Café Wildschut: A century-old grand café near Roelof Hartplein

There are cafes that you visit, and cafes that are just always there. Café Wildschut falls into the second category. For more than a century, this grand café has stood on Roelof Hartplein in the Apollo neighborhood, and it seems to have no plan to disappear. The building, designed by architect H.A.J. Baanders and completed in 1917, is a protected monument in the style of the Amsterdam School. That facade alone is a reason to pause for a moment.

Inside, you sit among authentic 1920s interior details you won't find anywhere else. No renovation-chic, no forced nostalgia. Just the original. The menu is broad enough to stay all day: breakfast and brunch are served daily from opening, and at the end of the day you just slide on to lunch and dinner à la carte. For coffee, Wildschut works with Caffè Lavazza, and the fresh mint tea isn't an afterthought either. Those who want something stronger: the classic Dutch kopstoot is just on the menu. It's still allowed in 2026.

The cocktail menu is extensive, so are the bitterballen and other Dutch appetizers, and for bigger appetites there are seasonal dishes made as much as possible from organic, animal-friendly and sustainable products. Good Food Group, the operator of Wildschut, insists. The terrace on Roelof Hartplein is sunny and large enough to actually sit down. You overlook the square, the streetcar stops right in front of it and it feels like you're taking a break from the city.

For more than a century this grand café has stood on Roelof Hartplein, and it seems to have no plan to disappear.

Wildschut draws a mix you don't see much of in the city: the lawyer from the neighboring office, the student from the UvA, the local resident who has been reading his Sunday paper here for twenty years. That diversity is not constructed; it just grew there. For more than a century this grand café has stood on Roelof Hartplein, and it seems to have no plan to disappear. The café is open seven days a week, as early as nine o'clock on weekdays, ten on weekends. Streetcars 3, 5, 12 and 24 stop directly in front of it.