Gluten-Free Amsterdam: a gluten-free restaurant, bakery and shop, plus pancakes and more, for coeliacs

The city’s official visitor site puts it simply: «Walking is the cheapest way to travel around Amsterdam, as the city is one of the most walkable in the world.» The sights fall into two halves: the old centre, from the Dam and the Oude Kerk to the Jordaan and the Anne Frank House, and Museumplein to the south, with the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum. Within each half most sights are about 15 minutes or less apart on foot, and the two halves about 25 to 30 minutes, by our estimate. The places on this page sit mostly around the edges. Three are in De Pijp by the Albert Cuyp Market, about 10 to 15 minutes on foot from the Rijksmuseum. Casa di Sergio is by the Leidseplein, with Foodware on the Looiersgracht about 10 minutes’ walk north of it. Blin Queen is on the Amstel, and Bloem is on the Entrepotdok, about 10 minutes on foot from NEMO, with Heart-Garden and flour·ish further east. Around the Dam and the Jordaan the nearest card is about 10 to 15 minutes away on foot, and from Centraal about 20. The last three cards are in Zuidoost, south-east of the centre and about 8 to 10 km from Centraal as the crow flies, by our estimate; JinSo is on Johan Cruijff Boulevard, by the concert and football venues. Plan those three around a match, a concert or a stay out there, not a day on the canals.

A day that works (not a Monday, when Bloem is closed): start in De Pijp with a croissant and a coffee at Craft Coffee & Pastry, an entirely gluten-free bakery; check its opening days on its site first. The Albert Cuyp Market is two minutes away, Monday to Saturday. From there the Rijksmuseum is about 10 minutes on foot, by our estimate, with the Van Gogh Museum next door; both need a ticket with a start time, so book ahead. For lunch, walk about 20 minutes to Blin Queen on the Amstel, a mixed kitchen where every filling also comes on a gluten-free buckwheat bliny; ask whether the buckwheat ones get their own pan. The Rembrandt House is about 5 minutes on foot from there. End the day at Bloem on the Entrepotdok, about 15 minutes’ walk: a plant-based restaurant that is entirely gluten-free in its own words and says it is certified by the NCV. It serves dinner only, from 17:00, and takes bookings by phone or email.

The Dutch coeliac society, the Nederlandse Coeliakie Vereniging (NCV), runs its own mark for eating out, Zorgeloos Glutenvrij. It goes to restaurants, cafés and caterers in the Netherlands that offer gluten-free options and have been checked by or for the NCV. Look for the sticker on the door, or the logo on the venue’s website or socials; the official list is on the NCV’s Eating Out page. A place with the mark offers gluten-free options, but it isn’t necessarily an entirely gluten-free kitchen. The NCV’s partner app, Glutenvrije Horeca, shows the scheme venues with the logo, and it also lists places recommended by other people who eat gluten-free, which are not part of the scheme. On packaged food, look for the Crossed Grain, the symbol the NCV licenses to certified gluten-free products. Mark or no mark, say you have coeliac disease every time you order. The NCV’s own advice to visitors is the same: ask for clean utensils and explain that you have to eat gluten-free on medical grounds.

Amsterdam snacks on wheat: bitterballen and kroketten from the fryer, stroopwafels at the market, pancakes by the plateful. The fryer is the trap to watch. Many kitchens fry their fries in the same oil as breaded snacks, and the NCV warns that most deep-fried food is not gluten-free, so ask about the fryer every time, even when the fries are marked gluten-free. The NCV names two smaller traps too: chocolate powder on a cappuccino, and a biscuit stuck in the «slagroom» (whipped cream). If a menu or a stall sign says «Deze gerechten kunnen allergenen bevatten» (these dishes may contain allergens), the NCV reads it as the business saying it doesn’t know enough to rule out gluten. And if you’re heading to Zuidoost for a match or a concert, JinSo serves a shorter menu on event days, so ask ahead.