De Silveren Spiegel
De Silveren Spiegel
De Silveren Spiegel (Kattengat 4-6, Amsterdam) — The menu at “The Silver Mirror,” one of the oldest and best-known restaurants in Amsterdam, offers updated preparations of traditional seafood and meat dishes, such as baked sole filets with wild spinach, and trilogy of lamb with ratatouille — but just as in the old days, the lamb (from Texel, one of Holland’s Frisian Islands) is still Holland’s finest. Be sure to try the Zaanse mustard (from windmill village Zaanse Schans).
The two houses that form the premises were built in 1614 for a wealthy soap maker, Laurens Jansz Spieghel. It’s typical Old Dutch inside, with a bar downstairs and dining rooms where bedrooms used to be. The whole place emanates a Dutch tidiness that’s very welcoming. There’s a garden at the back, and adjacent is the 17th-century, domed Ronde Lutherse Kerk (Round Lutheran Church).