Johannes van Dam is currently living out his dream, performing famously in his role as the number one restaurant reviewer in Amsterdam. He works for the newspaper “Het Parool” and is currently spending his Sunday morning at a his local coffee shop reading his own review in the newspaper, smiling ruefully.

He is happy to talk to me and motions out at the rainy street. “This was a canal about 30 years ago,” he nods, looking over his glasses. “Then we build road because we not need that canal anymore.”

He shakes the newspaper and backhand slaps his review in a gesture of disbelief. He utters some Dutch explicative while laughing, and then stabs at his column with his finger. “This is a good review my friend!”