Posts Tagged With: Restaurants

Restaurants (Or: Drinking water in the Netherlands)

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Niki

Today I met up with Marco after he finished with work and we did some Thursday night shopping (as the stores are open later on Thursdays around here). Afterwards, we had dinner at one of the restaurants in the area. I ordered hamburger schotel which was close enough to a hamburger for me. I just asked that they didn’t put the baked egg on there that the menu mentioned. ;p

Marco and I also ordered two bottles of water:

bottle of water in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands, you are less likely to see glasses of water at restaurants. If you are served a bottle of water and an empty glass to pour the water into, this is their way of proving that they did not just put tap water in there. However, they usually serve the bottle to you with the lid already removed, so who knows…

And there are also no free refills. I have adapted alright to this. The first few visits to the Netherlands, I was still addicted to diet coke (cola light) which I think made me even more thirsty so I drank even more. But around April or May of last year, I cut out diet coke for the most part and switched to water. It seems to have worked pretty well. Though I did enjoy having diet coke over Christmas!

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Twelfth day (Or: Some keys of my own)

Posted on December 29, 2012 by Niki

One of the trips that Marco and I made this week was to the key shop to make copies of his keys (apartment entrance key, apartment door key, and mailbox key). 🙂

my own Dutch apartment keys

In my defense, I did not ask for the kitty design. It was just the one that they currently had available. ;p (But it does make it easier to tell the three keys apart, that’s for sure!)

Marco, Roger and I also went to Sumo (sushi and grilled restaurant) for dinner. In that restaurant, you are served in rounds, and it is all you can eat (if you arrive at 5PM like we did, you can eat until 7:30PM).

sake at a sushi restaurant

A drink of sake!

You can have up to 6 rounds of food, and you can have 5 items per person per round (so really it’s just a maximum of 15 total).

food at a sushi restaurant

round 1 of 4 (the first few dishes – probably about 6 or 7 more to arrive). Mostly sushi, with some chicken on the left and some mixed fruit in coconut sauce on the bottom (the last being sooo delicious)

We got to round 4, though we took it slow and ended at 7:30PM.

Dessert is your choice of an ice cream scoop. I had green tea, Marco had mango, and Roger had red bean ice cream. Good stuff! Next time I definitely need to try the mango ice cream, as it definitely had a kick to it.

ice cream at a sushi restaurant

Mango ice cream on the left, red bean above, and my green tea ice cream on the bottom

Categories: Food, News | Tags: | 3 Comments

Brazilian food (Or: It’s all about the pineapple)

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Niki

From Marco…

This past Sunday, Roger invited his family and me out to dinner.
He picked a place called Rodizio (rodizio.nu) which is a Brazilian restaurant in Scheveningen.
You don’t order a meal, they just bring a whole slew of skewers with meat to your table, and you get a slice of everything your hungry heart desires. Good times..

When Niki was visiting in the Summer of 2011, we went there as well.
I think that maybe at first she was a bit cautious about what they were trying to give to her.
But that soon faded as they brought delicious chicken and beef and sausages.
I do remember there was one type that she didn’t like, but that’s fine..there was plenty to choose from.

The fun thing is that officially you get a little round green/red sign that you put in front of you.
Green means you want more. Red means you’re skipping this round.
Though usually they don’t really check them.
It’s only when everyone on your table has the red sign that they act on it, and they know to take your plates.

(Note from Niki: When I first read this I thought it said “they know to take your pulse.” Haha.)


Another good thing about this place? It’s where I discovered Caipirinha’s.
The first time I went there (2 years ago) it was like a sort of after-work party.
We got a short class in how to make those (and Mojitos but those aren’t nearly as good).
When I make them myself, they’re a bit more sour (also more alcohol I bet) which is fine but I have to admit, the ones at the restaurant look better.


I could write for a while longer about the fun eating (and drinking) experience that is Rodizio.
But I am being urged by Niki to go to sleep (it’s 11.30 pm at the moment)
Which is fine, it just means I’ll be one day closer to the day I get to go there again with her 🙂

Categories: Food, Scheveningen | Tags: | 3 Comments

Athene Palace (Or: Greek food in the Hague)

Posted on August 5, 2012 by Niki

As Marco visited Athene Palace in July for his birthday, he was kind of enough to give me a picture of the menu.

And not just any page of the menu… but the page with #95, which reads:  Sirtakischotel: kipfilet, suflaki, sutzuki en giros. Each time I have gone to the restaurant (2 or 3 times?) I have always ordered #95. The gyros are my favorite for sure.

Oh, and if you want to spell 95, it’s vijfennegentig (5-and-90, with the classical Dutch refusal to add spaces).

Marco was also kind enough to get a shot of ouzo in the picture. I like it — it tastes like licorice, though it does burn a bit going down. If you’re with a group of people, you can clink your shotglasses together and say Proost! which is their version of “Cheers!”. (It rhymes with “boast”.)

And for dessert, I like to get the Dame Blanche, which is vanilla ice cream with hot fudge sauce. My ideal method for attacking that dessert is to be stingy with the sauce and add a little bit every few bites, to prolong the chocolate heaven.

Categories: Food, The Hague | Tags: | 2 Comments

Popocatepetl restaurant (Or: Finger lickin’ good)

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Niki

Something I have found interesting about my three trips to the Netherlands is how many non-Dutch restaurants there are out there. Which makes sense, since there are so many immigrants in the country.

One of the restaurants we visited (two or three times?) was Popocatepetl in the Hague, a Mexican restaurant. I have no idea how to pronounce that, so I just call it Popo (it’s their nickname; even the website is Popo.nl). You can even take a peek at the menu.

A small card from the Popocatepetl restaurant

The last time I was there I had the ribs. This is definitely an out of character choice for me since I hate getting messy. But it was really, really good. Of course I knew Marco was probably thinking I wasn’t tearing enough meat off the bone, but hey.

Let me tell you – I used every square millimeter of the napkin they gave me, flipping over, inside out, and more. You also get a small dish of water to clean your fingers with.

I think dessert was just a cup of coffee (not sure if I got any of the special flavors they offer), but that was also good. That is one thing I like about the Dutch – the tendency to drink coffee after dinner. Lately I’ve been on a tea kick – even buying tea in a Chinatown shop a few weeks ago. I still need to sample those!

Categories: Food | Tags: | 1 Comment

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