New Year's Eve dining in Delft, Netherlands?

December 11, 2010 6:45 PM

My girlfriend and I will be in Delft in the Netherlands over New Year's and would like to book a nice 3 to 4 course meal on New Year's Eye in a moderately priced restaurant. Can the hive mind recommend anything?

A lot of nice restaurants do this in Germany (where we live). They will offer a 3 to 4 course meal on holidays (New Year's or Christmas Eve) for like 30€ per person. Usually the main course consists of rabbit, goose, duck or something similar. Do they also do this in the Netherlands? Is there some other kind of traditional meal, other than donuts, that the Dutch eat on December 31st? Is it too late to book a reservation? While we are staying in Delft, Den Haag and Rotterdam are both close enough that we might be willing to eat there.

What are some other Dutch New Year's traditions we might want to check out? This description is very similar to what we have experienced in Germany

posted by chillmost to food & drink (9 answers total)

I would suggest, as all the best Dutch cuisine is Indonesian, that you would do a rijsttafel. Preliminary googling suggests that a rijstaffel in Delft is somewhat limited, so you might want to look for one on Den Haag, which is close enough. Failing that, R'dam, but you'd probably have better luck with Den Haag.
posted by Capt. Renault at 10:32 PM on December 11, 2010

Faling that, and if you don't want to travel beyond Delft, I would guess that there are any number of places on the Grote Markt which would be open on New Years, even if they would be phenomenally expensive.
posted by Capt. Renault at 10:40 PM on December 11, 2010

I considered a rijsttafel but I could only find one in Delft and the reviews for it are not so great. I know there has to be more. It's a pretty common thing. I have often seen signs for them in every Dutch town I have been in. Why is google not giving me more results?
posted by chillmost at 4:44 AM on December 12, 2010

I'm not sure I'd agree that the best Dutch cuisine is Indonesian, although perhaps you were being tongue-in-cheek... I'm rather fond of the Dutch take on French food - rustic, and warming on a chilly winter's evening. The two places where I've had lovely meals in Delft (La Vie and Van Der Dussen) appear to be doing 4-5 course holiday meals (including wine pairings and a final coffee or tea) for 45-50EUR/person - it's considerably more than the 30 you mentioned, but I wonder if the inclusion of wine makes it more attractive?

There are many commonalities between written Dutch & German (IMHO - forgive me if this hasn't been your experience), and so I wonder if you might not take advantage of this Dutch-language restaurant guide (I've taken the liberty of setting the search already for Delft, and on the left-hand side of the screen you may select various aspects of your desired restaurant). I looked for Indonesian for you on there, but - coming up empty-handed - I wonder if those in Delft don't have websites? There must be at least one, I would think.
posted by pammeke at 5:36 AM on December 12, 2010

Van der Dussen has a good atmosphere. It's a place where locals go for something special, so it is not that typical quiet posh restaurant. But the food is good, the waiters are correct but jovial. Prices are a bit high. Later that night at the Bagijnhof: Bonfire, drums & drinks. A few good students parties. Free Gluhwein!

Other places with good food: Le Vieux Jean (French), Les copains (Fish), Artusi (Italian). Maxime.

Do not forget to get a reservation!
posted by Psychnic at 6:04 AM on December 12, 2010

According to pammeke's restaurantguide Van der Dussen is closed on New Years eve so do make sure you ring the restaurant first, also for the reservation. I personally never been out to dinner on New Years eve. As the description in your question says you spend the day queuing for oliebollen (not donuts or doughnuts, they don't compare) and spend the night with family. You will have kids play with fireworks all day and around midnight depending on the weather it becomes all misty due to the amount of fireworks going up at the same time. Together with all the drinking (bowl - fruit +wine, not gluhwein) I've never been a big fan of wandering down the streets at that time so I would personally stay close to home.
posted by Mrs Mutant at 9:55 AM on December 12, 2010

The Dutch firework show on NYE is something to behold. Make sure you don't miss that. It's like a war going off.
posted by gonzo_ID at 2:39 PM on December 12, 2010

Delft is fairly close to Rotterdam--is there any reason why you wouldn't want to hop a half-hour train and have way more choices?
posted by calistasm at 5:03 PM on December 12, 2010

Delft is fairly close to Rotterdam--is there any reason why you wouldn't want to hop a half-hour train and have way more choices?

As I stated in my question, this is an option.

I checked with the restaurants suggested above, but they are closed. They did suggest a few places though in Rotterdam. They said that the Chinese and Greek places will probably be open. We'll check it out.

Anybody here want to get together on NYE? Gimme a holler!
posted by chillmost at 4:17 PM on December 15, 2010