Why We Really Call Ourselves a Neighbourhood Café
It's on our website, our menu, our Instagram. Here's the story behind those two words.
"A cozy neighbourhood café." We say it a lot. It's an easy phrase to put on a website — most cafés could use it.
But for us it isn't a tagline. It's the literal, by-hand truth of how this place still exists. And to explain that, we have to go back to a fire.
A café that was just finding its feet
Bluey's opened its doors in July 2020 — not exactly the easiest moment to start a hospitality business. Cousins Loeki and Timo had a clear idea: specialty coffee, a generous all-day brunch, and a space that belonged to everyone on Zeeburgereiland. In a part of Amsterdam where there still wasn't all that much, a warm café with swing seats and a plant-swap table goes a long way.
We named the place after Bluey's Beach in Australia — which, in turn, is named after a cow that drowned there. (We liked that story enough to adopt a cow ourselves, at the farm where we get our milk.)
We made it through the COVID years, and things were finding their rhythm. Then came 15 October 2022.
15 October 2022
In the early hours of Saturday 15 October 2022, the fire brigade was called out to the Eef Kamerbeekstraat. The café was closed at the time. There was a lot of smoke — enough that it spread up into the apartments above us, and around fifteen homes had to be evacuated while the brigade worked to find the source.
The one thing we will never stop being grateful for: no one was hurt. One person was checked on site for smoke inhalation and didn't need to go to hospital. Everyone was able to return home that day.
The café was not so lucky. The damage was severe. In the end, BLUEY'S was declared a total loss.
The part that still gets us
Here's what we didn't expect.
We thought rebuilding would be a lonely job — insurance forms, contractors, a quiet shell of a café and the two of us trying to figure out how to start over. Instead, the neighbourhood showed up.
The crowdfunding campaign that helped us survive the months with no income? Organised by the woman who lives upstairs. The cleaning, the scraping, the painting — done by volunteers. People who'd had their morning coffee with us, who'd worked from our quiet corner, who'd brought their kids in for a smoothie bowl. They picked up brushes and got to work.
It took a year and a half. Eighteen months of closed doors in a neighbourhood where, frankly, there isn't a lot else around. That's a long time to keep a promise alive.
Coming home — with something extra
On Saturday 29 June 2024, we reopened. We threw a party for the people who got us there: activities for the kids, live music, good food, good drinks. The way a comeback should be celebrated — together.
And we didn't come back smaller. We came back with a brand-new Deli alongside the café. After everything, that felt right: not just patching up what we lost, but adding something to the corner that had carried us.
"The support we've received has been overwhelming." — Loeki Kin
So when we say "neighbourhood café"
We mean it the way you'd mean it about the people who showed up with paintbrushes.
When people tell us Bluey's feels like home, like a friend's living room, like a real local gem — that isn't an accident, and it isn't marketing. It's how this place was rebuilt: by neighbours, by hand, over a year and a half.
So: come as guests, leave as mates. We mean it more than most.
You'll find us at Eef Kamerbeekstraat 182, on Zeeburgereiland. Coffee from the morning, brunch all day, and a Deli that wasn't here before the fire.
We're glad you're here. Take your time.
Sources for the timeline in this piece: Brandweer Nederland (fire report, 15 October 2022), de Brug / debrugkrant.nl (reopening, June 2024), and oost-online.amsterdam.