#18 – Restaurant Jinso, Amsterdam (Nl) ***

Restaurant review #18 – Restaurant and loungebar Jinso is located outside the city center of Amsterdam, in the area around the Amsterdam Arena, The Heineken Music Hall and the Ziggo Dome. The restaurant is only open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but whenever there are special events in the area (eg concerts), the restaurant also offers an all you can eat buffet and a restricted ‘event menu‘ to choose from.

Jinso, Arena Boulevard

The special event menulist also mentions a vegetarian dish with tofu. We e-mailed in advance to check whether this dish was baked in vegetable oil and if it didn’t contain any animal ingredients, got an affirmative reply and made a reservation for 5PM. Pretty early for dinner, but we didn’t want to be late for the concert in nextdoor Ziggo Dome!

Jinso is situated in a very big and spacious round-shaped building in the center of the Amsterdam Boulevard, just across Mediamarkt and Decathlon. You cannot miss it.
We were seated in the upstairs area, which gives you a nice overview of the restaurant and the boulevard. Our meal followed quickly, and was a nice dish with rice, vegetables, mushrooms, cashews and tofu, in a jelly-starch like sauce. Nothing too fancy, but freshly prepared and tasty nonetheless. All in all a bit expensive (14,40€), but I guess you also pay for the comfort of being just a footstep away from the eventhalls.

Rice with vegetables, tofu and cashews, 14,40€

We didn’t really look whether there were any vegan desserts on offer. Had a cup of coffee afterwards, which again came with a cup of cow milk, and presumably a non-vegan cookie. Classic lapse, which we’ve encountered in so many restaurants.