Food translator

Eating out in Amsterdam is no problem as there are hundreds of restaurants. Most menu cards are both in Dutch and English. Still, in some smaller restaurants or snackbars the menu may be in Dutch only. Here are some key words to help you along. And, remember, most Dutch can speak English.

Restaurants

Many chic restaurants use culinary terms that are derived from French. These words are easy to recognise: bavarois, bisque, compote, confit. Don’t bother to learn these as in those chic restaurants the waiters invariably speak English. Below you will find a list of common Dutch words you may need when reading the menu card.

Word List

• appelgebak
  apple pie
• appelgebak met slagroom
  apple pie with whipped cream
• biefstuk
  steak
• bitterballen
  deep-fried bite-sized meat ball
• broodje
  bread role
• erwtensoep
  pea soup
• friet
  french fries
• Hollandse nieuwe
  raw salty herring, the first catch if the season
• kaas
  cheese
• kip
  chicken
• kroket
  deep fried saugage shaped meat ball
• pannenkoek
  pancake
• poffertjes
  puffed mini pancakes
• rundvlees
  beef
• spekjes
  small pieces of bacon often added to salds
• suiker
  sugar
• ijs
  ice-cream
• zout
  salt