Introduction
	Index Practical Stuff Where do I find Pubs? Dutch breweries (large) Dutch breweries (small) Belgian breweries Amsterdam breweries Bockbier Tasting 2004 Bokbierfestival Amsterdam Beer Tours Amsterdam Pubs Overview Map Nieuwezijd (Dam) Oudezijd (Nieuwmarkt) De Jordaan De Pijp Amsterdam East Amsterdam South Amsterdam West Utrechtsestraat Rivierenbuurt
Rivierenbuurt Looking upon the wonder that is my Amsterdam pub guide, I noticed a huge blank spot: the Rivierenbuurt. (Actually there are two blanks - the Rivierenbuurt and Amsterdam Noord - but like a native Amsterdammer, I don't really consider the latter part of the city.) Odd, because my first Amsterdam address was Churchillaan, the neighbourhood's main artery. There is an explanation: I did my boozing in De Pijp. Built between the wars, the Rivierenbuurt is one of the posher bits of inner Amsterdam. It's home to some of the very best bits of Amsterdamse School architecture; I recommend taking a look at Vrijheidslaan. But its bourgeois population, short history and the presence of the massive RAI exhibition centre on its southern flank, mean it isn't the best part of the city for pubs. Most, in the form of cafe-restaurants, cluster around the edges of RAI. The better ones hide away in the back streets. Now you won't have to go searching for them. If you're wondering why it's called the Rivierenbuurt ("River Neighbourhood") the answer is simple: most of the streets are named after Dutch rivers.

Cafe The Corner
Scheldeplein 2, 1078 GR Amsterdam. Tel: 020 - 662 9627
Opening hours: Sun - Thur 10:00 - 01:00, Fri - Sat 10:00 - 03:00
Number of draught beers: 4
Number of bottled beers: 10
Regular draught beers: Amstel Pils (5%) Wieckse Witte (5%) Wieckse Rosé De Koninck (5%)
Food: Snacks, meals. Affligem €3.85 for 0.33l.
You don't have to be a genius to guess that Café The Corner is positioned on, well, a corner. The junction of Scheldestraat and Scheldeplein, to be precise, right opposite RAI. The corner location lends it a weird shape, tapering to a point. What does it look like inside? The lounge bar of a Bass tied house circa 1978. Rather too much red velveteen gives it the air of a down-market knocking shop, though if it were one, I would expect young ladies as well as suited businessmen. I'm getting the idea now where they get most of their trade from - the exhibition centre. The draught beers aren't very inspiring, but there are four drinkable bottled beers: Affligem Dubbel, Westmalle Tripel, Kasteel and Duvel. Does anyone else remember the Corner Cafe in Leeds? Not a pub, or even a café, but a good, cheap curry house.
Rating: *	Public transport: Bus 15 to Scheldeplein.

D'Overkant
Scheldestraat 182, 1078 GJ Amsterdam. Tel: 020 - 679 7366
Opening hours: Sun - Thur 12:00 - 01:00, Fri - Sat 12:00 - 03:00
Number of draught beers: 3
Number of bottled beers: 7
Regular draught beers: Heineken Pils (5%) Wieckse Witte (5%) Wieckse Rosé
Food: Snacks, meals.Westmalle Tripel €3.25 for 0.33l.
This bit of the Rivierenbuurt is full of cafe-restaurants, catering (quite literally) to visitors to RAI. Being right opposite both The Corner and RAI, the name D'Overkant (Dutch for "the opposite side") is very apposite. The names of crappy defunct British pub chains keep popping into my head today. Overkant reminds me of a Berni Inn circa 1981. It's obviously keener on the restaurant side of its identity. The steak knives neatly laid out on the tables are a bit of a giveaway on that one. According to my trusty Amsterdamse Kroegen Encyclopedie (I wonder if they are ever going to publish a new edition), this used to be a semi-serious beer pub with a bottled list running to 35. At some point the name has been changed and the number of bottles available divided by 5. One of the 7 that remain is Heineken Pils, which is a bit of a waste of time as they already sell it on draught. There are two drinkable offerings: Westmalle Tripel and Duvel.
Rating: *	Public transport: Bus 15 to Scheldeplein.

Café Klasen
Maasstraat 55-HS, 1078 HD Amsterdam.
Opening hours: Mon - Thur 12:00 - 01:00, Fri - Sat 12:00 - 03:00, Sun 16:00 - 01:00
Number of draught beers: 3
Number of bottled beers: 4
Regular draught beers: Amstel Pils (5%) Wieckse Witte (5%) Affligem Blond
Food: Snacks. Affligem Blond €3.50 for 0.25l.
The leaded lights boasting "Koffie", "Thee" and "Cacao" and the 30's lettering on the window drew me in immediately;In this bit of pre-war Amsterdam art deco is both authentic and appropriate. Away from RAI, the cafes take on a more local character. Though having taken a look in the second room, where deep red sofas conjure up the atmosphere of a chillout room, lead me to believe that I might have been premature in my judgment.
The disadvantage of this being more a locals' pub, is that the blokes at the bar are not only all smoking, but a high percentage of them have cigars. Mike would already be running for the door. Though not the exit, but the door to the chillout area. One of three no-smoking rooms I've so far discovered in Amsterdam. In case you're wondering, that's the main reason Klasen gets two stars. Yeah, the beer selection is average (in the Aussie sense of the word), but Heineken haven't buggered up Affligem (yet) so there is one drinkable draught. The sort of pub where middle-aged saddoes like me pass away their dull days over jenever. Perfect for a wet Thursday afternoon.
Rating: **	Public transport: Tram 12, 25 to Maasstraat.

Cafe Diva's
Waalstraat 48, 1078 BV Amsterdam. Tel: 020 - 662 7056 http://www.move.to/diva
Opening hours: Mon - Thur 11:00 - 01:00, Fri - Sat 11:00 - 03:00, Sun 13:00 - 01:00
Number of draught beers: 5
Number of bottled beers:
Regular draught beers: Heineken Pils (5%) Wieckse Witte (5%) La Chouffe (8.5%) Speciale Palm (5%) Leffe Blond
Food: Snacks €3-8, meals €8-14. La Chouffe €2.90 for 0.25l.
Life is all about first times. Your first kiss. Your first great beer. (For me they we were the other way around). I had an admittedly rather odd first today. I took photos of a pub that I won't publish on the web. Why? I'll explain. I have kids. They never look at my website, because kids wouldn't, would they? But if they by any weird chance did, there are some things I wouldn't want them to stumble across (like the contents of my wardrobe - clothes no-one with a fixed address would wear).
A Kama Sutra bar back is a bridge too far for me, as a parent. But don't let my bourgeois hangups hold you back. Ogle away. It's a shame, because Diva's is a cracking pub with some wonderful - if risque - artwork. All the better because I chanced upon it totally by accident. I was following the shortest route from Maasstraat to Stalinlaan and suddenly, there it was. A hippy pub. Just what I'd been looking for. I've always claimed the photograph in my first passport was a fake, but now I confess - it's true: I did used to be a . . . hippy. Or pretended, very badly, to be one. Punk gave me a good excuse to make a radical break with my hirsute past. I would provide photographic evidence, but, true to my Stalinist beliefs, I eschew personal idolatry. Hippy light brown cafe is a short, is how I would describe it in a single phrase, but that doesn't really do it justice. There's an Indian psychedelic theme going on. Just as well I have no kids in tow today. Continuing the Indian hippy theme, the Kama Sutra-style paintings on the bar back are the most explicit I've ever seen in a pubic, sorry, public, place. They have a naive charm that makes them more seaside postcard saucy than pornographic, but I don't think I would want my kids looking at them. I have some excellent snaps of them, but you'll have to make do with some blurry, long distance shots. I don't want to turn this into a sex page.
There are a variety of wall paintings by different artists, some original, some copies of Klimt (one of my favourite painters) and pyschedlic lights that really cheer the place up. I'll now start sounding like the hippy I claim to have never really been, but the overall effect is very positive and happy. Well it made me smile and I'm a ntoriously miserable git. They sell Chouffe at a pretty decent price. The staff are pretty friendly, too. Oh and the gents are a scream, with a dartboard target in the urinal - I got all bullseyes, honest. For you modernist fans, there's a view of Amsterdam's first high-rise appartment block, designed by Stahl in the 1930's. He isn't my favourite Amsterdamse School architect, but it's better than similar post-war buildings. Thank you serendipity. The best new pub I've found in Amsterdam for ages.
Rating: ***	Public transport: Tram 12, 25, 4 to Victorieplein.

© Ron Pattinson 2007

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