Amsterdam Private Food Tour with Local Including 6 or 10 Tastings

Overview

A private tour for your group only, real Dutch tastings — stroopwafel, bitterballen, and genuine raw herring.

This is a private tour for your group only. Real Dutch specialties tasted include stroopwafel, bitterballen, and genuine raw herring — sometimes called 'Dutch sashimi.'

Highlights

• Real Dutch Specialties Genuine stroopwafel, bitterballen, herring.
• Choice of 6 or 10 Tastings Genuine flexible format.
• Private, Just Your Group No other travelers.

What Stops Does This Tour Make?

A popular starting point — every Voyzo itinerary is fully customizable, so we'll shape the order and stops around your group.

Important Information

Frequently Asked Questions

About This Tour

A private tour for your group only, real Dutch tastings — stroopwafel, bitterballen, and genuine raw herring. This is a private tour for your group only. Real Dutch specialties tasted include stroopwafel, bitterballen, and genuine raw herring — sometimes called 'Dutch sashimi.'

Stroopwafels are a real Dutch invention, but not quite an Amsterdam one — they were first made in the city of Gouda, likely in the early 19th century, by bakers who sweetened leftover dough scraps and crumbs with syrup rather than throw them away. One popular account credits baker Gerard Kamphuisen, placing the first stroopwafels sometime between 1810, when he opened his bakery, and 1840, the date of the oldest known recipe. They were cheap enough to be nicknamed "armenkoeken" — "poor people's cookies" — in their early years, long before they became the souvenir treat sold across the Netherlands today.

Raw herring, the tasting locally nicknamed "Dutch sashimi," comes with its own set of real rules. Herring can only be legally sold as "Hollandse Nieuwe" if it's caught, salted, and matured in the traditional Dutch way within a specific season — by law, between May 1 and September 30. The custom of eating it by the tail, tilting your head back and lowering the whole fillet into your mouth in one bite, is centuries old and tied to a Dutch relationship with herring that goes back more than 600 years, to medieval salting and preservation techniques that helped fuel the country's trading wealth.

Bitterballen, another classic on most tastings lists, get their name not from their flavor but from what they're traditionally served alongside — "bitters," the herb-flavored Dutch liqueurs they're meant to accompany. According to one often-repeated account, the deep-fried, breadcrumbed version familiar today developed out of a much older ragout-based dish, adapted in the Netherlands during the late 16th century.