Het Ballonnetje

[westerkerk]

No experiences of the 21+ myself but I saw the sign in the window. Not sure if they would check this if you look older than 18.

A lot of places employ a policy that if you look under 21 or 25 they will ID you as a general rule. I'm 25, but have been ID'd regularly at coffeeshops. My wife is 30 and gets ID'd (which she is most pleased about!). We always carry our ID cards with us so no big deal.

Het Ballonje is pretty good. If not great. I got the White Balloon from there. Supremely powerful high, smoked it outside with a cappuccino and it gave me a nice buzz for my long walk down to Greenhouse Tolstraat.

Definately be going back there next week.

[celeste]

I love the Ballonnetje. I was first introduced to it via a comic book by Amsterdam resident Andy Sparrow



http://www.jet-metal.com/comics/das/

[mrpinkeye]

really like this place for the backgammon and chess upstairs

[westerkerk]

I love the Ballonnetje. I was first introduced to it via a comic book by Amsterdam resident Andy Sparrow



http://www.jet-metal.com/comics/das/

Now that comic is just ace

[cattales1960]

A group of us went here after the Imagine film festival. We had a blast. Very relaxed shop. Lot of locals. staff very nice cheap prices and good smoke! I think it was the silver haze that had everyone smiling. lol. Its a bit out of the way but not far from some tourist stuff like the horticus is close. about a 40 min walk from niew markt. I recommend the tram if long walks are hard.

[Marnixstraat]

One of my favorite coffeeshop, the little gem outside of the center .. prices are cheap, last time I've paid less than 2.5euros for a candy and a looza.

You can chill outside and look at those beautiful girls going to the University !

A true local relaxing local spot (and a decent menu !)

[cattales1960]

The smoke O was talking about is the silver pearl. We enjoyed it much.

[stoni]

Nice shop with good atmosphere and allways worth a walk. Good quality reasonable prices!

[archambaut]

Popped in here - memory a bit vague due to some earlier cheese,
I do remember getting a coffee and Silver Pearl at 9/g.
According to my notes:
'Mad, strong and rushy.Good Buy'

And Nepal at 7/g - soft squishy black. Spicy but smooth
and very clear high.

I expect I'll go again just to see what I 'missed' last time

[rainbowchild]

this is one of Amsterdams little hidden places with hidden treasures, an absolutely lovely place with local people whom are so welcoming, u can just buy or as I did, just sit and enjoy the atmosphere, the weed was a fab price and a great quality, White Russian @ 9 euros a pop is worth the bash, also the ak 47 n amnesia, they will giv the seasoned smoker the love will be back in 2012....enjoy....

[sellvegas]

my friend lives above this place - and ive been told on several encounters there weed is shit - if they are truly a sister shop of rusland they gotta have something good - im gonna check it out first hand in nov and give me feedback!

[stints]

seems like the houeboat we are staying at in january is around the corner from this place does anyone have a recent menue?

[Balou]

I ventured out to Het Ballonnetje on the way to the Ij Brouwerij. Small shop mainly filled with locals and a couple of students upstairs. I bought a gram of the White Ballon, really nice looking and tasting strain. The girl working behind the bar serving drinks was pretty easy on the eyes too. And did I mention they have Dr. Pepper! Not the easiest drink to find in Amsterdam. One last thing, the stairs are very steep and the steps insanely tiny.

[Pierre von Mondragon]

This was the nearest c/s to my apartment, just been, only 2 mins away maximum, I got 2gs of Amnesia Haze which was very nice, burned cleanly and smoothly in a pure joint, saw the second half of the Man City/Utd derby, which was good. The best stuff was the top Hash selection, Morrocan Schoenzools, I think, shoesoles, I was told when I went back for more, bought 3gs of this, high on some now, excellent and about 12 or 14E

However I only spent the duration of the match there, and left quicker than shit through a goose, due to the egregious constant EuroTrance, almost the worst genre ever, (maybe Nu Metal is worse), and just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, there came on a rash of the worst type of 80s pop, Eurotranced up to fuck!...Nice place, best place ever if you are perhaps deaf, loving the Eurotrance, or both, there must be a large Venn crossover for these groups, surely.

[Spaldwickapeface]

So we head south after visiting the zoo as I had read good things about this quite little coffeeshop, I was not disappointed in the slightest. As you walk in the drinks bar is straight in front of you, the bud tender is over in the right hand corner of the downstairs room. I ordered myself a nice coffee and saved myself a spot at the large table as I went to look through the menu. There is also seatting upstairs but we did not go up there.

The first thing you notice is the price, no tourist rip off here that's for sure (come to think about it we were the only people speaking in English in the shop). I ordered one gram of crystal at €8 I use the lower end weeds as a tobaco replacement for my beloved hashish when in Dam so I thought this would suffice. The weed was of good quality and defenatly deserved the name crystal it was white and seemed to shimmer with THC, am sure this weed would have been a top smoke on its own

I also ordered a gram of their Dutch Hash at €9, I know that this is not €30 plus quality isolator but I do like a bit of strong hash and at that price who can complain? When we smoked this draw it had an industrial almost oilly taste and an immediate effect like BANG you are now wasted! This was the strongest Hash I had experianced that trip so far, I remember thinking that I was so stonned that I might be struggling to make it to the Ajax match that evening, I did get there in the end. I managed to get the rest of the gram back to Britain and smoked it with my supplier here, now this guy smokes a lot of top quality weed, but said that this was the most stonned he has ever been, I sniggered 'well come with me on a future trip'. I would recommend this hash to anyone

So we sat around the big table with a couple of locals, the atmosphere in the coffeeshop was probably the favourite of my trip, we were made to feel really welcome even if we were only tourists. The sun was shinning in through the largest front windows and a couple of guys sat on the bench outside smoking away. We must have stayed for about three quarters of an hour but I could have stayed for life.

If more of the coffeshops were like Het Ballonnetje than the city would be a better place. I will be visiting again on my first day of this weeks trip for my mid afternoon smoke after a visit to the de Gooyer windmill brewery that is situated to the east of the Artis Zoo. Roll on Thursday! 4.75/5