• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

De Kas in Frankendael Park.   (Photo: Courtesy of De Kas)

Book weeks in advance to eat at the chef's table at De Kas. It's in the kitchen, so you can watch the preparation of a seasonal menu that might include sea bass with tarragon or broccoli-and-black-olive cream soup.

City dwellers rarely cross the Amstel River, but the Hotel de Goudfazant (Aambeeldstraat 10 H; 20-636-5170) gives them a reason. The new restaurant is in a warehouse dominated by a UFO-size chandelier, but its adherence to the Dutch aesthetic of found materials makes it feel almost temporary. The daily changing menu serves dishes like roast Belgian chicken, oyster seviche, and goat cheese on brioche with carrot salad.

Dauphine serves fab French food in a Jetsons-esque former car showroom. Make way for the theatrically huge platter of fruits de mer and the classic brasserie rib-eye with béarnaise.

Order à la carte from Envy's seasonal menu.   (Photo: Courtesy of Envy)

Envy is a narrow, dark space with an open kitchen and a shiny line of Tom Dixon mirror balls. Order the 50-euro Chef's Choice for highlights like salmon tartare, quail stuffed with duck liver and Calvados apples, and sea bass with spinach in sweet urchin sauce. Now serving lunch, too.

At the old-school chocolatier Pompadour (Huidenstraat 12; 20-623-9554), the Belgian owner treats his ingredients like fine wine: Forty-eight different types of bonbons are made mixing Swiss Valrhona chocolate — using beans from Madagascar and the Caribbean — with honey, hazelnuts and almonds, marzipan, raspberries and eau de vie de framboise.

Published on Oct 11, 2006 as a web exclusive.