I met up with Ester, an Amsterdammer who is continually enchanted by her home city, and as we began to stroll around its many canals, the sun came out. This unique city, part of which became a World Heritage site in 2010, suddenly took on an even more enchanting aspect. An artist by training, Ester normally takes visitors to galleries and museums but this time she had arrived with a long list of bars, cafés and restaurants that she had researched especially for me.
We called in for coffee and cake at a branch of Pompadour, looked in at Brasserie Harkema, in a former tobacco warehouse, and bought some delicious chocolates at Puccini Bomboni. Then we strolled into the 17th-century premises of the distiller Wynand Fockink for a small, brimming glass of jenever (Dutch gin).
CAFÉ OOSTERLING
Utrechtsestraat 140, +31 20 623 4140
This distinctive 'old Dutch brown pub' opened in 1877 and has ever since served as a place where Amsterdammers go to meet, to talk and to put the world to rights. In the intervening years little has changed other than the prices. The smoking that turned the walls brown is now banned, large wooden barrels are dotted around and the back bar is home to every imaginable spirit. Small blackboards offer a string of dishes to go with coffee during the morning and borrelhappen, traditional bar snacks to accompany anything stronger. These revolve around slices of Gouda, sausage and a range of sandwiches that reflect the extremely relaxed, friendly and historic setting.
HAARLEMMERSTRAAT
Haarlemmerstraat is a long street by Central Station that encompasses the wide range of inexpensive eating Amsterdam offers. There is a herring stall, a cheese shop, a bakery and several coffee shops that sell more exotic ingredients than just coffee. As the street curves, it reveals Indian, Indonesian, Thai and Chinese restaurants as well as the elegant 19th-century West India House. At no 108 is Vlaamsch Broodhuys, a branch of baker Dimitri Roels' bread shops and cafés where we stopped for a breakfast of rye and spelt bread with honey and home-made jams.
NEVA
Nieuwe Keizersgracht 1, +31 20 530 7483, neva.nl
This café/restaurant boasts a historic setting on the first floor of a building housing part of the Hermitage Museum's collection from St Petersburg. The large, rectangular building looks initially quite ominous because brown blinds are drawn across its many windows to protect the artwork but natural light floods into the restaurant from above and from the large external courtyard into which the café spills whenever the sun shines. Chef Ricardo van Ede creates a good value lunchtime menu. Goulash soup, shrimp croquettes and Dutch rolls filled with mature Gouda were on offer when I visited. There is also a far more sophisticated dinner menu: highlights include smoked salmon with a cauliflower panna cotta, venison with a potato confit and a modern interpretation of the classic banana split.
NEVY
Westerdoksdijk 40, +31 20 344 6409, nevy.nl
This modern restaurant, slightly to the west of the centre, is the place to head on a warm evening. Nevy overlooks the water but, unlike so many restaurants and cafés that have to squeeze into narrow sites around the canals, it faces on to a broad expanse of the River Lj, which brings the big ships in from the North Sea. Nevy's designers have taken full advantage of its vantage point. There is a large terrace for cocktails while the restaurant has floor-to-ceiling windows. At a long bar, diners can enjoy bowls of sashimi and big plates of shellfish. We began with a dozen oysters from Zeeland and Dutch shrimps on toast and followed this with halibut with risotto and scallops with aubergine caviar. And we watched the world cruise by.
British Airways flies to Amsterdam up to 17 times a day from Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airports. Visit ba.com
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