Rotterdam for foodies From meals on wheels to rooftop dining and Cool craft beers

HANG on tight if you sit out the back on a water taxi in Rotterdam. Time is money in Europe’s biggest port, so forget snapping at the skyscrapers or your smartphone might just end up bleeping with the fishes. R’dam, as the Netherlands’ second city is known by its 630,000 inhabitants, moves at a brisker pace than Amsterdam.

It is also an architects’ and Instagrammers’ playground. Much of the historic city was obliterated by the Luftwaffe in 1940 but, in the eight decades since, it has reinvented itself as a “Rottermandamhattan”. The city’s skyline is dominated by towering monuments to modernism along the waterfront, with overhanging floors and other gravity-defying flourishes.

Besides the water taxis, a rapid metro system and an extensive tram network were developed as the city rose from the ashes of the war. Many of the central shopping areas are pedestrianised and wide pavements abound, making for pleasant strolling, though don’t expect to see many canals – most were filled with rubble and covered over after the blitz of 1940.

In 2014, the city unveiled another colossal construction, the Markthal, a horseshoe-shaped homage to food that is home to more than 80 fresh produce stands, food shops and restaurants. And this summer, the opening of the Rotterdam Foodhallen in Wilhelminakade has made the city an even hotter destination for foodies.

I stay at the Room Mate Bruno, a newly opened luxury boutique hotel in the same converted warehouse. It stands in the shadow of the city’s most eye-catching landmark, the De Rotterdam tower block, and is just a three-minute walk from the Wilhelminaplein metro station. A 10-minute walk over the new Rijnhaven footbridge takes you to the Fenix Food Factory in Veerlaan, a farmers’ market that has cropped up in another converted warehouse. A butcher, a baker and a cheese maker rub shoulders with other entrepreneurs serving coffee, cider and beer.

Hats off to the Kaapse Brouwers brewery, whose 30 draught offerings include a gluten-free Karel ale, which I caress on a bench on the quayside.

Where: Join the tram at Willemsplein. Climb on board a restored vintage tram and take your seat for a four-course dinner,