Posts Tagged With: Malls

Japanese curry at Wagamama (Followed by: A Japanese metal band)

Posted on March 3, 2025 by Niki

On Saturday Marco, Roger and I went to the Mall of the Netherlands. We went later in the afternoon which meant the crowds were out in full force. (I know, we were part of the crowds too!) In the end we visited a lot of shops but didn’t buy anything.

Why were we at the mall, you ask? The movie theatre chain Kinepolis had a showing of Babymetal: Legend 43 – the movie, which Roger wanted to see. Babymetal is a Japanese metal band. The movie is an edited version of a concert Babymetal held in Okinawa at the end of their tour last year. The showing was pretty fun, although I am definitely not the right audience for a metal band. There were some interesting editing choices, including adding fake film distortion. But it was fun, as I said.

Before the movie, we stopped at Wagamama to get some dinner. As did everyone else in the mall. It was quite busy at the restaurants (of course). Wagamama didn’t have enough staff to handle the demand, although the staff that were there were definitely working hard.

This time I tried the Japanese curry. It was really nice, and exactly what I wanted. However, the version Marco made for me last month had an even richer, deeper umami flavor that this version didn’t quite capture. So he’ll be happy to know he needs to make that for me again…

As you can see above, the chicken is cut in half and the bed of rice is laid between it. The salad was also really nice; it paired really well with the heavier flavors.

Finally, here is the yuzu dessert Marco chose which I had a few bites of.

All in all a fun day!

Categories: Food, Shopping | Tags: Malls | Leave a comment

Christmas decorations (Or: Spotted at the Mall of the Netherlands)

Posted on December 25, 2024 by Niki

Did you know the Mall of the Netherlands is quite busy in the week leading up to Christmas?

Of course you did. And so did I. But somehow I still went for a few hours, before I made a strategic retreat to the tram… aka, fleeing from the crowds.

Here’s a look at one of the Christmas decorations:

This decoration was outside of the America Today clothing store, which is a chain found in The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg. (Those three countries also go by the term Benelux which amuses me whenever I see it. Read more at Wikipedia.)

Categories: Shopping | Tags: Malls | Leave a comment

Christmas trees (Or: Crowds at the Mall of the Netherlands)

Posted on December 24, 2023 by Niki

I decided to go to the Mall of the Netherlands yesterday (the Saturday right before Christmas), but at least I was smart enough to go right when they opened at 10:00. I also left around 13:00, around the time it was really starting to get busy.

Here are some of the Christmas-y photos I took. First, a photo of the Disney Christmas tree for my parents (although we don’t actually have a Disney store in the Netherlands):

Here was a photo of another Christmas tree, with less theming this time:

And here was a pretty cool decoration of a reindeer hanging in the air:

It was pretty festive all and all. And did I mention it was busy? The photos don’t do it justice, but I took those right after the mall opened. But I consider it a successful trip as I was able to get a few more small gifts.

Categories: Holidays, Shopping | Tags: Christmas, Malls | Leave a comment

Eating habits (Or: How they can change)

Posted on July 5, 2023 by Niki

Last weekend I had a day off so I decided to visit the Mall of the Netherlands. It is for the most part a very American looking mall, with dazzling store fronts and small food stands set up in the middle of the walkway. When it first opened I was surprised to see that the mall’s owner is Westfield. I found that particularly interesting considering I lived near a Westfield mall growing up in the US, so it felt like a piece of home.

For lunch I decided to go to the food court on the upper level of the mall. Technically I am European enough these days to want to write that it is on the 1st floor, but any American readers might think I mean ground floor if I say that… (Ground floor = 0 or “BG” for begane grond.)

After walking around looking at the options I chose Laffa, a place which serves Middle Eastern street food. I went for the falafel, which was of course delicious.

That made me realize that eating habits definitely do change, at least for the most part. I hate peas (still do), but if you grind them up or change the texture I am much more likely to appreciate them. I love falafel, I love roti bread.

Back when I was a kid I was mostly enjoyed chicken fingers. Heh. I still have a memory of scrapping spaghetti into a trash can when no one was around as a young picky eater, not realizing that it would be very obvious if anyone looked into the trash can or saw the marks on my plate. Obviously I was caught. For the record, I am still not a fan of spaghetti, but I do love penne. Growing up we called it mostaccioli.

Who knew I would move here and get to eat Vietnamese, or sushi, or Indian, or Indonesian, or Greek whenever I want. Of course, I still need to broaden my horizons a bit more. But it is a start.

Categories: Food | Tags: Malls | Leave a comment

Tough decisions (Or: La Catrina in the Mall of the Netherlands)

Posted on February 27, 2022 by Niki

Earlier this month Marco and I went to the Mall of the Netherlands when we both had a rare day off. For lunch we decided to have tacos at La Catrina:

Tough decisions indeed. I think I would go with chicken tacos. As you can see we did the mix and match option so that we could try all three of the tacos – beef, pork and chicken. The chicken and the pork were great. The beef taco was okay but it was clearly the least of the three as it was a bit dry that day. But still tasty.

We also ordered tortilla chips with some extra guacamole:

They were tasty and hit the spot for a light lunch. I also posted this picture so you could see the band around Marco’s wrist. We visited when most corona measures were still in effect, so we had to wear a face mask inside the mall and show a QR code via the CoronaCheck app. Since then most measures have been rescinded, with the exception of face masks and mandatory corona tests for indoor events with more than 500 participants.

The mall approached the QR code check in a smart way. If you wanted to visit the upper floor where the restaurants and movie theaters were, then you would have your QR code scanned downstairs before taking the escalator up. You would receive a wristband to let the companies upstairs know that you had your QR code scanned so that they did not need to do so again.

If you want to visit La Catrina they have locations in the Mall of the Netherlands, Foodhall Scheveningen and Market33 in Amsterdam.

Categories: Food | Tags: Malls | Leave a comment

Fireworks at Wagamama (Or: The firecracker curry)

Posted on September 2, 2021 by Niki

During our visit to the Mall of the Netherlands last Friday, Marco and I stopped at Wagamama for a late lunch. (We refer to it as Wagamama’s for whatever reason, but technically the name isn’t possessive.) Wagamama is Japanese for “disobedient” or “willful”. The restaurant usually translates it as “naughty child”. The first restaurant opened in 1992 in London.

It is styled after the quick tempo of Japanese ramen eateries where you get in, get your food and get out. The eateries are usually pretty small so it is considered rude to take the seat for too long. At Wagamama this usually translates in everyone’s food arriving as soon as it is ready, rather than the entire table getting served at the same time. They always mention this beforehand, though. We didn’t get that speech or get our food separately this time, for whatever reason. Maybe they were done at similar times anyway.

As silly as it might sound, my favorite memory was of the Wagamama in Boston, where after the meal Marco and Roger ordered desserts and coffee. I saw on the menu that the tea was actually free (!) back then, so I ordered that. I think it was just a simple green tea. It arrived in this cute little cup and the warm tea really hit the spot.

Above is the dish I chose: firecracker curry. As the name suggests, it is spicy. The sauce underneath does have a sweet kick to it, though. This time I didn’t think it was overly spicy, although I did avoid eating the dried red peppers (but I did eat all of the fresh ones!). The first time I had it I guarded every drop of water like it was the most precious thing on earth. I do miss the curry I used to have at Wagamama, though. Surendra’s curry (home recipe from mob kitchen.co.uk).

Marco’s yaki soba teppanyaki. Teppanyaki is a noodle dish where the noodles and vegetables are baked on a flat pan, with everything turned quickly enough that the noodles stay soft but the vegetables turn crispy. His was with chicken and shrimp. The red bit on top is fresh ginger, which is always heavenly.

I am not a huge fan of noodles which can limit the choices of meals I would order at Wagamama. But everything always looks so tasty!

Categories: Food | Tags: Malls, Restaurants | Leave a comment

Mall of the Netherlands (Or: Like an inexpensive trip to America?)

Posted on August 30, 2021 by Niki

The Mall of the Netherlands opened earlier this year. It is definitely an American style mall, complete with kiosks in the middle of the walkways. The owner is Westfield (the company that owns a lot of American malls) so it does make sense.

First, the cutest photo ever, of the Nijntje store! Nijntje is a cartoon rabbit. She goes by Miffy in English translations.

And then Hema – I love the facade and touch of green. And as noted, there’s a kiosk in the middle of the walkway.

What mall isn’t complete without a peanut butter store (below)? pindakaas = peanut butter.

The joke on the bag is Pindakaas, in geval van noot or Peanut butter, in case of emergency. Normally it is “in geval van nood”, but they switched out nood (emergency) for noot (nut in English).

(It’s a lot cooler if you don’t have to explain it, I swear.)

And finally, a huge cart artwork which doubles as a slide for kids (the front paws are the slide).

So we can finally say that the Netherlands has a proper mall. American style, at least.

Categories: Shopping | Tags: HEMA, Malls | Leave a comment

A day out (Or: Hoog Catharijne mall in Utrecht)

Posted on August 18, 2019 by Niki

A few weeks ago Marco and I went to Utrecht for half a day. It’s about a 45 minute train ride – when the trains ride properly anyway. There were some issues that day, so I think it took about an hour and a half to get there. Opps! It’s a city in the middle of the Netherlands with about 350,000 residents.

The main reason for this trip was to visit the Hoog Catharijne mall, which has probably been under renovation for years. At least it seemed that way. I don’t think it is completely done, but the parts that are done look really good. Check it out:

The area between the mall (pictured) and the station (behind us) is semi-covered by the artistic roof above, although Marco says it doesn’t help 100% when it rains on a windy day. Ha!

Inside the mall – looking down on one of the wings. The pretty big for Dutch standards (about 42,000 square meters) but American malls are generally larger.

And just outside the mall in one of the canals is a piece of art: a whale made of plastic. Of course, a statement on plastic in the oceans.

And a close-up look at the whale from the front:

It’s a nice day trip, especially when you a combine it with a tour of the older parts of the city (which we did a few years back).

Categories: Marco&Niki, Shopping, Utrecht | Tags: Art, Malls | 2 Comments

Haagse hopjes (Or: Wall decorations at MegaStores)

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Niki

A few weeks ago Marco and I went to MegaStores. We mainly wanted to visit Woonexpress XL, a furniture store like Ikea where you have one path with different sections of the home along the route. At the end of the path is the storeroom with the larger items seen along the way (like shelving, drawers, etc.) for you to take. Beyond that you have the cash registers and the exit.

And what is MegaStores? It’s basically an indoor mall (a rarity for the Netherlands, unfortunately) full of mostly furniture shops. Marco and I both find it a bit disappointing as having only furniture shops definitely limits its appeal. I’ve only been there a few times myself, with one of those times to buy our two couches from Sanders. Of course, you do have some other generic Dutch stores here (Xenos, Kruidvat, Hema and similar) but since you can find them anywhere, there’s no great need to go here. Except that it is indoors, always a plus during bad weather.

One of the interesting highlights is a wall decoration of “Haagse hopjes”, a coffee candy made in The Hague. They are delicious. You can get them almost anywhere, including the VVV tourist branch in the The Hague public library’s central branch. Or cheaper at places like Xenos, but most tourists do not realize that.

Haagse hopjes wall decoration at MegaStores

Haagse hopjes wrappers as a wall decoration

I’ve posted about MegaStores before, with one post about how Dutchies tend to visit furniture stores on Easter Monday or to show the awesome escalator layout (and one VERY ugly rug – seriously, you’ve been warned).

One final thing – MegaStores also has interesting toilet facilities from a company called 2theloo. You can see pictures of some of the toilet stalls at Megastores. Each toilet stall has a different “theme”. Each visit costs €0.60, but keep in mind a lot of toilets in the Netherlands charge at least €0.50 and unless you are eating at a restaurant or some cafés you will have to pay. In this country most toilets are maintained by an outside company.

I haven’t had to use 2theloo, but if I ever do I’ll be sure to write a blog post about it and let you know which “theme” I chose. Haha.

Categories: Shopping | Tags: Candy, Malls, MegaStores | Leave a comment

Crib puppies (Or: At the Fox Valley Mall)

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Niki

One of the places that we visited during our trip to Chicago was the Fox Valley Mall, which is in one of the suburbs.

There is a store to buy… puppies! Of course all of the puppies are showcased in baby cribs. Can’t have it any other way.

The one big rule is that you do not reach in to pet the puppies – although when we were there, there were two girls who oooh’d and ahhh’d as they reached in. The puppy calmly rolled over and let its belly get scratched. (A few seconds later a worker came over and politely asked them to stop.)

A bundle of cuteness, though who knows how long they have to wait in the crib before being taken back to the backroom and allowed to rest away from the prying gaze of people. I’ve also always found it a bit odd that there isn’t much of a blanket for them to lay on, though I am sure accidents are frequent in this line of business.

But they sure are cute.

And one picture of the mall’s Christmas tree to close things off. 🙂

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Dogs, Malls | 1 Comment