I almost skipped this place. It’s on Bilderdijkstraat in Oud-West — a quiet side street behind the fancy shopping, with red awnings and a sign that promises tapas, cava, and pinchos at the bar. We were in Amsterdam for a long weekend a few months ago, and by dinner we were slightly hungry and very done with heavy meals.
We weren’t. And neither was the rest of the room.
Inside it’s warm and loud in the best way — wooden tables, candlelight, wine bottles stacked to the ceiling, a long bar where you can watch the pinchos come together. There’s a dark, living-room corner at the back where, honestly, we forgot to look at the time. The service is relaxed, in the sense that nobody is hovering; the evening is allowed to be yours.
No menu order, just a table that keeps growing
There’s no real seating order here. You order a few small things, they come, you order a few more, they come again. The card has more than sixty small dishes — oysters, charcuterie, tapas, cold and hot pinchos, Spanish snacks that keep sneaking past your dinner plans.
There’s one detail I’ll remember the whole year: Uurtje Frituurtje — literally, the hour of fried snacks. Between 16:00 and 18:00, 10 euros buys you a bottomless snack board of Spanish fried snacks. Don’t overthink it; it’s exactly the kind of thing you want at happy hour.
What we actually ordered
Something for everyone: pimientos de padrón, pata negra (the cured Spanish ham that I’m not exaggerating when I call the best thing on the board), crispy fried chicken with chipotle mayo, and shellfish from the sea — mussels, vongole, razor clams, sautéed in white wine with gremolata.
The last one is chef Ramon van Welzenis’s own favorite — and he’s ex-BAUT, one of the highest-end restaurants in Amsterdam (if that name hasn’t reached you yet, take it from me: he’s cooked at the top of the Dutch game, and it shows). You can taste the care in a small plate like that without it ever feeling showy.
Sangria’s friendlier next door
The wine card changes with the seasons, from dry Verdejo to deep Rioja, and it’s cheap enough to feel casual. There’s cava, homemade sangria, and cocktails like the Readpertineje and the Aqualychee — the lychee and lime one, from what I can tell, grew on me one sip at a time.
Go here if you want an early, easy snack during the afternoon, or a Spanish evening in Oud-West that will totally drift into a later hour without you noticing.
Homework: check the Peps site for hours and what’s on right now.
A note from Nora
Sam’s take: “We ordered four things. I can’t remember when the fourth thing arrived.” Same story every night — and we came home talking about going back, which in our household is the highest score I have in a restaurant.
Maybe that’s the real gift of small plates: they don’t fix anything, but they remind you that even an ordinary Tuesday dinner can hold something lovely.
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