Hillary about her favourite spots in Amsterdam
Hillary has lived in Amsterdam all her life and she knows the city like the palms of her hands. Together with her friends, she loves to discover nice places and new hotspots. And the best part for us is: she likes to share them!
Teds All Day Brunch
All day brunch doesn't just sound great, it truly is! Hillary: ‘Teds All day Brunch is one of my favourite places in the city. I love going there with friends in the warm periods of the year, spring and summer. Then you can sit outside in the sun. My favourite dish there is the omelette, which is really delicious. I usually have a tea at Ted's, but you really have to ask about the juices. They change them often, but they all are equally great!’
Instagrammable cookies
Who doesn’t like freshly baked cookies, right? Well, Hillary sure does and knows the best spots for your cookie cravings: ‘At Van Stapele Koekmakerij there is always a queue when you walk in. Not strange at all, because these are my all-time favourite cookies. They actually only sell one type of cookie here, a dark chocolate one with white chocolate on the inside. Another one of my favourites is Koekemannetje, also a very popular one. Here you have a choice of four types of cookies. At both shops the cookies are deliciously crispy on the outside and nice and soft on the inside. The window of Koekemannetje is super Instagrammable as well. If you're in Amsterdam, it's really a must to try cookies at one of these places!’
Must-visit museums
The Jan Luyken Hotel is of course located in the Museum Quarter and therefore museums can certainly not be missing from Hillary's list of favourites: ‘I love museums, but if I have to choose, I'll go for the Rijksmuseum, Moco Museum and NEMO. I really enjoyed NEMO as a child, so if you travel with children I would definitely go there. I've only been to the Moco Museum once, but I found it to be really impressive and fun. If you love Banksy and want to see the trending "reflection rooms" you should head to the Moco Museum. My ultimate fave is the Rijksmuseum. I really like the fact that the exhibitions change so often here, that you can go multiple times and get surprised every time. The best exhibition to me was when they added an extra piece to the Night Watch. I always thought the Night Watch was impressive, but even more so when this was added.’
Cheese bar Amsterdam
Nothing more typical Dutch than cheese, right? ‘I went to the Kaasbar (cheese bar) once with some friends and we loved it. It really is a “cheese bar”. You can taste lots of different cheeses and drink wine. When I was there, we did a cheese fondue. The best part to me was the moving conveyor belt on which all the cheeses are moving around. You can just grab them while sitting at the bar and taste them. You can actually compare it to one of those moving belts you sometimes see in a sushi restaurant, but with cheese!’