Café 't Smalle ★ 4.5
Café 't Smalle on Egelantiersgracht in the Jordaan is the Amsterdam canal-side brown cafe with the postcard terrace, the building going back to a 1780 distillery.
Signature drink: Jenever, Belgian and Dutch ale
Food: Bar snacks
TypeBrown cafe
Signature drinkJenever, Dutch pilsner on tap
Food program: Bitterballen, cheese, bar snacks
Location
Address: Spui 18-20, 1012 XA Amsterdam
More bars in Amsterdam
In 't Aepjen ★ 4.3
In 't Aepjen on Zeedijk occupies an Amsterdam building dating to 1475, one of two surviving wooden facades, the brown cafe with the longest backstory.
Signature drink: Jenever, classic Dutch beer
Food: Bar snacks
Café Papeneiland ★ 4.5
Café Papeneiland on the corner of Prinsengracht and Brouwersgracht is the Amsterdam brown cafe from 1642, the apple pie inside almost as canonical as Winkel 43.
Signature drink: Jenever, beer on tap, coffee with apple pie
Food: Apple pie, bitterballen, cheese
Café de Reiger ★ 4.3
Café de Reiger on Nieuwe Leliestraat in the Jordaan is the Amsterdam eetcafe with the back-room kitchen, brown-cafe service out front, no-frills dinners to follow.
Signature drink: Belgian beer, jenever, house wine
Food: Daily-changing kitchen, classics
Twenty Third Bar ★ 4.5
Twenty Third Bar at Hotel Okura sits next to Ciel Bleu on the top floor, the Amsterdam cocktail bar with the city's most generous view across the city.
Signature drink: Japanese-inflected cocktails with city view
Food: Bar snacks, oysters
Wynand Fockink ★ 4.5
Wynand Fockink on Pijlsteeg has poured Amsterdam jenever since 1679, the proeflokaal where you bend over the tulip glass without lifting it from the bar.
Signature drink: Jenever flights, traditional Dutch liqueurs
Food: No food