NEMO Museum Restaurant

Good stuff

• Kid-first design, from unbreakable plates to climb-able seating 

• Wide range of food and drink

• The roof terrace has lots to entertain kids (and adults) if they get fidgety

Beware

• Can get very busy in holidays and lunchtime

• The roof terrace is not sealed, so kids could escape down to the road if they were so minded

• The terraced landscape means that there are some steps with pretty big drops, so you need to keep an eye on wobbly toddlers

• The strong emphasis on kids and families may be a bit much on certain days, depending on your mood

The full details

We have spent a lot of time at NEMO. As Museumkaart holders, it has been our default option for getting out of the house on Amsterdam’s frequent wet weather days. 

But we have only been to the rooftop cafe twice before, both times over a year ago and once involving a lot of projectile vomit (not linked to the NEMO food). So it's not a place I feel I know well and thought time was ripe for a proper examination.

We arrived at the peak of the lunchtime rush, which made the queue to choose and pay for food honestly quite stressful. Small toddler was woken up from his nap after only 30mins. Not a great start. 

But things actually improved a lot from there. We took a seat and demolished our croissants, appelsap and coffee. The cafeteria-style service works well if you need to top up anyone's quotas without too much waiting around.

Then it was time to explore outside. Of course, the views from the rooftop terrace are amazing. But what I hadn't appreciated on previous visits was that NEMO has really treated the space as a continuation of the museum. The Energetica exhibition includes a number of interactive installations demonstrating how energy can be captured from nature.

What this means in practice is there is a lot of water. The boys did a reconnaissance circuit of the grounds and quickly homed in on the shallow splash pool with fountains bursting up here and there. They immediately got completely soaked. 

At the same time there were kids of all ages enjoying the different installations. I think the space has been really well designed to give visitors of all ages something to engage with, a place to blow off steam or a moment to relax - whichever is their strongest need. 

If you are looking for somewhere with a more ‘grown up’ energy then NEMO is not the place - it’s really a lot of kids. But, for me at least, I’m often not in a place to be so choosy. This trip made me realise that we have been overlooking the NEMO rooftop cafe for too long. Now we just have to make up for lost time.