The chic, contemporary art–styled Andaz Amsterdam is located right on the Amsterdam Gay Pride Canal Parade’s Prinsengracht route, and its pastry chef, Juan Robledo, is a true city expert when it comes to the city’s vibrant side. Previously, the Argentina-born Robledo worked at Buenos Aires’ Park Hyatt, the Grand Hyatt Doha, Constance Lemuria Seychelles, and Amsterdam’s Conservatorium. Now he’s a trusted source for the LGBT community.
“Andaz is a Hindi word meaning ‘personal style,'” he says, ‘so here at Andaz I’m encouraged to express my own. I get the chance to learn but also the chance to teach about our community. We’re just a few steps away from important sites such as the Homomonument and Pink Point LGBT information desk, and the Reguliersdwarsstraat gay bar street is just a couple of blocks away.”
Here are Robledo’s top picks for Amsterdam—just be sure to stay out of the bike lanes.
This is Europe’s biggest archive of documents that tell the story of the LGBT community, located in the Public Library of Amsterdam, OBA, which used to occupy what today has become the Andaz. A friend of mine works in a café very close by, so whenever I had to wait for him to finish his shift, I took the opportunity to go to the OBA and by chance I found IHLIA on the sixth floor. Part of the collection is on display, and sometimes special expositions are organized. While most of the archive is kept in storage and only available upon request, they a have a hot pink cabinet where films and books that are allowed to be borrowed are displayed.
I like to brunch here; it’s the hippest place and everything is good. The cakes and tarts are homemade, fresh juices are pressed to order, and the owners are a gay couple. During weekends get there early or get ready to wait. B&R is located in De Pijp, pronounced “pipe,” a very nice neighborhood to walk around while sipping coffee and waiting for a table. For just pastry, around the corner from Andaz is Pompadour. I like their cheesecake and apple pie. They have a little tearoom that sits around 20 people, so on weekends you have to wait or be lucky to get a table. If I open my own shop someday, it will be something that looks like that.
This super hipster restaurant and bar has an open terrace and a manmade beach right on the IJ River’s waterfront. It’s located on the NDSM Island, and to get there you need to take a free ferry from behind Central Station. The NDSM Island was, in the 1950s, the biggest shipyard in Europe. Now it’s home to summer festivals, a museum, student housing, small apartment buildings, and even a luxury hotel housed in the top of a shipping crane, Faralda. What I like is when the weather is nice it becomes a hot spot for young, cool, and good-looking people. Nice to spend the whole afternoon sitting, eating and drinking with friends, and watching people come and go.