(cinnamon rolls and adjacent baked goods I tried in Amsterdam and what I thought)

By Chiamaka Ojigbani, Universiteit van Amsterdam

I had my first cinnamon roll in Amsterdam, and immediately became addicted. Here are my recommendations to add to your rotation:

Et Claire
Excessively fancy café in Zuid. 7/10. The bun had a unique shape and had some orange flavours involved. It had a jam-like filling and good dough texture.

Scandinavian Embassy
Cute, aesthetic café in De Pijp. I didn’t fully enjoy this (6/10) but I don’t typically enjoy Scandi-style viennoiserie. I find them too doughy, and I think this one didn’t have enough cinnamon or sugar on the inside (though it was topped with pearl sugar). The sugar on top made it a fun textural experience, though.

louf
Pinterest worthy bakery in West. Very delicious. It was flaky croissant-style laminated layers, with a cinnamon and almond filling. It reminded me of an elevated supermarket cinnamon roll. 7/10

brioche.
I ate this cinnamon roll 30 minutes after the louf one (this day I tried going bakery hopping but stopped after 2 spots after I remembered I needed money to eat for the rest of the month :/). This was the first ‘real’ cinnamon roll I had. I think it was amazing and exactly what I imagined a cinnamon roll should taste like. The only thing was, they were very sparse with the cream cheese icing, which had a strange citrus-y flavour. This wasn’t necessarily bad but unexpected to top a cinnamon roll. 8/10. I also ate a pain au chocolat here – it was pretty good. It’s a genuine French bakery with a completely French staff, too.

SALVO Bakehouse
This bakery is somewhere in West. The cinnamon roll was incredible. Sticky, good level of cinnamon, simply divine. My only critique is the lack of icing. 9.5/10

Fort Negen
This cinnamon roll really disappointed me, especially as it was meant to be my birthday treat </3. I waited in a decent sized queue, chose the cinnamon roll croissant and cycled to a sunny patch of grass only to bite into my sweet treat and be hit by oiliness. The dough had zero flavour. I don’t recall the level of cinnamon being particularly impressive, either. Good pastry lamination, though. 4/10

Supermarket cinnamon rolls
Lidl bakery in the Netherlands SUCKS (and that’s coming from a former UK Lidl bakery addict), so I didn’t try theirs (if they even have one). My favourite was the Dirk one. Rating ranges from 7-9/10 depending on how fresh they are. When I discovered how good they are, I probably bought them twice a week, to the extent that I had to quit supermarket bakery for Lent. Saved my wallet and my blood sugar</3. I later discovered that the Jumbo cinnamon roll is identical. The Albert Heijn kannelbroodje definitely grew on me over the year. 7.5/10.

Bakhuys
I really enjoyed this cinnamon roll. It was in the classic style, soft, just the right amount of icing. I ate it on a warm summer day on their terrace. Amazing experience. 8.5/10 + bonus for the overall ambiance of the café. Beautiful interior design where you can see the bakers at work. It is right by the UvA Roeterseiland campus so you can pop in for lunch too. Their cheese pizza is just pizza, but I still enjoyed it a lot, and had it twice. They have packaged items to take home and, the playlist is amazing.

4850
This bistro / café is a 10 minute walk from the Roeterseiland campus. This was a Scandi-style roll. I had it when I visited Amsterdam this past September after moving out (I just couldn’t stay away T_T) Despite what I said earlier, I enjoyed this. It was soft, sweet and moist. Maybe the other one was a blip idk. I’d give this one a solid 7.5/10.

Honorary mentions:

L’AMANDE in Utrecht
I remember nothing about this except that it was fantastic and very sticky. 8.5/10

Kuro Bakery in London
My cinnamon roll expertise is international. This was a very interesting and extremely overpriced cinnamon roll but it was a solid 8.5/10. It cost SIX BRITISH POUNDS (around 7euros) which is genuinely crazy (all of the cinnamon rolls mentioned cost 4-5 euro each). Wayyyyy too much icing which found its way into every crevice but the flavours of the icing and the dough and the level of cinnamon were perfect and it was huge. You could even share it if you’re feeling generous. It was a real treat.

Selma’s
I had a cardamon bun here. I hated it. But, that was my first time eating one. I had this a few weeks before I tried the Scandinavian Embassy cinnamon roll and I found them to have similar dough texture. Don’t knock it till you try it, though. I just prefer cardamon in savoury dishes. It had crunchy things on top (cardamon ? pumpkin seeds ?) which was nice at the start, then became a bit overwhelming. If you try it let me know what you think, or if you have a spot you think is worth trying.