December’s Amsterdam restaurant review roundup is short and sweet. Between sipping local wines in Stellenbosch, eating fresh seafood in Cape Town and counting down to New Year in Durban, the furthest my writing got was post-prandial note-taking. That was with the exception of my review of Hotel de Goudfazant in Amsterdam North.

Hotel de Goudfazant

I first visited Hotel de Goudfazant a couple of years ago. I was so impressed that I used the restaurant as an excuse to squeeze a walk in Amsterdam North into my culinary guide Walk & Eat Amsterdam, published in early 2011. Hotel de Goudfazant is the ‘reward’ at the end of a walk which takes in Amsterdam North’s mix of beautiful old dike houses and modern industrial estates.

Unexpectedly located in one of the latter is Hotel de Goudfazant, which serves superb, reasonably priced French/Dutch food against the shabby-chic backdrop of a former garage.

As I sadly pack my bags to return to chilly Holland, here’s wishing all Eat Amsterdam readers a happy 2012. In the past year, the number of visitors to the site has doubled and I hope that trend will continue as the site grows and improves this year. Look out for more Amsterdam restaurant reviews in January as I head to the some of the new places that have opened in my absence.