A Day at Albert Cuyp (Haring, Poffertjes and more)

Aweh, guys!

So, before we even left SA, I was doing research about the Netherlands and came across the iamexpat.nl website. They post jobs, advice and events that are happening nearby your area. One that caught my eye was the Expat Expo which was being hosted in Amsterdam! Sounded like a great excuse to go visit.

We caught a bus to the Hilversum train station (Hilversum is where a lot of famous people stay so it’s also been monikered “Hillywood”) and made our way via tram to the Gashouder where the event was taking place using the 9292 app to guide us. Traveling by tram is a great way to do cheap sightseeing as we were able to pass the gorgeous museum district and take in the essence of Amsterdam. Maybe one day we will have saved up enough to visit these wonderful landmarks.

We were there just as the expo opened and our biggest goal was to find a housing agent as we desperately needed to find a pet friendly place to stay. We spoke to quite few people, including a lovely Irish lady and were given information and free goodiebags containing a bike seat cover and stroopwafels.

We actually finished up sooner than expected and Amsterdam lay at our feet. I came up with the idea to visit the Albert Cuyp market as it was so heavily featured as a place to be in my “research” (read: tons of YouTube videos). We hopped back onto the tram and made our way down.

Since it was a Saturday, Albert Cuyp was buzzing. They sell basically anything you could imagine, from food, to cat posts, to clothing, to fresh flowers, to art… The first thing we needed to do was find something to eat because coffee and stroopwafels can only get you so far. One thing I knew we needed to try was haring, which is preserved herring fish, traditionally served with onion and gherkin. We got it prepared in two ways, one served nude and the other on a bun. The fish itself is boneless and has a great funk and salinity which is muted out slightly by the gherkin and onion. I for one am a huge fan of rollmops so I knew I would enjoy it, but Hubby was not a fan. He decided that we needed something sweet to wash our mouths out. Enter poffertjes!

fighting one crime at a time

The Dutch have a huge affinity for anything pancake and poffertjes are no exception. They are tiny, bite-sized pancakes usually made with yeast and buckwheat flour prepared in a unique pan consisting of many divets. As they cook, they puff up, hence the name: poffertje. We had ours with a pat of butter and icing sugar and since it was a chilly day, it was absolutely worth it.

Just bear in mind that there is certain etiquette to Albert Cuyp that I didn’t follow. I came across a stall selling the most curious artefacts and the ones that caught my eye the most were these perfectly preserved butterflies in individual glass cases. They looked like they could take flight at any moment. So, I took my phone out and started taking pictures. That is until the gentleman working the stall noticed and pointed to a sign saying no pictures. I didn’t even notice it and I felt terrible! I apologised and the gent just shrugged and smiled, and out of respect to him, I deleted all the pictures of the stall.

Hubby then decided we needed one last snack, and spotted a stall selling friet or French fries to the layman. We had all heard about the Dutch obsession with chips, so we decided to give it a try. At this point we had walked 18000 steps, so we were throwing caution to the calorie wind. The traditional serving of friet is usually accompanied by mayonnaise and if you want to amp up the flavour you can order patatje oorlog which comes with mayo, peanut sauce and onions or patatje speciaal which comes with curry sauce instead. I went with the speciaal and hubby chose the oorlog. The curry sauce is thick and sticky but not overly spicy and I definitely recommend putting onions on any available surface.

At this point, I was exhausted, and we decided to catch our tram back to the station. While we were waiting, we found the perfect photo opportunity for any South African with a sense of humour.

Men are such…

Our first time in Amsterdam was full of intrigue, food and learning the ropes of this wonderful city. We can definitely understand the hype and hope for a swift return.