That’s right! Joining the likes of Manchester and Porto, The Hague has clinched a spot among the best European street food cities in a recent travelmag.com ranking. Who would’ve thought?!
The Hague is beautiful, it’s interesting, and it’s famous for a lot of things. That’s why heaps of tourists crowd its streets and beaches every summer.
But home to delectable, mouthwatering treats on the street? Ummm, not really.
Into the (kinda) unknown
To really explore Europe’s undiscovered, underground, hipster-heaven-like food corners, the ranking only considered cities with under one million inhabitants, so you won’t find any Paris- or Amsterdam-like cities on the list.
The ranking particularly values street food that’s typical for each place, whether it’s “centuries-old local sandwich recipes or ethnically-diverse dishes from multicultural communities”.
That might be why The Hague has made it onto the ranking — there’s certainly no lack of herring opportunities in this city! 🐟
Travelmag also says they considered food festivals when conducting the ranking, although no Dutch food festivals were mentioned in the final judgement.
READ MORE | Food festivals in the Netherlands
Herring, kapsalon, and good company
The description of The Hague as a culinary destination mentions the city’s many food courts — trendy places like Foodhallen Centrum with its local touch, and Foodhallen Scheveningen with its multi-national specialities, are two examples. Even a local The Hague-based brewery gets a mention in the short summary!
The popular, and very traditional, dishes kibbeling and haring are featured, showing off ✨ real Dutch food culture ✨ to the rest of Europe once again.
Although the list praises The Hague for re-establishing itself as a culinary destination, the description shows no sign of what many people think of when they think of Dutch street food — kapsalon, frikandel, and bitterballen!
Despite this surprising omission, any Hagenaar or Hagenez can proudly claim (one-twentieth of) the throne of European street food. The crown is even shared with cities like Manchester, Porto, and Krakow — an impressive group for sure.
Full list of cities featured
- Antwerp, Belgium
- Bari, Italy
- Basel, Switzerland
- Bodrum, Turkey
- Bristol, UK
- Dublin, Ireland
- Dusseldorf, Germany
- Gothenburg, Sweden
- The Hague, Netherlands
- Helsinki, Finland
- Heraklion, Greece
- Krakow, Poland
- Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Lyon, France
- Manchester, UK
- Palermo, Italy
- Plovdiv, Bulgaria
- Porto, Portugal
- Reykjavik, Iceland
- Valletta, Malta
Were you surprised by The Hague’s recognition as a street food destination, or is it an obvious win? Tell us in the comments below!
