8 of the Best New(ish) Amsterdam Restaurants 2025, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Twelve years in, this annual restaurant round-up has become one of my favourite traditions: a look back at the restaurants that defined my year of dining and drinking. In 2025, that meant a flurry of newcomers that opened their doors this year, plus a few 2024 arrivals that I was simply too slow to get to at the time. What they all share is the kind of cooking or hospitality that reminded me: yes, this is why I go out to eat.

This year’s line-up spans Europe to Asia, from neighbourhood bistros to hand-pulled noodles to modern Mediterranean feasts - with a couple of excellent wine bars thrown in for good measure. As always, it’s entirely subjective: Amsterdam sees hundreds of openings every year, and I only make it to a tiny fraction of them. But the opinions here are mine alone: independently curated, with no pay to play going on.

So, without further ado, let’s dive into the dishes, the discoveries and the glasses of wine that made this year delicious. Cheers, merry Christmas and until next year!

You know it must be good when two friends who don’t even live in the Netherlands are telling you to go. That was the case with Mediterranean/Turkish restaurant esra, which I visited in January after its opening in late 2024. Picky eaters beware: there’s no choice, just a sharing menu for the whole table that’s set by the kitchen. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).