Alkmaar's restaurant scene is small but reasonable, clustered around the Waagplein, the Mient, and the Verdronkenoord canal. Dutch staples — bitterballen, pancakes, herring from the stalls — are on every menu. The traditional thing to eat here is cheese, fresh from the market: ask in the dairy shops around the Waagplein for unpasteurised farmhouse Gouda or aged boerenkaas, often available in small wedges to take away.
For the local sweet treat, look for Alkmaarse jongens — small soft mini-pancakes (poffertjes) served warm with butter and powdered sugar. Several stalls and cafés around the Waagplein serve them, and they go particularly well with a kopstootje (small beer and gin chaser) in the late afternoon.