Amsterdam is an interesting dining destination. It has a healthy mix of Michelin-starred, fancy restaurants and up-and-coming, more casual spots. I only had a weekend and was by myself, so provide a mix of those personally tried as well as those recommended by trusted traveler friends.

Restaurants:

• There is a Michelin-starred chef, Ron Blaauw, who is very popular there and has several restaurants. He closed his fancy one and opened more casual spots, each with a different theme. They are called Ron's Gastrobars. The Oriental and French ones are good; I ate at both. The Indonesian one is supposed to be good too.
  • Rons Gastrobar Oriental
  • Rons Gastrobar Paris
  • Ron's Gastrobar Indonesia
• Guts & Glory is super popular for dinner and recommended by friends. Not too $$.
• I liked cafe de Klepel a lot. It's a wine-centered bistro. Good, simple food. They give an option of 3-, 4- and 7-course dinners. Coursed dinners are fairly typical there.
• It doesn't look like much from the outside but Nam Kee is one of the oldest Chinese restaurants in Amsterdam and really good. Oriental City has good dim sum.
• The indoor food market called Foodhallen is awesome. I had lunch there one day at DimSumThing but all looked good. It's worth a visit. There are like 12-15 stands to choose from.
• In Jordaan, which is a really cool 'hood, pop into La Perla if you need a snack. Good pizza. (if I remember correctly, it's next to a really classic candy shop called Het-Oud Hollandshe Snoepwinkeltje. It's famous for its many flavors of licorice, which my Mom loves so I bought some for her there as a gift.
• Amsterdam is famous for its pancakes which are more like crepes. The oldest one is called The Pancake Bakery. I popped in for lunch for a savory crepe, but still regret not ordering a sweet one, too. They are pretty large so plan well!
• Van Puffelen is a nice little cafe along one of the canals. Cute spot for lunch if it's noice outside. Anthony recommended it to me and it was good!
• A famous cheese stop that is is fun to visit for a tasting is Reypenaer Proeflokaal.  (t's in an area with cute little shops and "coffeeshops", which is what they call their pot smoking bars.) They take their tastings seriously. If you are a choose lover, this is a MUST see.

Drinks

Because I was there for only a weekend and recovering from a nasty German-sourced stomach bug, I stuck to wine and no cocktails, which was a bummer. But fear not! I still have a few recommendations for you.

• If nice outside, the Dylan Hotel's courtyard is lovely. I had a wonderful glass of Gruner Vetliner from Australia with perfect minerality and crispness for a warm spring day.
• If I had felt well enough, I would have visited these cocktail spots recommended to me by friends: Bluespoon Bar in the cool new Andaz hotel, HPS aka Hiding in Plain Sight and Door 74, which was the first speakeasy in The Netherlands.