The Duchess
A grand old banking hall turned brasserie, all marble and low murmur. Easy and glamorous at once, and forgiving of a dinner that runs long. Nobody has ever hurried me out of it.
Dinner dates · Amsterdam and its best tables
A Dinner Date in Amsterdam
Some evenings are meant to be spent slowly. A good table, a bottle chosen with a little thought, and a conversation that keeps the pace of the candle and ignores the clock entirely. This page is about where to have that evening in Amsterdam, and who to have it with.
Book the table. I will bring the conversation.
An evening in the city
Dinner is the easiest way to meet me
A dinner date is the easiest way to meet me, and often the loveliest, because there is nothing to perform. We simply have dinner. I am comfortable in the rooms Amsterdam does well, from a hushed corner of a canal-house restaurant to a hotel bar that knows how to leave people alone.
I dress for the place. I know when to carry the conversation and when to let a silence sit. In public we read as exactly what we look like, two people having a very good evening. If you would like the shape of the evening described hour by hour, see the dinner date. This page is for the tables themselves.
Where we might go
At the table
Ciel Bleu
A top-floor room with the city laid out below, high in the Okura. My choice when the evening is meant to be an occasion, and I dress for it accordingly.
Rosewood
A former courthouse on the canal, one of the city’s newer addresses. It has not found its regulars yet, and there is a particular pleasure in a room that does not know its own habits.
For a drink, before or after
The Conservatorium
The Museum Quarter’s most composed hotel. The glass atrium is built for arriving well, and the bar makes no comment about how long you stay.
Hotel TwentySeven
Small and jewel-box on the Dam. Intimate, discreet, and the sort of place that remembers a face. Mine included.
Pulitzer
A row of canal houses stitched into one, with a bar that has real character. It manages romance without trying, and in a city this photographed that is genuinely rare.
Okura
Grown-up and quiet, with excellent bars and Ciel Bleu upstairs. Where I go when discretion matters most.
If you already have a table in mind, I am happy to meet you there. If you would rather I choose, tell me the mood you are after and I will suggest something that fits the night. I know the city’s quiet corners and a few beyond it.
The practical part, kept quiet
How an evening is arranged
A first note, a little care taken on both sides, a screening step handled once and privately, and a small deposit to hold the evening. I keep the arranging simple so the night itself can be easy. You can read exactly how a first evening works, and the hours and rates on The Hours.
Before you write
A few honest answers
Dinner date or dinnerdate, dinerdate or diner date?
Every spelling finds me. However you write it, a dinner date with me is an unhurried evening over a good table in Amsterdam, in company that carries the conversation.
Can you choose the restaurant?
Yes. Tell me the mood you are after and I will suggest a table that suits it, or meet you at one you already love.
Is a dinner a good first meeting?
Often the best one. It is easy, public, and it leaves the rest of the evening open, to continue or to end warmly at the door.
When you are ready
Choose the evening. I will choose a very good table.
Write with a date, four hours or more, and whether you have a restaurant in mind or would like my suggestion.
Begin with a note; I will take it from there.