Today was another rainy day in Amsterdam. It seems like winter is skipping us this year and we just get autumn. I was meeting my friend half way across town in a place he found the other day called Stientje’s. Lucky for me the rain had taken a break and I got there dry 
When I got into the place it reminded me very much of De Bakkerswinkel. The decoration was a nice mix between old and new and industrial and cosy. My friend was already waiting there, but I had the excuse that the place was not so obvious. You really need to know where to find it otherwise you would just pass it by. Only the tables outside betray that it is some kind of restaurant.
The menu was quite funny, but hard to read. It were several plastified sheets held together by a ring and the ring had a small pair of wooden shoes attached to it, which they got from a souvenir store at Schiphol I guess. It was a funny idea, but it made the menu hard to read. The menu had some nice things on it though. Several different kinds of sandwiches (served on bread from het Vlaamsch Broodhuys) and salads. Special kinds of tea and pastries. The waitress had already come when I had just sat down, so she came back a little later after I had had some time to figure out the menu. I ordered a pear & apple juice and a sandwich with chicken and bacon. My friend order the same but without bacon.
The waitress was very friendly and talkative and told us about the place and that she was not Stientje, but that Stientje is the grandma of the owner, and that they had a new electronic system for the orders. She punched in the orders on a PDA kind of thing and then they went straight to the people making it. It works very well, because our drink arrived almost immediately. But when the sandwiches arrived we also discovered the drawback of the system, because my friends sandwich had bacon on it. The waitress explained that she forgot to tell it to the kichen and that she couldn’t punch it in on the PDA thingy. The mistake was quickly rectified though.
The sandwich tasted good although some parts of the bread were rather hard and crispy. After finishing our sandwiches we decided to have a coffee and share something sweet. All the cakes and things were displayed on the counter. They had several kinds of cakes and pies and some strange kind of fudge things we decided to try. The coffees and fudge arrived in due order. The coffee was of good quality, but we didn’t like the fudge overly much. It was very sweet and sticky. But we managed to conquer it in the end by taking small bites. In hind sight maybe a piece of apple pie would have been better.
Stientje’s is a nice addition to the Oud-West area of Amsterdam, which lacked a place like this. The service is quick and friendly and the food tastes good.
Stientje
Bilderdijkstraat 140
020 6185151
Show on Map
Popularity: 17% [?]
I loved that place. I was in Amsterdam when the weather was still a bit chilly and the food was really tasty, the prices reasonable and the service excellent. I look forward to their smoked salman sandwich, and any of their delicious desserts my next time in town.