Amsterdam’s Parool newspaper has launched a hunt for the most expensive tourist trap in the city after discovering visitors are happy to pay €13 for a single stroopwafel.

Van Wonderen Stroopwafels in the busy city centre Kalverstraat is the latest TikTok phenomenon in the Dutch capital, and sells tourists the syrup biscuits in three sizes with a range of toppings. The store is so popular it has a doorman to regulate the queues.

Stroopwafel, iemand?!😳🙄😩 pic.twitter.com/aKG3iuLHoT

— Piet Gamelkoorn (@PietGamelkoorn) January 29, 2024

Emma Eager from Finland said she had seen a “cute” film about the company on the social media website and had to visit. “We wanted something sweet,” her companion Emil Puputti told the paper. “Yes it is very expensive of course, but we are on holiday and it’s okay.”

A couple of kilometres down the road, at Rudi’s Original Stroopwafels stall on the Albert Cuyp market, a stroopwafel costs €2.50. Rudi’s was declared the best in the city by the Parool in 2015.

“We’ve been told by Americans to put our prices up … but we have lots of locals as customers and we want to keep them,” said Dennis from behind the counter.

The Parool was so surprised by the prices tourists are willing to pay it has now launched a hunt for the most expensive city snack, be it “French fries or an exclusive oat milk cappuccino”.

Meanwhile, the mega sweet shop Kingdom of Sweets on the nearby Nieuwendijk, one of some 20 such shops in the city centre catering to tourists in need of a sugar hit, has gone bust.