The best fries in Amsterdam
Ask an Amsterdammer where to find the best fries in the city and you will hear one street name more than any other: Voetboogstraat. This is why the little counter at number 33 earned that reputation, and how to make the most of your visit.
What makes a fry the best
Great fries are simple and unforgiving: real potatoes, cut fresh, fried twice, salted right, eaten hot. Vleminckx has done exactly that on the same spot since 1957, and the shop still makes its fries the homemade way. The outside crackles, the inside stays soft and potato-sweet. That texture is the whole game, and it is why one reviewer wrote these are the best chips you will ever have, so crunchy on the outside but so light on the inside.
Do not take our word for it
The counter holds a 4.5 rating on Google with thousands of reviews, 4.5 on Tripadvisor and 4.5 on Yelp. Time Out Amsterdam called Vleminckx not only one of the cheapest, but also the best. Conde Nast Traveler described the crowd here as speechless with frites-induced bliss. Het Parool, the paper of Amsterdam, simply called the shop an institution. In 2013 the national AD Friettest hung its oorkonde next to the counter.
The queue is the proof
There is a line most days, locals in front of tourists, students behind office workers. It moves fast, because the menu is gloriously short: fries, sizes small to large, and the famous wall of sauces. If the queue looks long, stay. Reviewers keep writing the same sentence: worth the wait.
Make it your own
Order the classic with mayonnaise, go full Dutch with a patatje oorlog, or work through the Belgian wall one visit at a time with our sauce guide. New to the ritual? Read how to order like a local first.