Restaurant Gare de l’Est was originally built in 1901 as a coffee house for local warehouse workers. Today, an eclectic menu take diners on a culinary journey far beyond Amsterdam's borders.

The restaurant's concept is based on a set four-course dinner for €32, cooked each day by a different chef in their own style. The starter was a mixed, Japanese- style seafood platter. In the centre was a mound of wakame seaweed, tossed with sesame seeds and slices of fresh ginger. Around it, carefully arranged like a Zen garden, were two thick rectangles of dark pink, raw tuna, a buttery pan-fried skate fin, and small daubs of creamy soya mayonnaise.

The main of entrecote was rather tough, sadly so often the case in Amsterdam. This was topped with a slice of pungent fennel sausage, and served on a bed of sauerkraut and baby roast potatoes.

The cheese plate comprised four cheeses. Working round the plate from mild to stinky, we tried a mild taleggio, brie sprinkled with earthy truffle shavings, hard Swiss cheese and finally a blue-veined gorgonzola. A square of lemon cheesecake with a scoop of honey ice cream followed for dessert.

I’m sure the warehouse workers never ate this well, but I would happily put in a hard day’s graft for another taste of Gare de l’Est’s four-course feast.

Restaurant info

Opening hours:
daily from 17.00

Price indication:

Our rating:

Telephone: 020 463 0620
Web: go directly to homepage

eat amsterdam