And indeed it looks like most of Amsterdam, including my favorite food destinations are headed to the beach.

• Balthazar’s Keuken is closed until 17 August
• De Witte Uyl will be on vacation from 25 July to 18 August
• Marius is closed for renovations – not sure when it will reopen

The fourth restaurant on the list, De Kas, has been slacking as of late. It’s still a brilliant setting, but food has been less than great, and to be on the list, you have to have it all.

So time for some alternatives. And luckily there are three restaurants that are similar in style and that I have enjoyed very much on several occasions. In general, they are more intimate in style and more innovative in cuisine than the Michelin star restaurants in Amsterdam. And they have great food and friendly, knowledgeable service.

• Blauw aan de Wal: fixed price menu, fusion cuisine, in the middle of the red light district, great service with character.
• Hotel de Goudfazant: not a hotel at all, but a very hip industrial restaurant, French menu, in Amsterdam Noord reachable only by ferry.
• Fyra: slightly more formal but very friendly, with a Dutch / French / International menu.

Sorry about being brief. I am considering to add these restaurants to the list of Best Amsterdam Restaurants and will then have a longer writeup. In the meantime, please ask or provide feedback in the comments if you have been there or intend to go.

Aside from closed restaurants and bike repair shops, the summer has been great. Hope the sun stays around for a bit more!

The idea started when I was thinking about posts about food and restaurants in places other than Amsterdam and the Netherlands. I travel frequently and food is an important part of each trip. And I like to share my food experiences from those trip. The dutchgrub blog, however, does not seem like the perfect place to post about restaurants in Lisbon, Cape Town or NYC.

At the same time it would be nice to add other foodies’ opinions about the food and restaurant scene in Amsterdam. And also encourage contributions from guest writers about food in other parts of the Netherlands that I am less familiar with and that I get frequent questions about.

So in December I made a start by publishing a guest post about Restaurant Clio in Boston on the fantastic blog of The Boston Foodie. And later this week I will share the first guest post on dutchgrub by Andy who is from NYC and will share his favorite restaurant in The Hague.

Please drop me a note if you’re a foodie and would like to share your Dutch food experiences on dutchgrub or have a food blog about Berlin, Cape Town, Hamburg, Lisbon or NYC and are interested in hosting a guest post by a fellow blogger.

Lekker ranks Dutch restaurants from 1 to 500, declaring a winner and a top 10. Amsterdam is home to eleven of the top 100, including Michelin stars Aan de Poel, Ciel Bleu, La Rive, Ron Blaauw and Yamazato. Up and coming Le Restaurant in Latin Quarter De Pijp is at number 99.

The Bib Gourmand Benelux, Michelin’s price for value list and breeding ground for future Michelin stars, lists 93 restaurants in the Netherlands of which 10 in Amsterdam.

No Amsterdam restaurant made both lists, with obviously the Michelin stars not eligible for the Bib Gourmand list. Also none of dutchgrub’s Best Amsterdam Restaurants made either list. They tend to be smaller and more personal with a less traditionally French menu that mixes different cuisines.

On November 23rd the Michelin stars for the Netherlands will be announced to round off the award period.

Would be great if you could spread the word if you like a post!

And please leave a comment or send me an email if you miss any bookmarking service or find any other problems with the site!