Amsterdam: Sweet Moments

We called this place the Schnoozy Puss café, as that’s how a handyman (who appeared to be paid in ice cream for his endeavours) greeted one of the café’s three cats. The cats, who curled on perfectly feline sized chairs, sealed the obsession that had been seeded a few moments earlier when we had spied people sitting outside eating luscious ice creams.

The ice creams were fresh and tingly and so good that we came back twice during our stay, discovering that their fruit tarts and coffee were even better. It was unpretentious and uncontrivedly simple, and it has the atmosphere of somewhere that was a familiar, loved treat.

Visiting our other felicitous discovery was like sitting inside a cake, perhaps their strawberry sponge. Decorated with mismatched everything and large, extravagantly decorated fake cakes, it was a bit like experiencing a baker’s trip. It was quite perfect, as were the teas – you got a pot with a selection of different tea varieties – and the cakes. I had a truffle tart, and layers of chocolate sponge were sandwiched with hazelnutty buttercream, topped with a thin chocolate seal and an impressively chunky chocolate curl.

I think the sugar content affected us slightly, as we veered between giggly and hysterical, once reaching the alarming point of ‘I-think-I’m-going-to-pee-my-pants’. Or perhaps it was just something in the atmosphere of the place, staffed by laid back people who might be continuously high on sugar. The office was two desks with computers in the café, and as we scoffed we could see staff preparing drinks, cleaning up, and even licking a bowl of chocolate round (this was watched with jealousy) in the food prep area.