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Top Rotterdam Restaurant Picks to Satisfy Every Appetite

The port city of Rotterdam is well known for having some of the best restaurants in all of the Netherlands. The city boasts a young and hip crowd, which has encouraged many restaurant owners to offer new and exotic cuisines to appease both locals and tourists alike. Both the Scheepvaartkwartier and Museumkwartier offer excellent dining opportunities for all tastes and budgets. Let’s take a look at some of the best restaurants in town.

Cuisine: French-Mediterranean - The ambiance in Amarone is almost as enticing as the food they serve. The restaurant serves more than 500 different wines and has earned 1 Michelin star for their impeccable service and excellent quality food.

Cuisine: Chinese - Asian Glories is known as the city’s best Cantonese restaurant and is a budget-friendly choice for travelers looking to enjoy a great meal. The restaurant also features an outdoor terrace.

Cuisine: Vegetarian - For meatless meal options, Bla Bla is an excellent choice. The restaurant offers a selection of three to four main vegetarian dishes with an international flair. The menu here changes frequently to keep things fresh and interesting. Arrange for an early dinner when dining at Bla Bla as the restaurant is often packed.

Cuisine: Dutch - Kip offers diners a warm and welcoming atmosphere with a large fireplace, soft lighting and dark wood features. As the name implies (Kip translates to “chicken” in English), the restaurant’s most popular dish is chicken breast with truffles. A daily fish entree is also available, including cod. Other meat options are available as well. Reservations are a must at this restaurant as they are always packed.

Cuisine: Seafood - Zeezout serves up a sea-based menu in a crisp, clean atmosphere that boasts views of the Erasmus Bridge. Try the Tarbot on the Bone dish with seleriac, celery, walnut, orange and jus of veal. For dessert, give the Lemon Cake or Caramelized Banana a try – you won’t regret it.

Cuisine: Café - Café Dudok attracts an artsy crowd with its mellow atmosphere and scattered reading tables. Enjoy a delicious homemade pastry and cup of tea. The café also serves breakfast, lunch, high tea, dinner and after midnight snacks. The mezzanine above the kitchen offers views of the river.

Cuisine: Eclectic - De Engel is located in a former town house and has developed a loyal following over the years. The restaurant not only offers excellent food, but great views of the Westersingel as well. Tables at De Engel are close together, which creates an intimate atmosphere. The menu changes on a regular basis and in accordance with the season.

History of Zwolle

Upon a hilltop overlooking the four rivers that course around it, lays Zwolle, the capital city of the Overijssel province in the Netherlands. This charming and picturesque area has been host to millennia of history, with roots that trace back to the Bronze Age, but Zwolle has grown and matured into a beautiful and modern destination city.

Through archaeological finds, Zwolle has been shown to be inhabited since at least some time in the Bronze Age. With the discovery of a Woodhenge in the Zolle-Zuid suburb in 1993, historians can now determine that Zwolle has been populated as far back as 1700-500 BC. Details on the people behind that structure are still being discovered, which creates something of a gap between those individuals and the first known population of Zwolle, the Salian Franks- during the Roman era.

The Salian Franks or Salii were a subset of the Franks who had been living in the area north of the Rhine. Known as Laeti, or allies of the Roman Empire, they were a warlike Germanic people and pirates that stayed in the favor of the Romans. This alignment allowed them to become the first Germanic tribe of their kind to create a settlement on Roman lands.

Zwolle began its formation into the modern city that we know now, when it was formally founded in 800 A.D. by Frisian merchants and troops of Charlemagne. The area was named Zwolle, which comes from the word Suolle, meaning “hill”. This was an important aspect of this new area for its founders, as the hill was the only area of the land that wasn’t prone to constant flooding. However being surrounded by the Ijssel, Vecht, Aa and Zwarte rivers made it a prime location to establish in for merchants and trade.

The city was finally granted its “city rights” by the Bishop of Utrecht in 1230, this lead to their inclusion in the Hanseatic league; eventually earning Zwolle a Vitte (trade colony) in Sweden. Growth and development came swiftly, leading to the golden age of Zwolle in the 16th century- when population grew 600%. Architecture and design took off in this period, seeing the renovation of SintMichaëlskerk- a church dedicated to Saint Michael. The church still stands to this day, in part due to the renovations of this period and attention paid to the structure. Otherwise known as the Grote, the church features a gorgeous carved pulpit, exquisite wood carvings and a much-envied organ.

Zwolle continued to grow and build upon its achievements up through the centuries; living up to the promise of its potential as a superior trade location. By 1911 Zwolle had become a trade powerhouse due to being located at the crux of four rivers, and they lorded over many markets. The river city held dominance over the fish market, and became the most important cattle market in all of the Netherlands, excluding Rotterdam. Other industries that set up shop in the hilltop city included cotton manufacturing, iron works, boat building, dyeing and bleaching, tanning, rope-making and salt-making.

Modern Zwolle is a diverse and beautiful city that stands as a monument to prosperity and perseverance. A visitor’s paradise, Zwolle is the perfect location for a weekend trip that includes shopping, site-seeing, and wonderful restaurants. Outstanding amongst those restaurants is De Librije, one of only two restaurants in the entire country to have been honored with 3 stars by the Michelin Guide.

All of the attractions of Zwolle speak to the continued evolution of this great city, and make it a must see for any visitor to the region.

History of Zaandam

Zaandam is a small town located in the North Holland province of the Netherlands. Unlike many Dutch cities who received city rights hundreds of years ago, Zaandam is a rank newcomer compared to them, being conferred cityhood in 1811. Even then, it became as of 1974 a part of the municipality of Zaanstad.

Zaandam’s has a rather strong history rooted in industry. During the time of the Golden Age, the city had a huge milling center. Thousands upon thousands of windmills were instrumental in the processing of Scandinavian wood used by those in the paper and shipbuilding industries. Zaandam was at the forefront of the initial Industrial Revolution and also has a rich history involving the whaling industry.

The city even served as home to Czar Peter I of Russia, who for a time lived there while studying shipbuilding. In fact, the very house he resided in is not a museum, aptly named Czar Peter House.

Zaandam also has a rich Jewish history. The first Jewish community formed in the city came about around the beginning of the 19th century. They built a synagogue where – in addition to services – it also housed a Jewish school. Most of them found careers as shopkeepers, merchants and craftsmen.

Unfortunately, as in most of Europe, most of the town’s Jewish population was persecuted by the Germans during World War II. Zaandam’s Jews were the first from North Holland to be sent to Amsterdam. From there they were then sent to German concentration camps in occupied Poland. The result being that very few of them came back alive.

While Zaandam may not be as well known or as sought out as a tourist destination as other Dutch cities, it does still nonetheless attract its share of tourists. These are usually the type who are looking to have a good time but avoid the more outrageous scenes that sometimes occur in some of the Netherlands’ larger cities.