Café De Engelbewaarder

(Visited July 2013) Nice and charming beer café quite centrally located a couple of blocks away from the red lights. The bar is a stair up from the street/canal level and the place has a rustic charm with lots of brown wood and nice views over the canal. Additional seating outside by the water. Swift and friendly service. The atmosphere was calm and laid back on my visit. Beer selection is mainly Palm beers, with Rodenbach and unfiltered Palm as the highlights. Didn’t try the food, but it looked really nice. Well worth a visit, since it’s no real detour.

Old beaten up but charming pub. Beer list is pretty boring and does not propose very few Dutch beers (if any) with mostly a nothing-special belgium selection. On taps they had the likes of Steenbrugge and some other “meh” Belgium beers. I didn’t bother with the bottles. Crowd was your average semi-hippie Amsterdam local. Fun improvised “patio” which is a bunch of disorganized chairs and tables on the next to the canal. I only stopped there because I was on my way to the Bekeerde Suster brewpub (two blocks away) and unlike Bekeerde Suster, Engelbewaarder patio is on the sunny side. Worth a stop for the atmosphere, not for the beer.

The Engelbewaarder (Guardian Angel) is mainly a Palm outlet but it’s known for having unfiltered Palm and Boon lambic on cask. Unfortunately the Boon was off when we visited but the barman was friendly and helpful, offering us a choice of several lambics in bottle. It’s a relaxed, laid back place, just outside the main touristy area in a more “lived in” part of the city. There are steps from the canalside up to the main room, which is long, narrow and plainly decorated. There’s a raised room at the back for dining and a small patio outside at the front. (Visited 1 October 2012).

5/2012 Update: downgrading after a bad experience here with extremely untrained staff. Didn’t even know what the boon lambic was and wasn’t sure about anything. Quite disappointing. Still love the ambiance, though. From 8/2012: This was my go-to spot in Amsterdam. As a fan of the Palm brewery (and not able to find any of their offerings other than regular Palm in NY), I was delighted the first time I ran across this place. Wonderful environment, not overly fancy but not divey either and it never seems to be unmanageably crowded (as EVERY good bar in NY is these days). There are always children running around and you can seat a big group in the back, or sit in the window overlooking the canal or even outside. The food is wonderful and the staff are quite friendly, even to a non-Dutch speaking semi-lost American all by his lonesome!

We visited here on Thursday 29th September 2011 on a warm, sunny day, in fact it was quite beautiful sat by the canal. I’ve visited here before but never gotten around to rating it. I went for the Boon Oude Gueuze on tap, sadly this had just gone and was proving tricky for the lady to change I settled for a Boon Kriek instead. This is a great place, in a great area, I’ve not spent too much time inside other than to choose a beer or nip to the toilet but it seems a typical brown cafe type of place and very nice for it.

Nice place. All beers are palm oriented. Friendly service. We found a Boon Oude Lambiek on tap. Pretty nice. Ambience is more of a combination of an old brown pub and a jazz bar.

Good Dutch ’brown’ wooden interior. Selection is all Palm-related. Good thing is they have Boon oude platte Lambic from tap regularly. For the rest its all boring Steenbrugge and Palm stuff. Go here for a Pint and a chat, then move on to the better beer bars. I didn’t try the food, most likely its the regular steak and sate, but the quality of the inside bar makes me think the food is most likely pretty decent.

Quiet when I visited mid-afternoon, inside at least. On a sunny day, all the action was on the terrace outside, which was cram full so I pretty much had the inside to myself. I knew they had Boon Oude Lambk on draught and, in need of a lambic fix, this was my main reason for visiting. It hit the spot nicely. Also unfiltered Palm on tap and a full range of Steenbrugge beers, plus some more from the Palm stable. Despite Ken’s glowing recommendation for the food, I didn’t get to eat here.

A characterfull and cosy place that is very easy to walk past as is a little innocuous by Amsterdam standards! Consequently there are very few tourists here (hurrah!) and lots of very attractive Dutch student girls (hurrah!) The beer list is very short and really only distinguished by the unfiltered Palm and the Boon Lambic. However all the beers are kept very well and I had the best Steenbrugges I have ever had here. Service can be slow when it gets very busy (early evening) We found it best to roll up about 20.00. The main reason to come here is the food. It is reasonably priced and very very good indeed. The lady chef is a real talent and I had some quite superb soups here and a Beef Wellington that was better than anything I’ve been served in England! Livens up again around 22.00 - especially on a Thursday/Friday.

Went on the last night in Amsterdam. Small cramped place, lots of young people.. Decent palm-centric tap selection, about 10-15 taps.. went for the palm unflitered and boom lambiek, both were nice .. even given the boon for free when i had to wait for a new keg to be put in, owner was gruff and off putting but seemed like a good bloke.. probably better earlier in the day, but a decent beer bar..

Cosy place, with a quiet, distinguished or somewhat intellectual public. Taps are dominated by Palm breweries, for example unfiltered Palm . Also Boon oude lambiek is available. Quiet atmosphere, with also two pinball machines. At the back-end there are dinner tables. I didn’t use it, but a lot of tables were occupied so food may be above average.