Happyhappyjoyjoy: Amsterdam’s Asian-Fusion Foodie Funhouse

Please note that since writing this blog post, Happyhappyjoyjoy has closed down

When I read that Asian-fusion restaurant Happyhappyjoyjoy was the brainchild of IQ Creative and Julius Jaspers, I was – umm – filled with neither happiness nor joy, if I’m honest. I’ve waited 110 minutes for a piece of barbecued meat at Julius Bar & Grill. I’ve almost starved to death at Envy (ok, I exaggerate slightly). And I’ve been told off by a waiter at Mazzo. On balance, I’ve had far more bad experiences than good ones when it comes to IQ Creative restaurants.

But luckily I sort of forgot about all of this when I went to eat at Happyhappyjoyjoy with a friend on her birthday. Because – despite what readers of my embittered criticisms of restaurants might think – I am generally positive about going out for dinner. Otherwise I probably wouldn’t do it so darn often…

When you walk into the restaurant on the Bilderdijkskade, the décor alone feels genuinely uplifting. The ceiling is covered with scarlet parasols that lend the whole place this rosy glow – it’s kitsch, but gives off a very welcoming vibe. The menus are on semi-gloss paper folded in three, and everything on there is numbered – you feel like you’re in an upmarket takeaway. Within 2 minutes, I’d whipped out a pen and circled everything we wanted to try before our waiter had even had a chance to explain the “concept”. Speaking of whom, he was about 12 and couldn’t give us any wine recommendations (probably because he’s not yet legal to actually drink the stuff) but he was friendly enough despite my defacing his menu and generally being fairly bossy. (I’d apologise, but I honestly think HHJJ should encourage everyone to write on their menus – it saves a lot of faffing about with ordering.)

According to their website, “Happyhappyjoyjoy serves street food dishes with Thai, Malay, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Chinese and Korean influences.” So we set out to try as many of those flavours as we could. Fearful that attempting too many nations’ cuisines in one kitchen would result in culinary chaos, I was pleasantly surprised. Har kau (steamed shrimp dumplings) were just as I’d expect, as were the Peking duck bao (although no bao will ever be as good as the now sadly no more Bao Project). I feel like I’ve become something of a pho aficionado within the past couple of years, and I was surprised to admit that the pho at HHJJ was at least as good as many versions I’ve had at Vietnamese restaurants in the city.

Hot and spicy shrimps were just that (they could’ve been hotter for my taste, but I’m dangerously addicted to chilli). And 5-spiced pork was properly aromatic belly pork with a thin but peppery dipping sauce. We picked our curry based on the fact that we’d never heard of it (Nyonya, anyone?) so I can’t tell you whether it was authentic or not, but it certainly tasted good.

My only real compliant was a Vietnamese salad that was lacklustre and rather watery. My friends were also unimpressed with a rice dish involving a semi-sweet pork and shrimp paste stuffed inside sticky race, wrapped up in a lotus leaf. I liked it, however, which only goes to prove that this entire restaurant reviewing business is completely subjective anyway.

We spent around €40 each, which felt like good value for the amount we ate and drank. And even better given my prejudices at the beginning (HHJJ seems to be one of IQ Creative’s more affordable options).
  Do: go to Happyhappyjoyjoy expecting a funhouse of flavours in a restaurant decked with its own rose-tinted spectacles.

Don’t: be too much of a purist about authenticity. Yes, you’ve probably had better Thai/ Malaysian/ Vietnamese/ Indonesian/ Chinese/ Korean food elsewhere – but all under one roof?