Amsterdam Must-Do: Bruin Café

If you come to Amsterdam and you wish to have a cup of coffee on a terrace or indoors, I strongly suggest you visit a brown café [Dutch: bruin café].

What is a brown café? The brown cafés of Amsterdam usually offer a gezellig atmosphere; cozy, warm and friendly. They are a neighborhood café which is casual, they are found all around the city and are typically open until 1 or 2 AM. They are called "brown" because of their interior being usually dark wood and/or due to years of patrons smoking indoors. Smoking is no longer allowed indoors in the Netherlands, except for in designated smoking rooms or outdoors on the terrace.

In a brown café, you will not find live music unless the occasional passing accordionist comes by the terrace outside. The menu is typically breakfast foods, cold and warm sandwiches, soup, salads, snacks [Dutch: hapjes] and dessert treats such as appeltaart or poffertjes. Be prepared to pay with cash. Some brown cafés won't accept anything but cash. Also, tipping is not necessary, but it is appreciated. You can do so by leaving change behind on the table or rounding the bill up.

What do I like best about the brown cafés? Service is slower and more relaxed. When I'm not in a rush to eat, I enjoy being able to sit for more than an hour without the feeling that I am being rushed away. I find this at all cafés in the Netherlands. I've sometimes sat for up to 2-3 hours talking with a friend, and it's never felt like or been a hassle. It's a great place to seal off the day of shopping or sightseeing with visiting friends, to relax and read a book or to do some people watching.

I'll be sharing much more soon about cafés and restaurants I've visited over the last few years in Amsterdam, but for today I wish to share about a specific brown café: Café 't Smalle. I've eaten there a few times but never indoors, so I can only rate the food, service and the terrace seating. To me, the café looks welcoming and casual year-round. Especially at night when the lights are on, which I heard recently on the news they've been asked to make changes to their establishment soon, such as removing the string of lights hanging above the entrance [seen above in the photo]. The string of lights has hung there for 30 years.

The café is located in the Jordaan-area of Amsterdam, sitting canalside along the Egelantiersgracht. It is nearby the Prinsengracht, very close walking distance to the Westerkerk and the Anne Frank House. The food and service has always been good, and the food/drink is reasonably priced. They offer a large menu of the similar food I've listed above, and they also have a large menu of beverages including beer and wine. The staff is friendly and they can speak English.



Address: Egelantiersgracht 12
Telephone: 020 - 623 96 17
Hours: Sun - Thurs 10 AM - 1 AM, and Fri and Sat 10 AM - 2 AM

· For the location via Google Maps, click here.
· More visitor information here.
· For a few other suggested brown cafés in Amsterdam, click here.

A view from the café terrace, looking down the Egelantiersgracht:



Have any experiences at a brown café in Amsterdam which you care to share? Or perhaps you have an experience at the 't Smalle café you wish to share?

Click here to return to the main page.