While visiting the Netherlands this time, I learned that it’s not a lunch culture, so most restaurants we encountered after visiting the Escher Museum were only counters. I wanted to sit, so we kept looking until we ended up at Vascobelo. We shared a delicious Croque Madam (€ +2), which is a croque monsieur (€ 10.95) with cheese, ham and bechamel sauce on toasted bread — topped with a fried egg. We also shared fries.

I stopped in at Cafe Pomegranate for a morning pastry (€ 4) and bubbly water, as I had coffee in my room that overlooked the Prins Hendrikplein. I wanted to sit at a sunny table and get some writing done while my granddaughter was at school, but I ended up chatting with two Americans who had recently left the US in search of a better life.

We stopped back another day for their tasty lunch. One of us had the zucchini fritters topped with a poached egg over tomato relish with sliced avocado and arugula in a puddle of yoghurt and za’atar dressing (€ 13), another had the halloumi toastie (€ 13) with sweet potato fries (€ 6) and another eggs (€ 9.50), chat potatoes (€3)  and bacon (€4).

When paying the bill, we noticed their fabulous desserts and couldn’t resist the cream cheese-topped zucchini cake (€5) and a double chocolate cookie (€4).

I recommend both.

Vascobelo
Hooistraat 2
2514 CB Den Haag, Netherlands
+31 85 888 6351
vascobelo.com

Cafe Pomegranate
Zeeheldenkwartier
Prins Hendrikstraat 113, 2518HM
Den Haag, The Netherlands
+31 6 15523455
cafepomegranate.org/