De BallenBar at the Food Hallen, Amsterdam

Hello! Hope you’re having a good day so far 🙂 Thanks for stopping by. Today I’m sharing my experience at De Hallen in Amsterdam. Mr John and I stayed at the neighbouring hotel, Hotel De Hallen and loved popping over to the food hall to try different cuisines. The food in Amsterdam seemed very ‘snacky’, think cheese, sausage rolls and stroopwaffels, which are all delicious, however, we were looking something a bit more substantial for our dinners. There’s nothing worse than being a bit peckish and lying awake in a hotel room (or any room for that matter!). So we explored the neighboring Food Hallen for tasty meals.

De Hallen in Amsterdam

The Food Hallen

The Food Hallen is in Bellamy Plein in the more suburby side of Amsterdam. It’s home in a Woodstock type area, where people are creating things (there was a jean design studio, art studio, book store, etc.) and passers by can view them through the window or even go in and order something.

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De BallenBar

One of the first food stalls we tried out on our first night in Amsterdam, was the De BallenBar. Bitterballen are original Dutch comfort foods and are croquettes balls. I love croquettes and had to try these snacks while in Holland.

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They are made freshly on site, which is great as no one wants old, deep-fried food! They are accompanied by dijon mustard, a European must and something I love.

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They have a number of options on the menu, but I chose the tasting plate since I didn’t know which ones I’d like the most. This included 5 flavours: rund (beef), tom kah kai (which is apparently some kind of chicken soup, which I definitely didn’t get but it did taste a bit kim chi like so I knew I was eating something eastern), bouilla baisse, geiten kaas and truffle. We ordered and then found a spot at the main bar where I ordered a prosecco type toot and tucked into the ballen.

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The prosecco type drink was a perfect match as the light acid and bubbles cut through the rich, deep-fried food and refreshed the palate so I could go on and enjoy the next one! South Africans are familiar with rosties and we do get croquettes from time to time, but the thing that stood out the most to me was just how smooth the potatoes were in the dutch croquettes (everywhere, not just here). It’s freakishly smooth and actually does make me feel a bit creepy! They are smooth, smooth, smooth.

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The best ball, ironically, was the bouilla baisse. I don’t like sea food or fish but the flavours were definitely the most refined. The truffle was also really good but, again, I’m not the biggest truffle fan in the world! But they were definitely the best 2 balls so if you love those flavours, you must try them!

This was the first meal over the 4 nights that we had at dinner at the Food Hallen. After touring for a while, it was great to stay somewhere with such fresh, varied food offerings – it actually saved us as eating out in Rands ain’t cheap! Definitely stay somewhere close to the city and Bellamy Plein while you’re in Holland so that you can eat as often as we did! Enjoy.

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