You won’t easily find bars that spend more time and love on decorating than this one. Café Ruk & Pluk in east Amsterdam is a one-of-a-kind. It’s a crazy place. Feast your eyes on the photos, balloons, ribbons, party lights and all things shiny and fun, while listening to classic tunes of Dutch folk singers. Oma only visited once, but as a true Amsterdammer she loved it straight away. “It’s a typical Amsterdam café. With a lot of Dutch sing-a-longs. When you’re going for a night on the town, this place will get you in the mood straight away.”
Ruk & Pluk is managed by Jannie, Marijke and Christina. Besides cool drinks, these ladies will take care of you with typical Dutch snacks. Think herring, fried snacks, cheese, peanut butter, soup, crisps and sausages. Every Sunday between 17:00 and 18:00 you can even order a beer for 1 euro. Ruk & Pluk isn’t just a café for people from ‘Oost’. They state on there Facebook page that all is welcome. Written in all-caps and a lot of exclamation marks.
Who’s Oma?
Oma is one of Volkshotel’s veterans. She’s been working here for 6,5 years now and isn’t planning to stop. She first started working in the night at the cloakroom of Canvas. After that she was Canvas’ host for all party people entering Canvas. Now Oma is Volkshotel’s beloved canteen lady and makes sure all staff is happy and fed. You might wonder if Oma is her real name. Well, it’s not. Actually her name is Wil. But ever since her granddaughter was working at Canvas and called her ‘oma’ (grandma in Dutch), she became everyone’s oma.
Ruk & Pluk
Linnaeusstraat 48
1092 CM Amsterdam
Facebook page
Amsterdam Oost map
Find more hotspots like this on our Amsterdam Oost map. A local guide to adventure. Illustrated by Broedplaats artist Egidius Bink and available for all of our hotel guests.
(Photos by Rink Hof)