The 5 best places for a healthy lunch in Amsterdam

Tucked away in an alley between the busy Kalverstraat and Rokin, Gartine serves delicious breakfast and lunch in their cosy restaurant. They grow fruit and veg in their own cottage garden outside Amsterdam. Their selection of pies is mouth-watering, with surprising combinations and strong flavours, changing with the seasons. 

At the World of Food Foodcourt you can take a trip around the world through street food. Culinary entrepreneurs from the multicultural south-eastern part of town sell their dishes in this garage-turned-food hall. Think Surinamese roti, Ghanese jollof rice with beef, spinach and ginger, and Caribbean salted codfish.

Okay, maybe (award-winning!) French croissants and pastries don’t count as a proper lunch, but for those that can resist there are plenty of responsible choices too: what about a big lemony salad, a soup of the day or a fresh fruit smoothie?

Lavinia serves three types of veggie cocktails (green, orange and red), and big sourdough sandwiches for lunch, with mashed avocado, tuna or grilled pepper, or spelt pizzettas with lamb or salmon. If you’re lucky, there might be a space on the comfy leather sofa. A second location opened at Amstelveenseweg 192. 

Smack in the middle of some impressive Bijlmer flats sits a cosy circular restaurant called Elixer. What do they mean by circular? Well, for starters everything in the locale is reused or recycled. And the food is sourced from local producers. Most importantly: it’s tasty and healthy!