D’Vijff Vlieghen

D'Vijff Vlieghen, the Five Flies, was founded in 1939 by Nicolaas Kroese and occupies five 17th-century houses that have been joined together off the Spui. In the late 1940s Kroese promoted his restaurant in the United States by walking the streets with a copper cage holding five bronze flies, and the guestbooks, kept since 1946, have been signed by a long list of well-known visitors.

The restaurant is a warren of panelled dining rooms, each with its own character. The Prentenkamer is hung with 18th- and 19th-century maps of Amsterdam and etchings of city buildings, and it has a large collection of 17th- and 18th-century Delft blue tiles. The Glaskamer has walls covered in rare gilded leather from the 17th and 19th centuries. The historic rooms give the whole place the feel of a step back into Amsterdam's past.

The kitchen cooks with Dutch, seasonal ingredients, organic where possible, in a style the restaurant sums up as pure, unadorned and recognisable. Menus change with the seasons, and the cooking aims to let good produce speak for itself rather than chase trends.

The restaurant is well suited to romantic dinners in a quiet corner, as well as to groups and business dinners, for which it offers a range of rooms and arrangements. It opens every evening from 5.30pm and stays open until the last guests leave; staff will check whether a visit outside these hours is possible. Book ahead, especially for a special occasion, and ask which room you will be seated in. When work allows, the team is happy to show guests around the different rooms. Allow two to three hours for a relaxed dinner.

The entrance is on Spuistraat, a few minutes' walk from the Spui square, the Begijnhof and the Amsterdam Museum. Dam Square and the Royal Palace are about five minutes away, and trams stop on Spuistraat and at the Spui. For a drink afterwards, Café Hoppe on the Spui is one of the oldest brown cafés in the city. A walk along the Singel and Herengracht after dinner shows the canal ring at its quietest, with the bridges lit and the bustle of the day gone.