Amsterdam: De Pijp Street Food Walking Tour & Market Tastes

4.95

(55 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

The first thing that hit me was the smell — a mix of fried dough, fresh fish, and coffee drifting through De Pijp as we squeezed past bikes and locals chatting in Dutch. Our guide, who called herself a “Mother Bird,” waved us over to this tiny stand at Albert Cuyp Market. She handed me a broodje pom (I’d never heard of it before), warm and spicy, and I tried not to drop sauce on my jacket. There was laughter from the stall owner when I tried to pronounce it — apparently I’m hopeless with Surinamese words.

We wandered through narrow streets where the buildings lean just a little, like they’re eavesdropping on the market noise. At one point, someone in our group asked about the history of these “Toko” shops — our guide explained how Indonesian and Surinamese families have shaped the food scene here for decades. I could smell sweet soy sauce from one doorway, then suddenly we were biting into kroketten so hot I nearly burned my tongue. The weather kept changing its mind: sun one minute, drizzle the next. Nobody seemed to care much.

I didn’t expect to like herring but there we were, standing around a barrel while our guide showed us how locals eat it (raw, with onions). It wasn’t as scary as I thought — salty, soft, kind of addictive actually. Someone bought poffertjes dusted with powdered sugar; they melted in my mouth while a kid zipped by on a scooter yelling something cheerful. We ended up sharing stories over strong coffee in a café that looked unchanged since the 70s. I still think about that view down the street — neon signs flickering against wet cobblestones — whenever I taste stroopwafels now.