Great Irish pub in the city center, small but very cozy. Great beers and great serviceread more

The only genuine Irish pub in the Netherlands, run by a Dub and his Dutch wife and their kids.read more

This is the kind of bar you want to be able to walk home from…read more To begin with, we almost missed this delightful local charmer. We looked in and saw only one person sitting quietly at the bar. It looked dead and we decided to move along. A half block later something strange happened as we felt a cosmic pull back to the bar. Turning around we went in and the rest of our life changed. Cafe de Singel turned out to be a singularly special moment in our trip to Amersfoort. So much so that I hesitate to write this as it is someplace we want to hold dear to our hearts and not really share..... This Brown Cafe transcends the typical and elevates itself into it's own category. Replete with the standard dark interior, eclectic decorations (this time of antique flying machines) and an under spoken street scene what opens up inside can only be described as pure gezellig. To put it simply we stopped in for a drink and ended up spending 3 1/2 hours here, made at least 15 new friends and not only learned the low down on Amersfoort but listened to great music and had a kick-ass good time. We were happy and will be back. PS The bar snacks are outstanding.

I was visiting Giethoorn for the lovely town and decided to find the closest Michelin bib gourmand…read moreand tried out lunch. There are only two close by and only one opening for lunch. It has a rather 'Japan' typed name. Sukade. But the cuisine is not Japanese. So I went alone. It is not hard to find; you do have to navigate through the city as there are some pedestrian area where navigation system may not show most updated information. The restaurant setting, is surprising. It is a semi-trendy chic bar with restaurants inside or the other way around. It has outdoors seats with laboring boats accompanying the view. It has second floor with an extra bar table when night life becomes interesting. There a few paid parking space outsides. I got a table, it was already afternoon, most restaurants are probably no longer serving lunch. Not this one. For simplicity I went for the set menu. The entree is surprisingly manifold. Not only the tastes but also the textures. While there is no particular way of which one to start or finish. I fortunately drink the little cup soup last. As it has the strongest taste reminding me one of the Paul Bocuse's dishes. The main course is roasted pork. It's deliciously done. Warning: save the sweet potatoes as well as the bread last in case you are still hungry after the main course. I ate too much sweet potatoes so when the deserts (yes, multiples!) comes, I regretted having digested too many potatoes. However, I still finish the deserts. Just like entree, they are of different form, flavors and surprises. I would really recommend you detour from Giethoorn and visited this restaurants. Not sure about its dinner menu but I would conjecture it is as good as its lunch. The staff is really friendly, eager to help and young! The chefs are likely all under 30, some I even suspects less than 20 years old. So are the staff. The whole restaurants are full of joy and ripe with liveliness. Be no mistake, there are many elderlies eating here. It's for all ages. Ok, not sure if they welcome kids. One thing I pay particular attention to is the toilet room. I believe a good restaurant will also make toilet room a good experience. It is minimalist decorated: clean and beautiful. The only thing you have to be careful is the flushing is so strong ( at least the male's toilet room), its better you stand away from it. All in all, I like this restaurant. It's 3 year old and my guess is, within 7 years, it would get a star (or maybe more.) Even without any star, it is still a very good restaurant to enjoy your meal time. oh, Sukade means shoulder pad in English. A catchy and memorable name.