Late-night dining at ACE

It’s taken a long time and there have already been plenty of attempts, but now it really does seem that in Amsterdam you can finally eat a few decent courses even after midnight. Not just haute snacks, but serious food that you eat with proper cutlery.

Things have certainly improved in recent years. For example, thanks to the men behind restaurant Breda, who have treated late-night snackers to a haute pita sandwich. And you can also easily satisfy your sushi, pizza and dumpling cravings at night.

Sit-down dinner

And for a sit-down dinner? There are too few options. But from this week, you can take a seat in the booths at the new ACE restaurant on Utrechtsestraat. Chef Rik Thesink has big-city plans for it. Because a big city is only truly a world city if you can still eat something other than fast food there in the small hours. However haute it may be.

Enjoy a proper dinner at ACE long after midnight

Rik once started out at ’t Fornuis on Utrechtsestraat, and now he has settled back in exactly the same spot. He didn’t start by stripping out the old interior. On the contrary, the remarkable warm-brown decor with wooden wall panelling and a castle-like feel that had been there for decades has merely been freshened up with a coat of black paint. The original little bar at the back, the stained glass by the kitchen and the church-like staircase leading to the romantic table for two on the mezzanine have also remained.

Late nite dinner

And thankfully so. It’s a fitting setting for Rik’s late nite dinners with beautiful wines and distinctive flavours. Like the house-made pâté with Amsterdam table pickles. A mix of local produce, big-city exotic flavours and Rik’s solid French culinary training, plus work experience at, among others, two-Michelin-starred restaurant Ron Blaauw. You can also taste that mix in the fregola (pasta pearls from Sardinia) with a perfect egg and seaweed dashi.

World city

So the food, drinks and interior are all in order. But so are the service and opening hours. During the week, the kitchen runs until 11 p.m. and the restaurant until 1 a.m.; at weekends, the chefs work until midnight and the front-of-house team until 2 a.m. Rik Thesink has also already confided in us that he won’t drop the pumpkin from his hands right at midnight if hungry guests are still coming in.
Could Amsterdam finally become a true world city after all?

Restaurant ACE
Utrechtsestraat 33