And then it was Friday again, the start of the first (free) weekend of the year. Where can you go with peace of mind? To here for example:

The School - The dreamed-for successor to Club Trouw has been open since January 3, by the people behind Club Trouw. 24-hour club, gym, Café DS (DS stands for The School of course) for hanging out 7 days a week, laptops, neighborhoods and what not from breakfast to dinner. AND, and that is important in this case: the 'fine dining' restaurant, Restaurant DS, for a 3, 4 or 5 course menu - ridiculously well paid, really very tasty, and those teething problems will probably have gone away by the weekend. The school

Hangar - The last opening of the old year was that of Restaurant Hangar in Amsterdam North, next to old favorite Hotel de Goudfazant. There is now a new (old, because from Bar Mustache) chef (the previous chef is still around, but he helped get things started) and a new menu (which makes us love that new old chef a little bit). . We can already tell you: that's a nice one! You can of course order anything, that's true, but it would be a missed opportunity if you had the lobster (small piece) with scallop and fennel (as a starter), in between the tortellini (sort of) with pumpkin, truffle and butter sauce (man so tasty), and then again lobster and bavette, for example. And from next week there will be a truly divine chocolate fondant on the menu, which we have already tasted. Oh, and then we really stop: let the nicest waitress in the place (you'll recognize her) pour you her favorite wines - sure to be a success (even the 'ordinary chardonnay from Francis Coppola', which, we concluded, is the only chardonnay is the one we (we, and our nice waitress) really like. Hangar has it) Anyway, Hangar, the second round, because we like it. Hangar

MaMa Kelly pop up - The lobster, the chicken and the atmosphere that we know from The Hague, but then for more than a week in Amsterdam, in the Rai during the Horecava (but you hardly notice anything). momma kelly

Workshop - On January 6, Atelier opened, aka Restaurant Atelier aka Schinkelatelier aka the restaurant-cafe that could well turn out to be the most colorful of 2016. Good and colorful food, but also a bit of no-nonsense, that's the promise, plus table dancing in the end. Reserve that trade. Atelier

Forest & Lobster - In Bos en Lommer, for lobster, since that (suddenly) turns out to be the theme of this list. What else can one say about that? Forest & Lobster

Sea Salt Saloon - Take the train to Utrecht where this week the Sea Salt Saloon opened; recommended! Just like Luc en Le Jardin incidentatlly.

Graceland BAR-B-Q - Because there's no better way to start the new year than with the blues, a bit of country music, and comfort food. Graceland

Image on the right is De School via @moamamsterdam