The Solo Scale:

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Visiting Volendam is a charming diversion away from the bustling streets of Amsterdam. You can visit a working windmill nearby (with the right permission). You can taste gouda cheese and see how clogs are made at Henri Willig. Or maybe you just want to walk along the harbour and simply enjoy the seascape. When you finish exploring, the chances are you’re hungry and need a place to eat. There’s plenty of options in the main part of town, but they can get crowded. If you want something a little more relaxed, there’s a great option near the outskirts of town at Pieterman.

This is a really cute little modern restaurant that’s a short walk from town. There’s a parking lot nearby. If you’re driving in from Amsterdam, you can park here and then pick up your car after dinner to head back into the city.

There’s a bar area that you can sit at if you’re not feeling like you want a table. Inside, there’s a lot of dark wood and plants to give it a rustic and modern decorative feel.

In terms of food, I did an appetizer, dinner, and dessert with a couple of beers to go with it. The food portions for all the dishes were really generous and fantastic.

To start, I had the Gravad Lax. This is a smoked salmon dish with crème fraîse, capers, red onion and toast. The addition of a salad with the appetizer made this a hearty option and was extremely filling. The quality of the salmon was really amazing, too, and was a great start to the meal.

Next was cod fried in butter and topped with antiboise (a service of tomatoes and onions, with other spices), served with green beans. The cod did still have a couple of bones in it, which meant being cautious with every bite. The main was serviceable, but not as good as the starter (and definitely not as good as the dessert).

Dessert, on paper, seems super simple. It’s a Dame Blanche, served in a tulip waffle with a cookie dough drizzle, vanilla ice cream and a warm chocolate sauce, all with some whipped cream. Given how simplistic all these ingredients are, every part of it was incredible, with the warm chocolate sauce being an absolute home-run winner of an ingredient. It was the best of my meal and a great way to end.

Overall, this was a great meal. The price was fair, but it’s not a cheap and quick to-go. The portion sizes are generous and the menu has some really nice non-fried options. That’s an extra bonus if you’ve been spending your time in Holland enjoying as many frites as possible (speaking from experience).

If you want to visit the self-proclaimed “Nicest Restaurant in Volendam”, check out the website to see if there’s something on the menu for you!

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