The Best Places for Munchies in Amsterdam

This eye-catching store near Dam Square sells classic, vegan and gluten-free candy by the bucketload and presents its colourful selection in old-school pick-and-mix containers. Customers are encouraged to help themselves to the store’s assortment and can choose between hundreds of nostalgia-inducing candies, including over-sized lollipops, jelly beans and sour worms. Every container inside the store has labels detailing the candy’s ingredients, allowing people with dietary requirements to easily see what’s OK to eat.

OLA Happiness serves custom built ice-cream sundaes that are topped with fruit, candy and sprinkles, then slapped into a special machine that swirls all these ingredients together into one glorious, sugary medley. Customers can design their own sundaes, choosing between many different ingredients, ranging from tiny cookies to multi-coloured sugar sprinkles.

Anyone who’s travelled through Amsterdam’s Centraal Station has probably noticed the large pagoda-style building floating in the city’s Oosterdok harbour. This waterborne landmark houses a Chinese restaurant called Sea Palace that serves an expansive range of classic Cantonese dishes. There are over 600 seats available inside the restaurant that are spread over three, panoramic floors. Aside from its extensive menu, Sea Palace also offers meals that are perfect for sharing with friends including fresh dim sum and bubbling hotpots filled with seafood, noodles and dumplings.

This quick-and-easy take-out joint serves thick cut, Dutch-style fries alongside several other classic fast-food classics, such as beefburgers and doner kebabs. Like all good snack bars in Amsterdam, Chipsy King offers an expansive selection of sauces to accompany its fries, including creamy Fritessaus mayonnaise, standard ketchup and spicy peanut satay. As the restaurant serves its fries in handy paper cones, customers can easily eat their orders while walking to other destinations around Amsterdam.

Though there are many excellent ice-cream parlours to choose from in Amsterdam, IJssalon Tofani remains open considerably later than most other similar establishments in the city and continues serving scoop after scoop of delicious gelato, softijs (soft-serve ice cream) and sorbet until midnight every day of the week. Aside from tasty frozen desserts of all flavours, IJssalon Tofani also serves fresh coffee and tasty baked treats, such as doughnuts and waffles. During the warmer months of the year, itis possible for customers at IJssalon Tofani to enjoy their ice creams on the parlour’s canal-side terrace, which looks directly onto Nieuwmarkt square.

New York Pizza has six branches in central Amsterdam, most of which are located near busy, nightlife spots, like Rembrandtplein, Leidseplein or Dam Square, and keep their doors open past midnight every day of the week. These down-to-earth fast-food joints serve many different styles of pizza, ranging from classic New York-style pies with mozzarella, tomato sauce and pepperoni, to more adventurous culinary fusions, topped with ingredients like doner kebab meat or tandoori chicken.

There are plenty of ramen bowls to choose from inside this cosy restaurant near Dam Square, and it is even possible to customise dishes with extra toppings like seasoned kimchi, buttered corn or pork belly. Everything inside Ramen-ya is home-made including their noodles and miso sauce, meaning that every dish is fresh and delicious.