Good thing birthdays come but once a year
japra | Aug 04, 2009 | Comments 25
This has to be my very favourite view while biking into the Centrum. It’s the Binnenhof. Roxi and I took a tour of the Kight’s Hall last summer.
Roxi and I started the day with much needed haircuts from the Aveda Salon in the Haagsche Bluf. We liked the little massage we got before our haircuts too :-)
Bento lunch at Nori.
Roxi’s and
Mine.
Joy! We’ve been to a number of CD stores in The Hague and Amsterdam and this was the only place Roxi was able to find the CDs she was looking for. If you’re looking for Rock (in Roxi’s case, AltRock), be sure to visit Rocky Road on Nieuwstraat.
After a bit of shopping and a lot of walking, it was time for tea at Cafe Dudok.
Take your time. You’ll never be rushed here. (first “birthday cake”: mine was lemon, Roxi’s was chocolate brownie).
Mr. DJ was in Geneva for the day. Look what he brought back–1000 g of Swiss chocolate. Good thing this is for sharing.
Okay, this next set of pics aren’t the best, but I was trying to be discreet with my camera. For a late dinner, we went to a Mexican (Dutch-Mex!) restaurant in the city. When the waitress brought the chips and salsa to our table she announced it was “on the house”. That is about three shot glasses worth of salsa. The chips seemed to be fried fresh at the restaurant. Sadly, many of them were stuck together (like six at a time) and not well fried. The salsa needed cilantro, onions, and maybe a squeeze of lime.
Roxi’s cheese and chicken enchiladas. They were pretty good, as long as you ate them with an open mind (meaning knowing they weren’t going to taste like Tex-Mex). There were two sauces available: mole and this one (pretty much tasted like salsa). The rice was bland. I didn’t taste the beans.
My “Fajitas”. Lots of veggies (like a stir fry). I don’t think the meat was marinated. For that matter, I am not sure there was any seasoning on this at all. Mr. DJ said that this was the healthiest Mexican food we’ve ever eaten. He’s a glass half-full kind of guy–or maybe it was the mojito and frozen margarita talking (those were good, by the way) ;-)
The next day, we went biking around until we found a restaurant that looked good: Restaurant Plato on Frederikstraat. Oh my gosh, it was so good.
Those are our three bikes clumped together on the right. I’m glad we rode over because…
We
ate
a lot
of good
food.
And my second “birthday cake” was pretty awesome as well (Chocolate souffle). Can you say a three-hour lunch?
After, we waddled down the very cute street. Lots of antique stores, boutiques, and loads and loads of interesting restaurants.
Mr. DJ pointed out we rode by here on our way to the music festival last month.
At the end of the street is the Hotel des Indes, which was built in the 1800s, I think. It has an interesting history, which you can read about here.
Nearby is Escher en Het Paleis. Roxi and I visited this fantastic museum last year. We’re planning to go take Mr. DJ there this winter.
Whew! See what I mean? It’s hard work getting older… :-)
Filed Under: Blog • Featured • Food • Netherlands • Restaurants • What to Do
About the Author: JaPRA is an expat Texan living in England with her husband (Mr. DJ), their 17-year old daughter (Roxi), and their dog Trudy.
Oh JaPRA. What a lovely, lovely entry! I love your photos – it feels like I have just spent the afternoon right there with you! *sigh* Back to work.
I have to admit, it was a lovely birthday :-)
I loved the tour. The Mexican restaurant pictures made me a little sad. I guess every good story has a little tragedy in it. Even though it’s 90 degrees with matching humidity, the picture of your bikes outside of the cafe made me want to RIDE today! (I’ll resist and drive to the beach instead).
Oh, thought the positive take on the Mexican food was so funny!
Just curious, what are the people like there? Are they friendly?
and Happy Birthday!
Julia, I’ve pretty much given up on finding real Tex-Mex on this side of the pond. Generally, I just make what I want. Still, it’s nice to have someone else do the cooking sometimes…
And to answer your question, yes people are very friendly here. Good sense of humour too. I had heard the Dutch can be a wee bit direct–and coming from the South, well you know how we are. But really, it’s not a problem. They just tell it like it is but not in a mean or negative way. We actually like it here very much.
What a wonderful birthday!!! Good, authentic Tex Mex is just impossible to find once you leave Texas. My family lived in Dallas until I was 17 and our family considers ourselves in permanent Mexican food exile since leaving the lone start state. :(
That being said, I wanted to crawl through the computer screen and “sample” all of your chocolates! Fabulous!
Lucy Lucia, really? Not one good Tex-Mex place where you are? So sad, dear.
Well, maybe I was overstating things a wee bit… :)
Happy birthday! And it sure looks as if it was a fantastic one.
It was fabulous, Jane. Thank you!
Happy Birthday – what a great day you had! All the food looks delish and you packed so much in. :)
Thank you, Akelamalu! We can’t eat like that every day, but yes, it was delish!
Lovely pictures, thanks. Sorry the Dutch-Mex restaurant wasn’t all you hoped for, but it looked good as did the Swiss chocolates!!
Christine, those chocolates… too good.
The concept of Dutch-Mex positively boggles the brain. I think I would just stick to margueritas and mojitos. Thanks for all the lovely photos and great commentary. I feel like I just got my travel fix. Happy Birthday!
Thanks, Tricia! I have heard there is a really good Mexican restaurant in Amsterdam… stay tuned! ;-)
Happy Birthday JAPRA,
Have had a good drool over the scrummy food and chocs ! Will now go and put the kettle on and try and enjoy a dry biscuit or two with a cup of herbal tea.
Thank you, dear Barbara! You know, a nice cuppa sounds divine. I’m right behind you!
This was SO FUN! I loved everything you ate, and everything you saw. Oh, that bento. Those fajitas! The Escher museum? A massage before a haircut?!?
can I be your mommy?
It was a great day, Chris! It’s fun to splurge every now and then ;-)
Fabulous!!!!!!!!!
I’m so bummed that I’m just now reading this! What a belated birthday greeting!!
(We were on the road all week; so sorry.)
I’ve been to almost all of the places that you pictured here — and most fun of all, Simon used to leave a few doors down from the Restaurant Plato. Isn’t that the cutest street? I really, really miss our weekends there.
I feel quite giddy reading this post. I’m so excited for you. Den Haag is such a nice place to live.
And I forgot, entirely, to comment on DUTCH-MEX. As long as the margaritas were good . . .
Sorry to just be checking in again after so long…what a busy summer. I was so charmed by this bingeing and biking essay that I had to remind myself to close my mouth! So…how can you tell from the outside if a restaurant will be good? Just asking…xox
Dearest Mimsy, I missed you! But I did think that you were probably enjoying the summer with your family. To answer your question, we walk around reading each restaurant’s menu until we find something that sounds good. There are so many restaurants=lots of competition. So they have to be at least pretty good to stick around.