When the need for dim sum strikes, the three of us head to Oriental City. It is a two-story casual Cantonese restaurant that is very child friendly. We have been taking our daughter there since she was a tiny baby. The table cloths are paper so they can draw on them and spills do not bother anyone. Also, the place is fairly noisy so no one will mind if your child starts singing, pretends to be a dinosaur, has a minor tantrum etc. If I remember correctly, they have high chairs as well.
The dim sum are delicious and fresh. We like the steamed rice flour dumplings with prawns and bamboo shoots, the spring rolls with shrimp and carrot and the steamed dumplings with carrot, cabbage, bamboo and mushrooms just to name a few.
You can order from a large dim sum menu with steamed and fried options and some tasty sweets. Steamed sweet rice cakes filled with sesame seed paste anyone?
They also have good seafood dishes and the hubs likes the duck there. There are several menus (dim sum, specials and a regular menu) and also, I suspect, a bunch of items that are not on the menu but can be prepared. I have heard whispers about entirely different dishes appearing when dining there with Chinese speaking friends. I have not done this so I am not sure if this is actually true or an urban legend. That said, I have managed multiple times to order a soup that was not on the menu but was somehow always available when I asked.
The restaurant is really popular and lines start to form early on. It is mainly first come, first serve. Don't forget to check in with a waitress at the cash register on the first floor when you arrive (walk past all the people waiting on the stairs to get there), as you will be given a number representing your place in the queue. If you forget the get a number, the time you have been waiting without one is wasted. This has happened to me-so frustrating!
They do not take reservations except if you book a table before noon and after17:00h.
The extensive dim sum menu is only available between 11:30-17:00 so if dim dum are the reason you want to go there, plan accordingly.
Sadly, they do not deliver food.
Oriental City Oudezijds Voorburgwal 177-179
1012 EV, Amsterdam
Tel: 020-626-8352
Website:www.oriental-city.com
Open every day from11:30h-22:00h.
There is a small space where you can park your stroller at the entrance. It does get crowded early so that space fills up quickly.
For something entirely different, a lot lighter but equally delicious, I recently discovered Yuan Hotpot.
There are two locations but I went to the one on the Ferdinand Bolstraat right when they opened at 11:30 am. I had missed breakfast so I was ready for a big lunch.
A friendly waitress brought me to a light and spacious table by the window and explained how things work. In short, you order what you would like via an iPad. You can choose between two types of broth; spicy or not spicy or you can choose half of each in a pan which is divided in two so that the broths will not mix. As I was alone she did not recommend that last option since that would be too much for a single person.
You then choose from a variety of vegetables, fish, meat, tofu and starches (noodles, rice balls etc.) to cook in the broth. The waiter will bring you a delicious dipping sauce made of sesame oil combined with peanuts, coriander, spring onion and oyster sauce and will bring you your drinks.
I chose the non-spicy broth but the waiter brought out a side dish of spicy peppers which make up the base of the spicy broth. I really like spicy food in general but these peppers were something else! Enthusiastically biting into them was probably not the best way to try them out....
I chose the prawns, prawn paste, shiitake mushroom and cabbage as well as some rice noodles to add into the broth and all of it was good. The meal was light, warming and filling.
Both broths are gluten free and can be made vegetarian and they had a lot of vegetarian and gluten free options to add to the broth.
Although I went there on my own, it seems like a fun place to go with a group of friends or a family. The staff is accommodating, there is lots of seating room and the restaurant was very clean when I visited. This is not a hurried meal, it takes a bit of time for the broth to warm up, to cook all the ingredients and to eat them. I found that to be one of the charms of the place though. It is pretty rare in a city that you can slow down and eat a meal while having enough time to talk to your friends or think or daydream if you are on your own. Especially if during all of that time your food stays warm.
I plan to take the hubs and daughter there. She is (I think and hope) no longer tempted to pull at the bowl with the steaming hot broth but if she were, I would wait a bit before taking her. Younger kids who still sit in high chairs are easier to take along as they will be at a safe distance from the hot pot. The restaurant has high chairs and gave me a cute panda magnet to take home for my daughter.
I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.
Yuan Hot Pot
Ferdinand Bolstraat 18
1071 LJ, Amsterdam
Tel: 06-2398-8988
Website: yuanhotpot.com
Open every day from 11:30h-22:30h.
You can book a table online
They have another location on the Rijnstraat 51.
