Yhe cocktail shaker rattles on. It is Friday afternoon and restaurant Encore by Simonis is slowly filling up. Two gentlemen at the bar wait for their eldorado negroni.

Further along, a group of guests are served sushi and tempura. "Mmm, this spicy tuna maki is really tasty," says someone. Alain Simonis has just entered. With a grey-coloured suit over his arm, he greets some guests and the guys in the kitchen. Then, with a bottle of San Pellegrino under his arm, he walks to the back of the shop. "Can we have a quiet chat."

POP of the Year award

Since Alain's father Allie and uncle Herman took over grandfather Albert's business, the family has not been idle. A total of seven fish shops and restaurants spread across the city bear the Simonis name. Alain Simonis is in charge of the restaurants Encore and Catch, both located on the Tweede Haven in Scheveningen. Late last year, Simonis aan de Haven received the national POP of the Year award from culinary guide GaultMillau for the most accessible and popular address where experience is central.

Alain Simonis smiles when we ask about the success factors. "Fish and family." First the fish. "We have a slogan: fish should be affordable, easy and quick to make. You see that at Simonis aan de Haven, but also at Catch. There, we keep it as pure as possible.

At other catering establishments, you often see indefinable dishes on your plate. Foams, mousses. Most people don't want complicated food. At Encore, the menu is internationally oriented, including a lot of fish by the way, with a nod to Asian cuisine."

Alain Simonis sways the sceptre of Encore and Catch by Simonis.

Family bond

That there is a strong family connection is undeniably true at Simonis. At the head of every restaurant is a Simonis. It works well, according to Alain. "Mistakes are solved naturally with us. We will stand behind each other. Decisions may be slower as a result, but it makes the end goal more certain."

Thus Catch and Encore were added. "You can't stand all together at Simonis on the Harbour. In the beginning, there were two families to feed, now there are seven."

Catch

Catch, the classic seafood restaurant, is now a household name in the Netherlands. For Encore, a little more effort had to be made. "People who step in here for the first time sometimes think: what a posh place! Or: is this a high-end nightclub where only caviar is eaten?

Look, you can't escape the fact that you have to walk through the wine cabinets and then immediately see that big bar. Some people find that fairly imposing."

So Alain devised accessible events with a theme, such as 'Motown', 'Soul Divas' and 'Encore loves Hazes'. Is he a fan of Hazes himself? "Well, let me put it this way: I know what people love. Concerts with Xander de Buisonjé, Jeroen van der Boom and Martijn Fisher are always full.

Xander de Buisonjé

A Dutch, slightly folksy evening then is not what you expect in an Asian-oriented restaurant. But secretly, people really enjoy it." And, Simonis notes: people often use the events to celebrate a birthday or anniversary. "You have to remember: a party always takes preparation. Grocery shopping, cleaning up your house, cooking, getting things ready and then doing the dishes. Guests can make their own party here. Food can be a la carte and usually we don't charge anything for the performances. Unless there's a big name here, of course. Xander de Buisonjé costs serious money."

The same goes for 'Dining with the stars' with names like Glennis Grace, Trijntje Oosterhuis, René Froger and Tino Martin. "Tino is very popular now. For a ticket, we charge sixty euros. That may seem like a lot of money, but you get an almost private half-hour performance for it.

Around it, there is music from 6.30 to 11.30 pm. By comparison, at the Olympic Stadium, Martin puts on a show for the same amount of money, but then you stand among ten thousand people on a field. Here it is more intimate, you can sit. And that combined with food, that doesn't happen much in The Hague." Simonis books some musicians as many as 25 times a year. Grinning: "I said to my wife the other day: 'I'm like a booking agency'."

Besides the themed events, there is also 'Sushi Monday', where you pay 12.50 euros for a special sushi roll that normally costs around 25 euros. "Monday is a difficult day for the hospitality industry. But since we hold the sushi night, at least 250 people sit here. And that in turn attracts visitors. Because it's so pleasantly busy."

Simonis on the Harbour gets five times bigger

The company is currently investing in a new plan: Beach House Scheveningen, located on the corner of Visafslagweg and Vissershavenweg. The new building, which is part of the redevelopment of the Northern Harbour Head, consists of three hospitality layers and 20 flats. "This year, the municipality will take decisions. In any case, we already know what we want. Simonis on the Harbour, including shop, will be five times bigger than now."

For the third floor, Simonis has something more luxurious in mind: a chic beach club with a terrace overlooking the sea on the raised dunes. He has conveniently named it Catch 2.0. Including the terraces, they can serve around 15 hundred people.

Good fish eaters

A key target group for Catch 2.0 - due for completion in 2024 - will be expats, Simonis believes. "Half of my son's football team consists of expat boys. You see that this city is becoming more and more international, that's what we want to capitalise on with Catch 2.0. The Hague is ready for it. French, Spanish, Italians, they are all good fish eaters."

www.simonisvis.nl

Postscript: this article was made for Bij Ons In De Residentie magazine even before the corona crisis. To give hospitality industry like restaurants Encore and Catch a helping hand, we are publishing this story just now.