Early Bird or Night Owl

By Andy Fenner

Book one of the hottest restaurants in town and YOU GET REWARDED. No strings. No sneaky terms and conditions. No additional fees.

Nada.

Choose from an earlier-than-usual seating, or a later-than-usual seating and you earn credit in your Unbookables account. Okay, okay, so there’s a teeeeeeny bit of fine print. (You have to eat at a time when it isn’t the most popular) but, honestly, sometimes that’s a bonus. Choose your restaurant properly and an early/late seating can work in your favour.

Wine bars are a great example of this. Something delicious in your glass, something delicious on your plate. It’s quick, it’s tasty and you can stop in at a good one on your way home from work. Luckily, there are some really good ones popping up in Amsterdam, Bar Pif being a goodie. Get yourself a glass of Grenache Blanc and a tray of oysters with some speciality charcuterie. Or a hunk of sourdough to smear on some whipped ricotta. Read the full Bar Pif review here.

*Eat & Earn when you book an early or late timeslot*

Café Parlotte delivers in this category, too, with a Frenchified bistro, offering drinks and snacks from the (refreshingly early) kick-off time of 4 pm.

Slow.

Clap.

4 pm means you can get stuck in nice and early to the seriously impressive drinks list. Wine, bubbly, artisan cider, craft beer. You name it, it’s there. While the drinks flow, nail a few small plates of oysters, cheese, charcuterie or even a terrine or two. (Impressive). For the hungrier in the group, the early seating also opens up the possibility of the three-course set menu. Eating food of this quality, without massive planning, pretence or fuss, is a pleasure. Read the full Café Parlotte review here.

*Image from @bottleshop.ams, Bottleshop*

Late-night eating is often overlooked as a pit-stop, to grab some fuel, in between drinking. Like, food becomes an inconvenience for the peeps looking to party. Fear not. There is some good eating out there, where the fun can be lapped up in between delicious food.

Imagine if the-place-you-wanted-to-stop-at-to-grab-some-food-before-hitting-the-next-spot ACTUALLY WAS THE NEXT SPOT. Like, you wanted a quick bite, but that bite ended up being food that kinda blew your mind, so you ordered more and then an extra glass and then an extra bottle and then some more food.

Bottleshop will get you. Smoked eel on brioche will get you. Japanese-inspired food, one of the best wine lists around and a mega-cool interior are enough but the fact that the owners know how to throw a party helps too. Come for the sashimi, stay for the vibe. Read the full Bottleshop review here.

Sjefietshe specialises in high-quality seafood. Like, really high-quality. So good, in fact, that it hardly gets cooked. With liberal uses of acidity, spice and heat in all of the dishes, this is the type of food that slaps you with big flavour. It’s the type of food, in other words, that deserves a cold beer or a good bottle of wine alongside. Luckily, they have both here. The ceviche is (obvi) really good, but the sleeper stars are the pickled radish with chilli-sesame oil and the octopus with chimichurri. Get the babysitter. Order the food. Have the dessert. Settle. In. You may not want to rush off to the next spot when you realise that THIS IS THE NEXT SPOT. Read the full Sjefietshe review here.