It’s been pop-up-festive-market-tastic these past couple of weeks. Last weekend there was the “Good Ol’ Fashioned Christmas Pop Up” from Dikke Lepel and MAKE ; the weekend before was BoxXshop at the Lloyd Hotel; and during the few days in between I even made it along to the Zuiderkerk for the “All I Want for Christmas” Market by The PopUp Chef . I got my gluhwein fix, and then I got it some more.
But every mulled-drinks-imbibing Christmas shopper needs somewhere to recharge and stock up on some calorific energy to face the rest of their shopping list. So during my Zuiderkerk market experience last week, I popped into Nam Kee for a spot of nosh. I’d had it on my “to-eat list” forever (so long that I’d forgotten who had recommended it to me or why) but it quickly became apparent how it had made it on there. When I checked out their website, it turned out Nam Kee has opened no less than three branches in Amsterdam since it started out over 30 years ago. The Nieuwmarkt location I ended up in is slightly on the large side for a hole-in-the-wall, but with the same feel: no pretensions and lots of tables crammed in for maximum custom.