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In September 2018, I had the opportunity to participate in a food blogger tour in The Hague. This was organized by Anne-Marie Otter from www.myhappykitchen.nl and Marjolein Dop-Bakker from www.foodieshavearrived.com. During the food blogger tour, I met other food bloggers and discovered 8 wonderful spots in The Hague. Want to know more about this? Read on.
1. Anne&Max at Kerkplein
The food blogger tour began at Anne&Max at Kerkplein. I was warmly welcomed by the organizers, other food bloggers, and by the Anne&Max franchise couple Marian and Bob Vuijk. The hosts shared some information about Anne&Max.
They opened their Anne&Max franchise location at Kerkplein just over a year ago, realizing their dream. They chose the Anne&Max concept because it aligned better with what they wanted in a business.
Anne&Max calls itself the living room in the city, and from my own experience, it truly feels that way. The interior is designed to create a cozy home-like atmosphere. The forms of Hague artist Escher have been incorporated as inspiration throughout their entire interior.
It radiates warmth and familiarity, and by strengthening the home-like feeling, they provide extra service to their guests. Think of WiFi, friendliness, and helpfulness from the staff, and their wide range of homemade and organic products. They also have a mailbox where guests can send postcards to family and friends at Anne&Max’s expense.
The postcard action hasn’t been activated yet, but this depends on Anne&Max headquarters when it will be activated. If this goes forward, it would be a special and beautiful thought since the building where they are located was previously a post office.
To introduce the food bloggers to their wide range of homemade and organic products, they assembled several tastings with their own selection of bruschetta, soup, quiches, sweets, and more.
These were served on tables. We also got to choose from their beverage menu. I chose a ginger lemongrass soda, a delicious refreshing drink. Then we indulged in the delicious-looking appetizers, and my favorite was the salmon sandwich. Anne&Max at Kerkplein was already a nice place to return to for a cup of tea with a delicious pastry or something else even before the food blogger tour.
2. DOK Home of Cooking
After Anne&Max, we walked toward De Passage, a well-known covered historic shopping street, where DOK Home of Cooking is located.
I’ve lived in The Hague for a while and didn’t even know DOK existed, let alone that it’s a cooking store. For me, discovering it through a food blogger tour was a surprise.
We were welcomed by DOK staff with a glass of prosecco and a lemon pastry. Arnold Muijser, the manager of DOK, told us more about the cooking store.
The name DOK originated from a partnership with Duikelman, Oldhof, and Kookpunt Rotterdam. DOK offers weekly cooking demonstrations and/or tastings, and during a demonstration, there’s also a discount on the displayed kitchen equipment. Furthermore, DOK has a large collection of cooking tools and kitchen utensils.
It’s not really inexpensive, but you pay for the best quality and durability. Then we toasted to DOK and enjoyed our delicious lemon pastry. The food bloggers then went on a discovery tour through the shop.
3. The Indigo Hotel
From DOK, we went to the new hotel Indigo, located diagonally opposite the Noordeinde Palace.
The hotel where the Dutch National Bank previously had its offices, and where the vaults remain intact and are incorporated into the hotel’s interior.
I was very curious to see what it looked like inside. We received a guided tour of the hotel from manager Shirley. Indigo is a luxury hotel with 63 rooms, conference rooms, and an all-dining concept Brasserie Stock & Bonds.
In the basement, we could admire the large vault, and at the Goldbar, we enjoyed our appetizer and drink. To my surprise and delight, I won a free overnight stay at the Indigo hotel through the food blogger tour. Read about my experience at Indigo Hotel >click here<.
4. Tapisco
The next stop was Tapisco. It’s located in a historic building on the Kneuterdijk, where the bookstore De Vijf Vocalen had been for 300 years and more recently Mees Pierson bank.
The name Tapisco is a combination of the two words tapas and petiscos. In other words: small appetizers, translated to Spanish and Portuguese. The restaurant has Iberian cuisine and serves authentic Spanish and Portuguese small dishes with a modern twist. They also have cocktails and a wide selection of Portuguese and Spanish wines. In Tapisco, much daylight enters through the three giant windows at the front of the restaurant.
The interior has a modern classic look. There is an open crystal-clear white kitchen where you can see the chefs at work. The floor is tiled with Portuguese tiles. In addition, a large bookcase was installed in honor of the previous owner, the bookstore De Vijf Vocalen.
Tapisco is the fourth restaurant of star chef Marcel van Kleijn (his other three restaurants are De Oogst, De Calla’s, and BiT Grill & Cafe). We had a sort of shellfish soup in a coffee cup and pinxtos gilda (a skewer of anchovy, olive, and pepper), although I wasn’t entirely impressed by the first one, but the second one made me want more. I’ll come back another time for the meal.
5. The Chocolate Atelier De Bonte Koe
After Tapisco, it was the turn of De Bonte Koe. I already knew the chocolate atelier De Bonte Koe from Rotterdam, and as a chocolate lover, I was delighted that De Bonte Koe had also established itself in The Hague.
At first, when we stood in front of a shop window, I didn’t realize it was De Bonte Koe. I saw a cow’s head, and then when we entered, hanging hams, and then I realized that all of these were made of chocolate.
Because De Bonte Koe is located in the former ‘Butcher’s J.C. Kok’, they were inspired to design the interior to look like a butcher shop, and they succeeded perfectly.
At their festive opening, they hired an artist to create a cow from chocolate with a chainsaw, referencing their name De Bonte Koe. And the chocolate head of a cow can be admired in their display window.
De Bonte Koe is a chocolate paradise, and I will definitely come here more often.
6. Betjeman & Barton
Enjoying my chocolate, I walked together with the other food bloggers toward Betjeman and Barton.
It turned out to be a tea shop, and as a tea lover, I was thrilled about that. The Betjeman and Barton shop on the Denneweg was opened by tea lover Marion van den Blik. The shop has been around since 1992 and was the very first exclusive tea shop in the Netherlands. In 2011, Marion van den Blik opened a second shop on the Aert van der Goesstraat.
In both shops, people can choose from more than 80 types of tea, but also tea sets, sweets, and more items from exclusive brands.
During the food blogger tour, we had a mini tea workshop and were able to taste tea as an introduction to the tea they sell in their shop.
I found it delicious, and you taste the quality of the tea. It’s not really inexpensive, but you pay for quality and their exclusive brand.
I bought a bag of green tea. It’s becoming one of my go-to places to buy my tea.
7. The Vegetarian Butcher (it was a temporary pop-up restaurant, now closed)
Next came the The Vegetarian Butcher. They call themselves the butcher of the future. I already knew The Vegetarian Butcher from their store downtown where they sell their own vegetarian products. They’re doing really well because their products are sold in many supermarkets. I’m even a fan of their products and have tried everything they make.
When they opened their new restaurant ” De Vleesch Lobby “ on the Hooikade in The Hague in early April 2018, I was delighted, but I hadn’t visited them yet. This only happened a couple of months later during the food blogger tour in The Hague.
We had lunch there and got acquainted with their newest products that weren’t yet on supermarket shelves. It was a premiere for us to try the vegan smoked sausage and chicken burger.
The Vegetarian Butcher developed a smoked sausage where you could also hear the typical cracking sound of a sausage, and taste-wise, it was quite similar to a real smoked sausage.
The same goes for the chicken burger. If someone told me it was just a regular chicken burger, I would believe it right away. The chicken burger and smoked sausage were available in supermarket shelves a couple of weeks later, alongside other vegan smoked sausages from other brands.
On December 19, 2018, The Vegetarian Butcher was taken over by Unilever. Founder Jaap Korteweg remains involved with the manufacturer of plant-based food products.
8.
After our lunch at the restaurant De Vleesch lobby, we were picked up by a boat.
This was arranged by restaurant Glaswerk on the Binckhorst, which would be our last stop. There were even drinks and refreshments arranged. We enjoyed our boat ride to the restaurant.
The Glaswerk Restaurant
What strikes me first is the building with the beautiful graffiti of a wine glass, where the restaurant and wine bar Glaswerk is located. The staff was waiting for us.
Chef Bas told us about the appetizer we got to try. It was delicious.
After that, we received a full goodie bag from the participating restaurants and shops. I want to thank them for this and for their hospitality and letting us try their products. I also want to thank the organizers Anne Marie and Marjolein for organizing this amazing food blogger tour in The Hague and for allowing me to participate.
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