Kartika

Great Ramayana! Authentic tapas dishes of a nice mixture of various Indonesian tastes! Superb service, by an owner who really does care about their customers experience!

Nice, quiet place and it wasn’t so busy when we got there! My girlfriend and I were seated right away and did the whole sampler service. All the food was great and it reminded me a lot of Filipino food, so while it didn’t seem totally new it tasted homey and delicious. Our waiter and the rest of the staff was very friendly and it made for a nice good night /​goodbye to Amsterdam!

Fabulous. My first (vegetarian) Indonesian experience was phenomenal. Located just two blocks from my lodging in Amsterdam to my delight. Quite close to public transportation.
Service /​Ambience: ¹⁰⁄₁₀
Ordered take-​away and the staff couldn’t have been more lovely. The offered me a glass of water and some vegetarian prawn crackers with sweet chili sauce and peanut sauce while I waited for my food to be prepared. Both sauces were really delicious. The staff is lovely and the restaurant has a warm, welcoming environment. It’s also literally warm in the tiny dining area. No need to bring extra layers of clothing.
Food: ¹⁰⁄₁₀
Upon arrival I was offered the take-​away menu. It is mostly in Dutch and after mustering up the courage the waiter very kindly translated everything to me. As soon as he said, «spicy» I blurted out, «I’ll take that!» since there were so many options and my Dutch is terrible. My platter came with mixed vegetables, a spicy stir-​fried vegetarian protein, green beans in a spicy coconut sauce, white rice and a hard-​boiled egg. It lived up to all of my expectations of Indonesian food in Amsterdam. I was very happy and considered going back the next day but I opted to eat my body weight in stroopwafels, instead. Poor mistake on my part.
Go here! With friends! Try everything! You will not be disappointed.

They don’t take reservations, but if you go an hour after they open, unless you get lucky, they will be full! We walked in one night around 7 pm and got turned away, went again the following night promptly at 5pm when they opened and we’re not the first ones! Within 15 minutes or so, all open tables were filled!
My husband and I are from New York and we heard Indonesian food is great here in Amsterdam, so we decided to give this place a try. What’s great is they have a set menu for less than 20 euros per person, you get small portions of 8 different dishes plus appetizer chips and sauces as well as extra sides, dessert and rice! It’s a pretty amazing deal, and you get to try so many different flavors! I did have a few favorites, but there were none that I didn’t like! I would definitely recommend ordering this way as opposed to the a le carte menu if you’ve never had Indonesian food in Amsterdam!
We came with a party of four, were stuffed and all loved this place! Would definitely come back again and recommend this place to others!

So peeps, this is a real life rijstaffel, with 18 dishes to delight your tastebuds, unlike the puny 6 or 7 dishes you might get at a rice-​table Stateside.
As everyone says, this is lekker (Yummy). So let’s just describe the interior décor. Don’t think I’ve ever seen such a small restaurant so well-​appointed. Gold, red, magenta and autumn-​orange tones, cloth and batik flutter all over the place. Gilded shadow puppets glimmer and caper on the walls.
Oh, since I’m an annoying hipster, here are tips based on our single visit…
— Go hungry.
— Order the meat rijstaffel since this is the specialty.
— Try not to bother the staff too much, just eat.

We had a great Indonesian meal here… multiple courses! Price seemed fair for the variety, quantity, and quality of the food. This place is very small; either make reservations or get here early. They do take credit cards. I would totally return here. The food was delicious. Also… if you don’t know what you want, I’d recommend getting one of their samplers. As with other samplers… I think it’s probably better value for two than for three diners (we were three, unfortunately; but looking at our neighbors, I’d say they had nearly as much food for two).

I had to try Indonesian food while in Amsterdam. I found this place on Unilocal.We were not disappointed.
We got there on the late side so we were one of the last customers. You can tell that some of the food was sitting for a while in the pot because of that, but that’s ok. I expected that. It didn’t deter from the experience, and all of it was excellent.
We got the rijsttafel, and all dishes were full of flavor and unique to each other, meaning, they didn’t use the same sauce in different dishes. Definitely a great deal and there was not one dish I didn’t like. I can’t speak specifically to each dish as there were 20 on our table, and sensory overload. But I will say that all the meat dishes were fork tender. Nothing was over or under seasoned.
Everyone in the staff was really, really nice and answered all questions we had. Service with a smile. The ambiance is laid back and cozy. I recommend!

— between the food and the service, everything is great
— dont go without a resey, and if you must, go early
— if it’s your first time and ur with a group, get one of the variety platters

My wife and I were visiting Amsterdam for the first time from the US and of course we had to try an Indonesian meal that we have heard so much about. We decided on Kartika after reading positive reviews and we were very pleased. The servers were very friendly from the moment we entered and the atmosphere was cozy.
The food of course was the main attraction and it was delightful… come hungry! We did the € 18/​person for two dish and it was plenty! Careful, some of those dishes were both flavorful and fiery, even for a spice lover like me.
I heard many other Indonesian places try to draw in tourists, but this seemed more like a genuine family restaurant. If I lived in Amsetrdam, this would be a regular dining place for me. I hope to get back to Amsterdam and Kartika someday.

There are some great reviews here which I think got my expectations a bit too high. It was good, but I would just say the Unilocal «A-​ok».
When we arrived the place was packed, and a bit smaller and more casual than I imagined. There were two servers for the whole place who seemed really in the weeds so much so that it was stressing me out.
I had the vegetarian rijstafel 18 €pp, which was good, but nothing especially memorable. The rice was a bit dry, but the rest of the food and flavors were decent. The veggie satay in peanut sauce was tasty. I didn’t like the fried banana — it had a weird batter. The coconut juice had a nice twist with added lemon wedges.
It was good overall, but wouldn’t call it a must-​visit.

Well, I can’t leave a review about the food — because we never made it that far… But I can leave a review about the service.
When I asked whether they had a table for four people the answer I got was: «yes, but there’s three things to remember. First reminder — with three people or more you can only order the fixed menu (like a tasting menu with a vegetarian option for 18 euros per person which I think is quite enough). Second reminder — you get the table for 1 hour and 15 minutes. (A policy that I would understand if the place was really busy — but it wasn’t!!!). Third reminder: (I forgot).»
Now I was even willing to forgive that rather unusual and slightly rude treatment. But to top it all off we had two friends joining so we asked for a table for six. There were plenty of empty tables but the waiter couldn’t make a table for six… Add a table or push two together… Or even outside add a small table. No. No. No. Not possible…
That’s when we left and me personally with no desire whatsoever to come back even if the food supposedly is nice…

There are so many Indonesian restaurants to choose from in Amsterdam so went with this one based on the Unilocal reviews.
Tip: Make a reservation. Place is small and fills up with other ppl with reservations.
The service was exceptionally friendly.
I’m not sure why, but since we were a party of 4, we had to order from the set menu. We couldn’t order from the a la carte. We ordered the RAMAYANA (€ 18.50/person)…it was what we came for anyway. Good assortment and all dishes were tasty. The small dishes looked small, but we all were full afterwards. The meat was nice and chunky. I recommend this place if you’re looking for a good Indonesian spot in Amsterdam.

Rijstaffel was excellent. We had the eleven course meal. The servings were not huge but just enough for two. Service was excellent and the food was well prepared and presented.

Oh my rijsttafel!
Kartika waay surpassed my expectations. I had no idea I could taste so many different flavors in one meal!
First of all, get the rijsttafel. It is about 20 euro pp and is the best deal ever. I got the one with meats (because im not vegetarian) and it was the most perfect amount of food.
It came out super quick which was good because I was starving.
Tip: don’t leave any of the sauce/​juices in the dish! Pour it on your rice – best part!
My only complaint is that they are seriously understaffed so it took a long time to get a table even though we had a reservation, had to sit at a sharing table so its a four person table and you are literally sitting next to strangers in close proximity (no big deal though) and you have to flag a busy waiter down for everything… and they’re REALLY busy. They’re very nice though!
The meal took around 2 hours because of the slow service after we finished our meal. The guys sitting next to us were done forl ike 30 minutes before their table was cleared.
I got the black rice dessert and I wasn’t that big of a fan. It was just sweet black rice with ice cream but the ice cream pretty much melted before they served it to me because the rice was so hot. I don’t know if that’s normal because it took forever to come out because I think they literally had to make the rice for me.
Anyway, hands down the best meal I’ve had in Amsterdam during my month long stay.

Horrible staff! The manager was so stressed that he refused to seat us even when there was ample space. We waited to be seated for 15 minutes by a staff member before having to argue with the manager that we were told to wait and he was too aggravated to be polite and rudely told us to leave.
No matter how the food could have been, I will never go there because of the rude dismissal staff

While in Amsterdam Unilocal was my guide to many hidden gems. That is how I came to discover Indonesian food. Having lived in LA I never had a chance to explore this amazing cuisine. It was a very pleasant surprise. They offer a combination menu that makes ordering easy. For € 18 per person we were introduced to a feast that felt like an explosion of taste.
When I get back home I will be hunting for a similar experience.
Thank you

This was quite an enjoyable meal in Amsterdam. Some things really do happen for a reason.
We intended to go to a different Indonesian Restaurant but it was fully booked. We randomly chose Kartika and it was quite busy as well. We were informed that we might have to share a table with another couple later and we were totally fine with it. Little did we know we were going to have a couple from Brooklyn (just like us) and Pennsylvania sit next to us. It was really a shocker!
Anyways, the food was very flavorful. We had the Vegetarian sampler, 18 euros pp. It was a lot of food for 2 people! We were so stuffed but wanted to finish it because of all the good spices. There were 2 dishes that were questionable because of the way it was presented. But overall, well worth the meal. Appetizer consists of two types of chips with peanut sauce and chili sauce. Nothing special because the chips were crushed…
I recommend making reservations because these restaurants seem to fill up fast!

Ein kleines Restaurant, in dem man besser im Vorfeld reservieren sollte, denn der Andrang ist groß.
Als Neulinge der indonesischen Küche bestellten wir gemischte Platten, um einen möglichst breiten Eindruck zu bekommen. Unser Fazit: Das Kartika macht sehr interessante, fein gewürzte Fleischgerichte, wohingegen die meisten Beilagen eher langweilig waren. Der Service war freundlich und schnell, Einrichtung und Gedecke sauber. Im Vergleich zu den anderen indonesischen Restaurants, die wir besucht haben, ist dieses eines der besten gewesen.

On our recent trip to Amsterdam, we wanted to get a taste of the Indonesian food scene thats pretty popular there and so we ended up at Kartika! Right from the minute we stepped in, our experience was wonderful. It was pretty busy but the friendly host quickly got us seated after confirming with us that we wouldn’t mind sharing a table with another duo.
The menu is huge and might need some help understanding. We ordered the Ramayana per the suggestion of the duo sharing our table. They first brought out some fried (prawn flavored) rice chips with sauces as appetizers which we enjoyed. Then came the massive spread of our order, 12 of them each enough to be split between 2 people. Most of the dishes were flavorful and delicious, although we found some of them to be on the sweeter side. The quality of the ingredients used was very good.
All in all it was a great experience and we left the place feeling happy! Would definitely visit again when in Amsterdam!

This place was pretty busy, and we showed up without a reservation. Lucky us, there was one free table. All the dishes were really good, but it would’ve been perfect if they actually varied in spice level. Everything was mild for the most part, but not one lacked flavor, if that makes sense. I would come here again!

Kleines, nettes, indonesisches Restaurant an einer recht lauten Hauptstraße kurz vor der eigentlichen Innenstadt. Man gab uns einen reservierten Tisch mit dem Hinweis wieviel Zeit wir hätten, das war kein Problem für uns. Wir bestellten eine typische Reistafel, die Gerichte kamen sehr schnell, das ist natürlich gut, zeigt aber auch, dass alles nur aus den vorgewärmten Töpfen kam. Nun gut, das ist wahrscheinlich überall so. Ich bin kein ausgewiesener Experte für die indonesische Küche, aber wirklich gut fand ich nur eins von den 12 Gerichten, die anderen waren recht ordentlich, aber auch nicht mehr, da fehlte hier und da die frische Note. Preismäßig ging es gerade so in Ordnung, das indonesische Bier war einfach zu teuer und ob man die nachbestellte Portion weißen Reis mit 3,75 Euro berechnen muss, weiß ich auch nicht. Die Bedienung war sehr nett und freundlich, das Ambiente so wie man es dort erwartet

I’ve had rijsttafel 5x in Amsterdam at several different restaurants — I’m not sure if that is a lot but out of all my friends (Dutchies & expats alike), I have eaten it the most often. This certainly does not make me an expert, it only means I’m a piggy who likes to eat.
Kartika is my favorite Indonesian restaurant for rijsttafels, beating out places like Blauw and Long Pura (Aneka Rasa is owned by the same people). It has the best food quality/​price ratio, authenticity and service without being too gimmicky.
[Update] You can doggy bag any leftovers! And they also do take away.
Food: ⁵⁄₅
Both the Ramayana or the Mahabarata are excellent choices. The Mahabarata is A LOT of food — we had 4 people who are nicknamed bottomless pits for their ability to just keep eating and still ended up with leftovers.
There are too many dishes for me to remember the names of, but the food is delicious e.g. meats are tender, you can actually taste the coconut and saffron, appropriate amounts of spice. They even give you extra sambal on the side if you want to make it hotter.
Service: ⁵⁄₅
The staff is amazingly attentive and explained each dish very carefully. They also didn’t interrupt us while we were eating and only checked in during pauses in our conversation. Not once did I have food in my mouth when they talked to us! Also, they have tap water that is infused with mint and lemons. FREE WATER!!!
Atmosphere: ³⁄₅
The restaurant is very cozy and you are quite close to the other tables which means that it can get quite loud. However, they aren’t so close together that it is difficult for you to get out.
Value: ⁵⁄₅
The Ramayana is around 18 euros/​person and has a great variety of dishes. You will leave with your bellies full, and if you only drink tap water, with your wallet also fuller (than if you had gone somewhere else).