Welcome to Amsterdam!
Amsterdam is home to 180 nationalities from all over the world.
And one of the best ways to explore diversity is through food.
Jessica has written a book featuring restaurateurs from all over the world who have restaurants in Amsterdam.
I love to eat, I love to explore new cuisines, this is the perfect opportunity.
This is Flavors of Life.
Now we are at Panneoekenhuis Upstairs on the Grimburgwal near the Spui in Amsterdam.
This is a real hidden gem, look how small the staircase is going up to this place.
It is famous for its pancake. This is what we are going to get now.
Oh wow!
You have got to see how steep this stairwell is, it's unbelievable. It's narrow, it's really typical Amsterdam.
Oh wow.
It's so cute.
Hello, how are you?
I'm good thank you.
What a wonderful place, is there space for us?
Ha ha ha...
This is all, this is the whole place.
So you only have four tables?
What I love about this place is that it's super tiny. You've got four tables.
And you have a great couple, Arno and Ali who run this place.
On the corner there was a hospital, it's not there anymore, it is a guest house.
And this was the gynecology practice
Can you imagine?
Really? Ha ha...
Walking up the stairs.
So from gynecology to pancakes, what a transition?
No, after that, after that I do not know.
A few things we don't know and it became a pancake house in 1961.
Wow.
I love this place, it's so nice.
So how long have you been here?
20 years, 20 years.
20 years? Yes.
Oh my goodness.
So I believe you're a little bit famous?
Can you tell me about that?
Well, ha ha ha ha...
The first one who ever came here is Rick Stein.
Yea.
He writes travel books. He comes still every year.
Yea.
And of course he writes nice things about me, so people came with that book.
That's how it started.
Anthony Bourdain
Seth Meyers
NBC
The New York Times
A Swiss magazine
Japanese TV
And then last year we had, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
And that was... after that has been aired, it is even worse, you know.
Ahh that's amazing.
Do you think you are the most famous pancake couple in Amsterdam? Probably right?
Probably yes.
Ha ha, maybe the only one.
I don't know.
The decor is lovely, they've got pictures of the Dutch Royal family.
They've got tea pots lining the ceiling.
It's enchanting, it's charming, it's really fantastic.
And you must see the pancakes. These look amazing.
We've gone for two flavours.
We've got a pancake with strawberries and cream,
and we've got an unusual savoury flavour, which is bacon, cheese and ginger.
I think one part of my success is also that I use good ingredients, you know.
A tomato tastes and smells like a tomato and a strawberry is a strawberry,
and we buy everything at a little shop in the Keizersgracht
Which is called, in this area, as the jeweller of vegetables.
Really?
So you know, the fruit jeweller
Yea.
You mean, they are not cheap.
But, the taste is so much nicer.
Yea.
If people have no time, I always tell them we make everything from scratch, you know.
Yea.
Quality takes time and quality costs money.
So that is my answer then.
Another person wrote a review not so long ago,
The stairway to heaven.
So.. Ha ha ha I love that.
Thank you so much.
Bye bye.
Totziens.
What an unbelievable place.
The nicest people, the smallest restaurant and the best pancakes.
For sure.
Learn more about Flavors of Life on my website.
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See you next time, Bye!
Bye!