Waargenoegen Cafe, Amsterdam-Noord, The Netherlands

Waargenoegen is one of the most oddly-located places we know of in Amsterdam, but they also make some of the best sandwiches in town. You’ll find them out sharing an old alleyway with a couple of vintage furniture warehouses surrounded by the light-industrial landscape of Amsterdam-Noord. Perfect if you’re in the market for lamps from a former DDR warehouse, or some 18th-century shed doors and need something to keep you going, but the food is so good it’s worth the trip if you’re anywhere in the neighborhood.

The cafe shares the end of an old warehouse that is home to Neef Louis, and is naturally outfitted with a wide variety of used furniture.  In better weather than Amsterdam is currently having, you can also sit outside in a converted cargo container.

Our selections included a ‘Hotdog’ with an artisanal sausage, roasted tomatoes, bacon, pickles, three kinds of sauce, and probably a few other things I’ve forgotten.  The sad camera-phone photo here does not do it justice.  Another winner:  the cheese and red curry ‘toasty’ – a far, far cry from the sad pre-frozen whitebread toasties so common in Amsterdam.  The board describes lunch as ‘heavenly’ – and it certainly is, with well-sourced ingredients.  I’m looking forward to having some kind of event so we can try the catering service.

Papaverweg 46, Amsterdam-Noord. 020 785 1406