Tales and Spirits has run a cocktail bar and restaurant down a quiet alley off Nieuwendijk since 2011, with an extensive playful list served in vintage and custom glassware alongside seasonal small plates from the open kitchen.
Tip: Walk-ins only, no reservations; arrive close to 17:30 opening to beat the queue. Ground-floor bar is first-come, restaurant tables held for late seating.
Address: Lijnbaanssteeg 5-7, 1012 TE Amsterdam
Door 74 opened in November 2008 as Western Europe's first speakeasy bar in a former garage workshop off Reguliersdwarsstraat, with an unmarked black double door, classic pre-Prohibition list and a candlelit, low-seated room.
Tip: Reservation by SMS to the bar's number, then ring the bell at the unmarked door beside the Shiva Indian restaurant. Two seatings nightly from 19:00.
HPS, short for Hiding in Plain Sight, runs a cocktail room on Rapenburg near Nieuwmarkt with a tightly written menu that swings between pre-Prohibition classics, tiki and bartender originals, served by an internationally trained team.
Tip: Reservations recommended on weekends; the room seats roughly 35 and fills early. Nieuwmarkt metro five minutes away.
SoHo runs an English pub-style room over two floors on Reguliersdwarsstraat with leather banquettes, bookshelves and one of the larger bar-tops on the strip, flipping into a busy gay club once DJs take over after midnight.
Tip: Open every night; queue moves fastest before 23:00 on Fri-Sat. The smaller upstairs floor is quieter for conversation early in the evening.
Taboo runs a two-floor video bar on the gay strip of Reguliersdwarsstraat with classic and current music videos on the screens, a mixed crowd of locals and visitors, and one of the longer continuously running rooms on the street.
Tip: Happy hour through the early evening, prices climb after 23:00. Upstairs has the better view of the screens, downstairs is the dance floor.
Door 74 opened in November 2008 as Western Europe's first speakeasy bar in a former garage workshop off Reguliersdwarsstraat, with an unmarked black double door, classic pre-Prohibition list and a candlelit, low-seated room.
Tip: Reservation by SMS to the bar's number, then ring the bell at the unmarked door beside the Shiva Indian restaurant. Two seatings nightly from 19:00.
HPS, short for Hiding in Plain Sight, runs a cocktail room on Rapenburg near Nieuwmarkt with a tightly written menu that swings between pre-Prohibition classics, tiki and bartender originals, served by an internationally trained team.
Tip: Reservations recommended on weekends; the room seats roughly 35 and fills early. Nieuwmarkt metro five minutes away.
Pulitzer's Bar sits inside the canal-fronted Pulitzer Amsterdam hotel on the corner of Keizersgracht and Reestraat, running a botanical-led cocktail menu in a classic dark-wood, leather-banquette setting with a small canal terrace.
Tip: Entrance through the hotel lobby on Prinsengracht 323, the bar itself opens onto Keizersgracht. Canal-side outside seats are first-come on warm nights.
LAB111 occupies a former pathological anatomy lab in Oud-West and runs as an independent cult cinema with the Bar Strangelove cocktail room and a small restaurant attached, drawing cinephiles and after-work drinkers alike.
Tip: Tram 7 to Ten Katestraat then five minutes south; bar opens before the first screening and stays open after the last reel. Cash card preferred.
SoHo runs an English pub-style room over two floors on Reguliersdwarsstraat with leather banquettes, bookshelves and one of the larger bar-tops on the strip, flipping into a busy gay club once DJs take over after midnight.
Tip: Open every night; queue moves fastest before 23:00 on Fri-Sat. The smaller upstairs floor is quieter for conversation early in the evening.
Taboo runs a two-floor video bar on the gay strip of Reguliersdwarsstraat with classic and current music videos on the screens, a mixed crowd of locals and visitors, and one of the longer continuously running rooms on the street.
Tip: Happy hour through the early evening, prices climb after 23:00. Upstairs has the better view of the screens, downstairs is the dance floor.