The best French brasserie in Amsterdam East: Brasserie Lenny

Amsterdam East is one of those parts of a city that rewards exploration. Away from the canal houses and tourist queues of the centre, the neighbourhood has its own character: vibrant streets, good markets, an easy mix of locals and people who have chosen this part of the city deliberately. It is a neighbourhood where you eat well — and from 24 August 2026, it has a French brasserie to match.

Brasserie Lenny opens at James Wattstraat 56-58, part of the Chassé complex in Amsterdam East. A modern French brasserie with Amsterdam energy. The kind of place you walk into and immediately feel at home.

Amsterdam has no shortage of French restaurants. What it has less of is a French brasserie that behaves like one: open all day, from morning coffee to late dinner, with a bar that anchors the room and a menu that doesn't need explaining.

Brasserie Lenny is built around that idea. Not a fine dining restaurant with French dishes. Not a café that serves croque monsieur. A proper brasserie — in the tradition of places that open early, close late, and treat every moment of the day as equally worth being there for.

The kitchen at Brasserie Lenny is based on the French brasserie tradition. Recognisable dishes, executed well, with the right ingredients and no unnecessary flourishes.

Starters

• Carpaccio de Boeuf Maison — thinly sliced beef, tomato vinaigrette, basil oil, capers, crunchy bread (€ 12.50)
• Soupe à l'Oignon — classic onion soup with melted Gruyère (€ 8.50)
• Gerookte Zalmtartaar — smoked salmon tartare (€ 14.50)

Mains

• Entrecôte Béarnaise — steak with house-made béarnaise (€ 24.50)
• Boerderijkipfilet — free-range chicken with a pom croquette, carrot cream, roasted garlic jus (€ 18.50)
• Cabillaud Beurre Noisette — slow-cooked cod with brown butter and fried capers (€ 26.50)
• Gepekelde & Gegrilde Aubergine — pickled and grilled aubergine with café de Paris butter (€ 18.00, vegetarian)

Desserts

• Crème Brûlée Classique with cherry sorbet and grandmother's cake crumble (€ 7.50)
• Chocolade Moelleux with stroopwafel caramel and vanilla ice cream (€ 8.50)
• Boerenyoghurtmousse with forest fruit compote (€ 7.50)

The wine list runs from house wine by the glass to bottles worth lingering over. Taittinger Brut Réserve by the glass (€ 17.50) is available every day.

The terrace at Brasserie Lenny is one of the warmest outdoor spots in Amsterdam East — divided into three zones, from a lounge area for a quiet drink to a long communal table for groups. The serre provides shelter when the weather doesn't cooperate.

No reservation needed for the terrace. Walk in and sit down.

Brasserie Lenny is part of Chassé — a complex at James Wattstraat 56-58 that brings together a hotel, a restaurant, and cultural spaces in Amsterdam East. Hotel guests at Chassé can reach the brasserie without leaving the complex. For visitors staying elsewhere in Amsterdam, Brasserie Lenny is a 20-minute cycle from the centre, or a short tram ride.

Park Frankendael — Amsterdam's only remaining 17th-century country estate, at Middenweg 72 — is a ten-minute walk from Brasserie Lenny. The park has restored historic gardens, a bird marsh with a resident heron colony, and a monthly organic market (the Pure Markt, every last Sunday of the month). A morning in the park followed by lunch on the Lenny terrace is a very good way to spend a day in Amsterdam East.

• Address: James Wattstraat 56-58, 1097 DM Amsterdam, the Netherlands
• Opening: 24 August 2026
• Open: all day — from breakfast to late dinner
• Terrace and serre: walk-ins welcome
• Groups (8+): reserve via brasserielenny.nl/reserveren
• Part of: Chassé — hotel, hospitality and culture in Amsterdam East