De Waaghals, on Frans Halsstraat in Amsterdam
I have to say the highlight of my trip to Amsterdam was eating at the vegetarian restaurant De Waaghals. This is partly due to poor planning, and partly due to the fact we only spent part of the day in Amsterdam. After finding the line for the Anne Frank house too long, and being run out of Westerkirk, and then finding the canal boat tours booked until late evening, and the Heineken Brewery across the street closed until September, we ended up successfully checking off the last item on my list of Things To Do In Amsterdam: eat at one of its many vegetarian restaurants.
De Waaghals is located very close to the Heineken Brewery, so, finding our options limited, we walked by, hoping to secure a reservation for later in the evening. Not only could we do that, but it turned out the place opens at 5 p.m.—an opening hour virtually unheard of in the rest of Europe, but welcome to Americans weary of walking Amsterdam's lovely streets.
The menu, while not particularly vegan friendly, was a welcome change from the British vegetarian restaurants, where the thinking seems to be that cheese and dairy are best in large quantities. I was a bit leery of the "French Specialty" which is currently featured on the ever-changing menu, but was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to have very little dairy—a hint of Gruyere in the stuffed courgette, and a Hollandaise sauce over the spring vegetables. Since living in Europe, I've reluctantly become a 98% vegan, which means I make exceptions when eating out. Otherwise, I'd be limited to eating in very few restaurants here—even British Chinese restaurants aren't at all vegetarian friendly. So, knowing I wouldn't be dealing with a plate drenched with cheese, I happily ordered the French Specialty, which came with lentil and watercress soup, a courgette stuffed with walnuts and Gruyere, a mushroom croquette, potato and leek terrine, and the aforementioned vegetables.
My husband had the de Waaghals classic: "saffron-flavoured pasta with truffle cream, mixed vegetables stewed in red wine with sun-dried tomatoes, beans and olives, and roasted onion with almond and cheese stuffing, spinach and endive stir-fried in garlic oil with pine kernels". There was also an Indonesian dish on the menu, which may very well be vegan. Incidentally, Indonesian food is plentiful in The Netherlands, as Indonesia used to be a Dutch colony.
Both our meals were excellent, and of sufficient portions to make a typical TGI Friday's meal look skimpy. The selections were refreshingly creative enough to make this jaded vegetarian compliment the proprietress, who happened to be British. Actually, I begged her to return to Britain and open a restaurant. My biggest complaints with British vegetarian food is its heavy reliance on dairy and its lack of any innovation, a problem not in evidence here. In fact, I had the pleasant dilemma of trying to decide between several dishes and appetizers that all sounded intriguing.
I'm convinced, if all vegetarian food were this interesting and well prepared, more people would be tempted to give up meat for good.
So now I have many reasons to return to Amsterdam: visit the Anne Frank house, take a canal boat trip, climb the tower at Westerkirk, tour the Heineken brewery, and visit de Waaghals again. Because who knows what will turn up on their menu next time?
For photos of our meals, peek below.
The French Specialty, with mushroom croquette in the foreground, stuffed courgette (which I'd already cut into when I remembered to take a photo) and the potato-leek terrine. Served with a nice green salad with butternut squash and radishes.
The de Waaghals Classic: Saffron pasta with truffle cream, stuffed onion (with a dill flavor), sautéed greens and more.
Panforte with figs and hazelnuts and pineapple sorbet. Again, I dug in before I remembered to take a photo. The sorbet was divine.
Our dining companion, the resident cat.