Imagine this: you go to lunch and there is an original diesel engine next to your table. No set piece, no art installation, just the machine that was always there. That's Café-Restaurant Amsterdam, better known as Cradam, and it's exactly as special as it sounds. The building on Watertorenplein was built in 1900 as a machine pump building for the city's drinking water supply. On December 20, 1996, the doors opened here as a restaurant, and little has changed in the atmosphere since then.
Behind the business is chef-owner Ab Tlili. He has preserved the industrial authenticity of the space as he found it: high ceilings, original pumps, and lighting that once hung in the Olympic Stadium and the former De Meer soccer stadium. That last detail is the kind of thing you don't realize until someone tells you, but when you know those lights once hung above a soccer field, you look at them differently. The originator of the original building was J. van Hasselt, then director of the Duinwater Maatschappij, but so his legacy now bears Ab Tlili.
The space itself is impressive. There used to be four underground water tanks of about 10,000 cubic meters each at the back of the building. Those are no longer there, but the realization that you are eating in a place with so much history gives the whole thing something extra. The rest of the building has been converted into offices and a gym. The restaurant is located on the car-free Watertorenplein, which means the outdoor terrace is actually pleasant. That terrace is open seasonally, again this year from March 12, 2025.
The original diesel engine is still there. And the lights come from the Olympic Stadium and the former De Meer soccer stadium.
Cradam is open daily from ten in the morning until midnight, Friday and Saturday until one in the morning. The kitchen runs two shifts: morning to three and evening to ten. Accessible by streetcar 5 and bus 21, and for night-goers, bus 748 runs. One practical note: debit card payments only, no cash. The original diesel engine is still there. And the lights come from the Olympic Stadium and the former De Meer soccer stadium.