The W Hotel opened in Amsterdam over a year ago now but its breathtaking restaurant has been attracting the city’s finest for the last 18 months and continues to receive a huge amount of buzz. Redolent of London’s Wolseley and other Corbin and King extravaganzas, The Duchess is located in the historic KAS bank and retains all that’s best of its extraordinary architecture. Food-wise, they’ve somewhat annoyingly opted for a policy of sharing plates. Although the portions are the right size for one, the justification is that “not everything will arrive at the same time” which hints more at kitchen issues than a dining theme. That said it shouldn’t put you off – the quality of food is superb, the atmosphere sensational, the room to die for and the Chocolate Explosion dessert pure theatre (recent visitors have also said they are great at catering for vegetarians and pescatarians as well as being incredibly accommodating and knowledgeable for coeliacs and those with other serious food intolerances)
This remains one of the city’s sceney place to dine along with Mr Porter – a steakhouse and cocktail bar at the top of the hotel.