What we have been eating lately #13 - favorite Amsterdam breads and where to get them

Get that bread!

Breads in all shapes and sizes remain the best food on earth. We occasionally make brioche, focaccia or milk bread ourselves for catering jobs, but as it happens, Amsterdam has bread and bakeries from so many cultures and regions to offer, so why make it yourself if someone else can do it way better? Here's some of our favorites:

Boulangerie Nador

Especially during Ramadan, but actually all year round, this Moroccan neighborhood bakery always has a line. They make so many fresh beautiful shapes of khobz that we use often for our caterings and the super long semolina baguettes. And whenever we crave a snack during our shopping trips we get a batbot filled with herby beef or tuna. So moist and fatty and tasty!! They also make a mean briwat and have a great selection of cookies and pastries.

Boulangerie Nador, Bos en Lommerweg 295, 1055 DX Amsterdam

Yildiz

On the corner of my street there has always been Turkish bakery Yildiz, my comfort zone, run by a father and son. It took me 5+ years of weekly getting fresh lavas, simit, good lahmacun and lovely spinach and cheese börek before I noticed a humble looking round flat bread on the counter and asked what it was. The owner told me it was ‘butter bread’ and it is basically a flatbread that is drenched in butter after baking. If you serve this with a snack platter, guests will be stunned every time. I’ve not seen this somewhere else and I love it so much.

Yildiz West Bakkerij, Admiraal de Ruijterweg 330, 1055 MZ Amsterdam

Hicret

This used to be Stef’s neighborhood favorite. We have used their lavas a lot since the start of our catering days. They also make beautiful braided breads that are both very fluffy and aesthetically pleasing.

Bakkerij Hicret, Jan Evertsenstraat 82, 1056 EG Amsterdam

Hoi Tin

What a place. Filled pork- and custard buns fresh from the oven for a price that cannot be found anywhere else in Amsterdam. This is a treat we always get when we are in the area. Pork bun in one hand, custard one in the other. Hoi Tin is a well known Chinese restaurant in Amsterdam’s China town where the dim sum is poppin and the crispy pork belly is a must order. They have a small bakery in front with freshly baked goods and pastries. Just take a whole box with everything they have, find a nice bench on the canals and have a good time.

Hoi Tin, Zeedijk 122, 1012 BB Amsterdam

Farine

This bakery recently opened near my house and instantly became a hit. It might be your typical cool sourdough bakery and when you are in line you will definitely find yourself surrounded by run clubs, people with complicated sneakers and couples with toy poodles, but oh my days the baguette is really really really worth it. It’s the only one I know in Amsterdam that comes close to a Parisian baguette. I don’t know how they get the crust so crunchy, it’s magic.

Farine Boulangerie & Cafe, Bos en Lommerweg 96, 1055 EC Amsterdam

Louf

Let’s go straight to another ‘cool’ bakery that can’t not be part of this list: Louf. They have a few locations in Amsterdam, but my favorite is the one on Bilderdijkstraat. They make a mean focaccia (hard to find good fresh focaccia) and I also love their pitten schuit, a dark, dense, seeded loaf. The real winner though is their brioche. We’ve used it a lot for catering because it works really well for making cubes, grilling them in the oven an topping them with nice things like tarama, butter and anchovies, smoked eel, whipped feta and so on.

Louf - oud west, Bilderdijkstraat 38, 1053 LA Amsterdam

Fort Negen

The OG started-during-covid-succes-story-sourdough-bakery. Their big sourdough loaf remains my absolute favorite in the city and every time we bring it to a dinner or catering, guests ask us where the bread is from. Great with just butter and also makes a unbeatable grilled cheese.

Fort Negen, Jan Evertsenstraat 31, 1057 BM Amsterdam

Kometen Brood

Since we moved into our new studio, we have Kometen Brood close by which is great because their perfectly buttery flaky croissants have fueled us very often since. It might be on the top our croissant list at the moment. The cheese version is also amazing.

Kometen Brood & Cafe, Ms. van Riemsdijkweg 2, 1033 RD Amsterdam

De Hapjeshoek

Not really a bakery, but a bread that has to be part of this list is the bara kip from De Hapjeshoek, a Surinamese joint stacked away in a metro station. This fried chickpea bread (that is also great on its own) is filled to the brim with curry chicken, cucumber pickles and madame jeannette sambal. It’s so unbelievably juicy that you will make a moaning noise when you bite into it.

De Hapjeshoek, Metrostation, Waterlooplein 6, 1011 MS Amsterdam

That’s it for this week. If you have any bread recommendations please let us know. Thanks for reading and see you at the next newsletter!

Love,

Jesse from Sabato