Studio Modijefsky designed the interiors of this riverside bar in Amsterdam, which borrows the design tropes of the city’s time-honoured watering holes.

The studio’s brief was to create a space that feels like it’s been there forever, mixing old and new elements with total ease. Amsterdam is well known for its brown cafés, or bruine kroeg, which have their closest parallel in London’s collection of venerable pubs and derive their name from their brown interior schemes – typically wood-panelled with low lighting and tobacco-stained walls.

At Polly Goudvish, Studio Modijefsky has used tiling, timber panelling, classic dining chairs and a colour palette that leans heavily into the natural colours of wood to lend the space an intensely welcoming atmosphere – and a sense of classic Amsterdam hospitality.

Even so, there are still elements of their playful spirit in the form of striped mosaic floor tiles, twisted table legs and a bright orange neon strip that casts a glow over the Polly Goudvisch bar. The same sense of optimism carries through to the restaurant’s terrace, which is shaded by huge striped parasols and laid out with sage green and pastel pink chairs

Polly Goudvisch’s menu offers plenty of local beers and family recipe classics, including steak tartare and Polly’s tournedos.

Buiksloterweg 3-5, 1031 CC Amsterdam, Netherlands

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