A café within a curiously kitsch bric-a-brac store, specialising in Finnish wallpaper and olive oil, makes for highly browsable breakfasts (it opens 8am weekdays), lunches or afternoon teas. Everything from the sofas you sit on to the collectables you're surrounded by are for sale. And retro DJs will be transfixed by their boxes of 7" records. Plus every Thursday through Saturday (from 18.00-22.00) they serve Thali (Indian) meals: vegetarian (€8), vegetarian deluxe (€10) or organic meat (€12).
PACIFIC PARC | Prinsengracht 252 | (020) 624 9791 | www.rainarai.nl
This is a fabulous café/club in one of the renovated buildings of the former gas factory, Westergasfabriek. They have a great selection on their menu (including vegetarian/organic options) and it's very reasonably priced too. DJs spin at the weekends and they have an open fire in the winter; in the summer, they have a canalside terrace. It's one of my favourite places in Amsterdam...
PUCCINI | Staalstraat 21 | (020) 620 8458 | www.puccini.nl
Perhaps erroneously branding itself an 'espresso bar', this charming breakfast and lunch spot feels like being in the kitchen of the proprietor – from where they serve up delicious home-made soups and imaginative sandwiches. It's a little pricey but worth it – especially if you snag the corner couch. It opens for dinner only when there's a performance taking place at Het Muziektheater opposite (reservations a must!). A couple of doors away, wafts of fresh cocoa drift upstreet from their famous chocolaterie.
RAÏNARAÏ | Prinsengracht 252 | (020) 624 9791 | www.rainarai.nl
The utterly charming Algerian delicatessen, on the corner of the Prinsengracht and Lauriergracht, is a veritable work of love by chef/owner Laurent Khellout. The mouth-wateringly diverse dishes are authentic, fresh and uniquely uses spices and other ingredients that can only be found in the North African country. Amsterdam's infamous restaurant reviewer Johannes van Dam rated it 9 out of 10, which is rarely heard of for the grumpy food critic. Whilst dishes are mostly take-away (or delivery in the centre), there is a small space with tables, and in the summer months, you can sit on a bench in front and take in the view.