Amsterdam’s Chinatown

Fietsen worden verwijderd means bicycles will be removed. The sign is outside the Chinese Temple on Zeedijk. It is not allowed to lean bicycles against the temple wall.

Zeedijk is the main hub of Amsterdam’s small China Town. It is sprinkled with Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese food treats. Zeedijk meaning sea bank or sea wall may seem a strange name because there is no sea in the vicinity. But this was different in medieval days when the Zuyderzee bordered Zeedijk.

Zeedijk was part of a system of dykes and dams that protected Amsterdam from flooding. This part of Amsterdam was also the shipping quarter. The nearby Red Light District developed to see to the needs of sailors who frequented the bars and pubs in this part of town.

QUICK FACTS:
FOR THE THIRSTY
In ‘t Aepjen, Zeedijk 1, open 3 pm – 1 am (3 am weekends) (map)
Listen to accordion music and sea shanties on Saturday evening while you sip jenever (Dutch gin).

FOR THE HUNGRY
Eetcafe Latei, Zeedijk 143 (map)
Sip black coffee and tuck in goat cheese sandwich smothered in honey and pine seeds. At the same time contemplate if you would like to buy the chair you are sitting on. Latei doubles as a bric-a-brac shop.

New King, Zeedijk 115, Monday to Sunday 11.30 –midnight (map)
Feast on noodle soup followed by crunchy sweet pork, or would you rather have mihoen a la Singapore (pasta with sea food). Lots of oriental people come for a meal from which I gather that the food is authentic.

FOR THE SPIRITUALLY HUNGRY
Fo Guang Shan He Hua Tempel, Zeedijk 106, Tues-Sat 12-5pm; Sun 10am-5pm; closed Mondays (map)
This largest Buddhist temple in Europe is built in traditional Chinese style. It is part of the International Buddhist Progress Society whose mother temple is in Taiwan. Light lightening an incense stick and take a moment of quiet reflection.

Related article:
Enlightenment in Amsterdam’s Chinese Temple

photo credit: personal collection