5x playing and eating
Didn’t you used to learn not to eat and play (and above all: not to play with your food), but these days that combination is impossible to imagine away from the hospitality scene. It started small with the TonTon Club in Amsterdam’s Red Light District, but now you’ll find eat-and-play concepts all over the country.
We’ve listed the best spots:
TonTon Club
The founders of playing-and-eating in the Netherlands, without a doubt, and still the place to be for an evening packed with neon-lit arcade machines and delicious budget-friendly food. At the city centre location, you can enjoy tasty pasta and pizzas, while their second (larger and recently renovated) location in Westerpark offers the complete Japanese experience: yakitori in all shapes and sizes, from katsu scallops to enoki cooked in tonkotsu and wrapped in bacon. Who will you challenge to a game of Dance Dance Revolution?
PUCK
All air hockey lovers, gather round… (after the summer break, that is, as they won’t reopen until the end of August). With ten different air hockey tables, you’ll always feel like a winner here. And let’s talk about the menu, because it definitely deserves a mention too. Puck’s French-Asian cuisine consists largely of different sliders that, until now, you could only dream of: from brioche filled with soft-shell crab to bao buns with pork belly.
Mooie Boules Rotterdam
The newest addition to the list, having only opened this weekend. Not a restaurant, but a food hall with—yes, really—jeu-de-boules courts. A place to spend the entire evening. From grabbing a bite to eat to drinks and then a game (or six) of pétanque. Had enough drinks? Then have some fun in the karaoke room. The food is provided by Ron and Ron. To avoid confusion: these are two different chefs; one Ron is known, among other things, for Ron Gastro Bar, while the other is known for De gele Kanarie. We already sampled the menu from Warung Indo by Ron Gastrobar Indonesia, and we’re still savouring it—what a flavour!
De Ping Pong Club
De Ping Pong Club has an industrial, relaxed vibe and is housed in a warehouse. We love it! You’ll find all kinds of different ping-pong tables here (including a round one, whaaat?). But before you start your somewhat small-scale World Table Tennis Championship (yes, it really exists), you naturally need to fuel up. Luckily, there’s plenty of choice on the menu, which is inspired by Arab cuisine. Think mezzes, falafel and pide toasties.
Klaproos
Another bullseye when it comes to playing and eating. You can come here not only for special wines and great pizzas (you know, with those crispy thin bases), but also for some fun and games. Klaproos has a pool table, foosball and XL foosball. It’s a pop-up restaurant, and it’s unclear how long it will be around, so get there soon!
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