One of my favourite streets in town, Javastraat in Amsterdam Oost. The people in the street reflect the cultural diversity of Amsterdam and the bars, restaurants and shops are of an equally pleasantly diverse mix. One of the interesting shops worth a visit is Tigris & Eufraat. It’s a store with all kinds of Middle Eastern food and also houses a modest take-away, with some seating available.

Here they offer Middle Eastern streetfood, including outstanding falafel! At Tigris & Eufraat they roll it in a Syrian flatbread, which is the preferred way for me compared to a pita bread. Besides falafel they add to it pickled vegetables, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, mint, tahin sauce and hot sauce. Just tell them no yogurt sauce. Read more

The menu at Het Ketelhuis was not always fully vegetarian, but they always had a lot of vegetarian options. But in their quest to become more sustainable they realised that meat is putting too much pressure on the environment, organic meat included. And from all the dishes ordered at the restaurant, most people were going for vegetarian options anyways. So, early 2020 they made the switch to a fully vegetarian menu! Read more

Food store Klein The Grocer recently opened at Haarlemmerdijk, and stands out by it’s strong visual appearance and aesthetics. Which you will note when cycling past in the street and even more so when you enter the shop. No wonder that owner Neil has a background in graphic design! He is originally from South Africa and has his own design agency there. But he always liked Amsterdam and was ready for a change.

Four years ago Neil went vegetarian. He always preferred the vegetarian option, but it was after watching documentary What The Health and eating amazing vegetarian food during a trip to Thailand that he made the switch: “I decided, that was it.” Now by opening his own food store he has the opportunity to devote his time to another passion in his life: good food. Read more

Sajj & Mezza’s opened end 2019 by Nabil and Sari. They always had a passion for cooking and so were dreaming of opening up their own restaurant. Because of their shared Middle-Eastern background (people working in the restaurant are from a.o. Iraq, Syria, Lebanon) it would only make sense to put dishes from that cuisine on the menu. With one difference, only vegetarian dishes, since they want to put the focus on healthy food. “We want to offer traditional Middle Eastern dishes, but adapted to the west,” tells Sari. Read more

Vegan Shop Shop opened end 2019 by Barbara and Ali, who are vegan with Pakistani roots. You might remember Ali from the vegan pop-up Vegan Snack Shop he was running a few years ago at Beukenplein! Now with Vegan Shop Shop they broadened this concept to include a store as well. They are selling various brands of vegan cheese, macarons and other baked goods by Baking Bunny and an eclectic mix of organic packaged food. They prefer to offer local and social products. Read more

Closed during corona but their food is available for delivery! Within the area bounded by highway A10 (‘binnen de ring’). Call to order.