Girassol Amsterdam is my latest discovery (probably a bit late to the party – but better late than never). This Portuguese restaurant is the absolute best hidden gem for those wanting to eat good, and chill in the terrace with friends and have a nice bottle of wine/beer.
The Netherlands have been blessed with extremely warm and sunny weather lately. And of course, with that, comes out everyone seeking the best terrace for early dinner or after work drinks. Luckily enough, we managed to find a spot here at Girassol’s terrace, right next to the famous Amstel canal.
My friend came at around 5:20pm and saved us the last table in the terrace. If we were a minute or so late, we wouldn’t have had a spot for the next 45-75 minutes. Shortly there was a huge line and unfortunately, they also don’t take reservations for the terrace. (“All outside tables are drop-in only”).
The place is super charming and super packed. The sun sits right in on top of you and for those who would like to have a quick tanning session, this would be the perfect spot to do it. I really recommend that you come early, or if you don’t mind sitting inside the restaurant – you can make reservations (you can do so here).
Also note that because it’s super busy, you kind of need actively make yourself super visible to the waiters if you want to get anything from them. For us that’s totally understandable and not at all an inconvenience. So if you have a little bit of patience, this place is just absolutely perfect as your summer hotspot.
Now onto the food.
They have lots of options in their menu and it’s all reasonably priced: Appetizers around 6-14€; Salads 10-14€; Mains 15-24€; Desserts 6.5-8.5€; Bottle of Wine +21€; Other drinks 2-7€.
Middle: Palitos de choco (EUR 7.5) In dough fried squid strips with garlic-mayo. Rating 9/10. I think it’s essentially a calamari but anyway the dough mix was just perfection and just a little bit spicy.
Salada de frango (EUR 12) Chicken with sweet potato, avocado, sunflower seeds and dressing. Rating 8.5/10. My friend had this and he was gushing over the sweet potato/avocado/chicken mix, he seemed to really enjoy it.
Salada de legumes? (EUR 10) Roasted vegetables with feta, cucumber, olives and dressing. Rating 7.5/10. I loved the roasted vegetables but it was a bit of a basic salad – totally not their fault but it wasn’t my favorite. It was okay but not that special.
Ganache de chocolate (EUR 7.5) Chocolate ganache with olive oil, lemon sorbet ice and red fruits. Rating 8/10
Pastel de Nata (EUR 6.5) Puff pastry filled with pastry cream served with cinnamon ice-cream. Rating 8.5/10 – the puff was difficult to bite into but honestly the taste of everything together is unforgivably good.
Overall conclusion:
Absolutely delicious, filling, food that are reasonably priced. Perfect hotspot in the summer to go with friends/colleagues.
In total we paid EUR 68.60 – Price point around EUR 34.5 (for shared bottle of wine, one separate drink, one main salad, one dessert, and shared appetizer)
Ambience 9/10
Food 8.5/10
Service 8/10
Location 8/10
Value for money 8/10
If you like what you see and you went to try it out – please don’t forget to also share your experience with me!
xo,
Hana.
ContactGirassol Amsterdam (their website, facebook and instagram) Phone: +31(0)20 6923471 / email: info@girassol.nl |
OpeningstijdenMonday-Friday 5pm-11pm
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