Profile

Location Location Location

It's all about the location at Cedars. That and the wonderful dining experience. This is not a restaurant where you go for a casual meal. No, that sort of activity is better done elsewhere.

I have been to Cedars about 5 times over the last few months, and love it every single time! Of course, being a vegetarian means that the choices are limited, but that also means that we get to enjoy diverse flavors.

The building is tastefully done. There's also a lounge upstairs where there are seldom private parties/gatherings. The view is just spectacular, and could be quite romantic given the time of the year.

Now the food - it's your standard mediterranean fare, you know, hummus, pita, etc. The difference lies in the presentation. Of course, it doesn't taste bad, either. We always go for the vegetarian combination (hot and cold) platter. It comes with a generous serving of tabouli. The bread keeps coming while you enjoy your food in style.

Cedars is a wonderful place to get out of the city and spend a few intimate hours with someone special, or even with a group of close friends. There's a lot to be said in favor of a restaurant that is classy and crafty at the same time.

I tried hard to give this a 4 star rating. It's probably a 3.5.

Qyom was recommended by my 'huisarts' as it is close to the apartment and has a decent reputation. While I don't have extensive experience with dental practices, I have to say that my experience so far has been quite decent. The practice is good with scheduling regular checkups in advance, and most of the staff is quite nice and friendly.

Of course, going to the dentist is never a wonderful experience, so I am not going to say that I love coming back here every time, but it could be a whole lot worse. I have not had a negative experience, yet, while my acquaintances in the city keep complaining about their dentists. Hence, I guess Qyom is doing something right.

They require you to sign up with the practice before they'll even look at your teeth, but I think that's normal procedure here in the Netherlands. The wait area is well equipped.

What more can I say?! Off to get a piece of chocolate.

Why did I not try this restaurant for the last so many months?! This place is great!

Went to De Italiaan for a casual dinner with two others. The idea was to reserve a table in advance and spend an evening over conversation and food. The reservation part was dead simple; just log onto their website and fill in your details, although I didn't get the reminder SMS. I had heard about their pizzas before and so was keen to try them out.

We were given a nice round table in a somewhat closed off area on the first floor. This meant that we could actually have our nice conversation. The service was fast and efficient, almost reminding me of service in American restaurants where you are treated like a king.

The three of us tried different pizzas. A vegetarian, something with onions, and I had the potato pizza. Having tried potato pies in the upper NY areas, I wasn't expecting the one here to best that, but it wasn't bad at all. The crust was superb and the pizza was delicious even as it got cold during the course of our conversation.

The dessert menu is also a pleasure to look at. We tried the tiramisu, walnut ice cream, and the dessert of the day, cheesecake with chocolate cream. All so very delicious.

The restaurant claims that it imports all its ingredients from Italy. I wouldn't doubt it. The entire evening's experience was very good, with lots of attention and low enough ambient noise to actually carry on a nice conversation. The interior is tastefully done with lots of interesting pictures on the walls.

All in all, you should definitely give this restaurant a shot if you're looking for some of the finest pizzas on this side of the planet. You will not be disappointed.

Ventured out here on a dinner date.

Holy crap hospitality!

What a welcome change from most of the Amsterdam dining options when it comes to hospitality. It's like the hosts really cherished your presence, an unprecedented concept!

Jokes aside, I can't vouch for how authentic Turkish the menu is, but it did taste great. I guess I would update my review once I have been able to coerce a Turkish friend into dining out with me.

We started out with the house red wine, which came with some bread. There was absolutely zero waiting for service, even though the restaurant was decently full of happy diners. For the main course, we settled on the vegetarian sampler, which comes with 5 cold and 5 hot 'mezzes'.

The servings are decent, and even though it says 'for two', I believe 4 could easily enjoy the combination meal. The accompaniment is the form of Turkish bread, that again, you don't have to wait for more if you run out of.

For dessert, we had the baklava, which is basically 3 decent servings with a side of ice cream. Deliciousness!

We found the ambience great enough to spend more than a couple hours just chatting and sipping on wine, but we were clearly not the only couple who did that.

This place is great.

Stopped here for a few drinks after an evening of bowling at the adjacent Knijn. I have to say that the interior was quite contemporary and nothing I would expect from an establishment in Amsterdam, especially where I could see a lot of locals.

The menu is quite interesting, almost making me want to trek out to the RAI area once again during the daytime to get lunch. Our experience was limited to getting drinks and some snacks.

The drinks don't seem like they are overpriced, although the service wasn't the best since the staff was limited to 2, while there were clearly at least a couple big groups present. That said, the over-burdened wait staff tried their best to stay cheery and serve everyone.

The interior is nicely done - warm lighting and a TV screen that shows logs of wood burning in awesome high definition, making you warm instantly. That, along with a nice heating/cooling system.

The restaurant is good for crowds, and the music is good.

All in all, a nice place to get some good times rolling with good company outside the center of the city.

One of the benefits of living where I live is proximity to Kaasland. The first thing you notice when you move to the Netherlands is how serious the Dutch are about their breads. It has to be fresh, locally produced, and also appear good. Although, Kaasland would roughly translate to 'land of cheese', their breads are nothing to dismiss lightly. I have been a happy regular customer for more than a year.

The artisan breads are all baked fresh everyday. I am not much of a cheese connoisseur, but I like the young cumin cheese here. There's also milk and yogurt available, if you want that right Dutch lunch combination. In the early mornings, I can smell the warm croissants from a block away. They're also really nice.

The plastic goat is a friendly welcome :p

It doesn't matter if you are moving to the area or just a tourist, give Kaasland a visit!

Holy tourist trap!

There are two kinds of people who visit Café Mokum - those looking for good company later in the evening (wink) and those who hate breathing air.

At any weekend evening, this place is LOADED with people, which isn't necessarily a bad thing seeing how well-behaved everyone is, focussed on having a good time, and dancing the night away in the really small space. As my mate says, it's heads banging against other heads.

The staff is really awesome, and kudos to them for being able to handle the mayhem so comfortably. I would go insane. The toilets upstairs are well maintained, too. All in all, there's nothing much going against Mokum other than the smoke, but it isn't all that bad either.

The sound and music system at Mokum is what makes for a wonderful evening. It's one good tune after another, and they even upgraded the system a few months ago! The drinks aren't very expensive or so and the bar is well stocked, although, like most Amsterdam bars, you can forget about cocktails.

So, there, next time you're looking for some international company for the evening and don't want to spend a lot of cash finding it, stop at Café Mokum for the good times! There, I said it.

Sometimes, you just want to have a very good time drinking and dining the fast way with friends before you head out for more fun into the evening. At those times, you also want to stay around the vicinity of Amsterdam's many 'entertainment areas' without getting overrun by tourists and the subsequent high prices.

Mankind is your place.

While I have never had anything to eat here apart from the snacks, they do have quite a versatile menu. I figure the owners are Italian, so having a good food menu is sort of a given. The drinks just keep flowing here. The interior is very nicely done, if you can find place to sit down on a Friday evening! The upside of the location on the canal also means that given favorable weather you get a nice view and expansive terrace for free.

Bar service is quick and comes with complementary smiles. It's always good to interact with other bar patrons as it tends to be mostly a very international crowd with all the multinational companies nearby.

If you want to be in Leidseplein for a few drinks without 'actually' being there, this is your spot. Buy me a couple drinks while you're at it, too!

1 star for being everywhere in Amsterdam
1 star for generally having nice cars
-3 stars for the crappiest taxi service, ever

Where to begin? TCA advertises itself as the taxi service with considerate drivers, nice cars, and for being available 24/7 any time of the day. Only 2 of these points are correct.

My experience with the drivers has been everything but cordial. They are like hawks, scavenging for the tourist who has to get to the furthest destination. Those who don't aren't worthy of service.

Case in point - my parents visited me a couple months ago, and while I generally walk from the central station to my apartment, they had some luggage and I didn't want them to walk the distance, due to age. Hence, I *requested* a TCA driver to get us to my apartment. I actually told him that I realize it's not that far, but I don't want my parents to walk, and would actually pay a good tip/extra money/whatever. He just refused to provide service. I have heard that mine isn't an isolated case. Amsterdam really needs to establish a service culture. The worst part is that even complaining doesn't get you anywhere here. Tactics like this might have worked in an isolated world, but remember TCA management, it's all about keeping the customer happy these days, unless you're not smart.

But then, the drivers are probably paid in proportion to the distance they drive, so I can't blame them, really. As always, it's the idiot management at service companies that ruins things for everyone.

TCA, you need to improve. Otherwise, the competition, and yes, it is coming, will crush you.

With a name like that, you'd expect that only expats (foreigners) would visit this place. But no, the locals love it, too! Shawn is, hands down, the friendliest business owner I have ever known. He knows how to treat customers like friends, what with remembering even their names and what they are generally up to. In a country like the Netherlands, where being nice to strangers is unheard of, Small World Catering is a blessing right in the neighborhood. I feel like I have, not one, but a few, good friends here.

While the sandwiches are Small World's claim to fame, you can't go wrong with the awesome salads on display. I am a fan of the couscous salad as well as the egg pie thing. Delicious! There's a very good herbal tea on the menu as well, along with the signature juices. If you ask for my favorite, go with the pesto melt - out of this world! I am a regular Saturday morning customer (sometimes Sundays), if you want to run into me sometime!

Once you're done with food, check out the famous carrot cake or the cheesecake. I bet you'd get addicted to this good stuff. The cookies are also great! I don't think I have ever had a bad experience at Small World, it's that awesome. The downside of giving a positive review to this place is that now it will be all the more crowded, but I could live with that.

What are you waiting for? Don't you want a good sandwich right now?!

PS: And you don't even have to pay for water...unlike all the crap restaurants!