The Hague's best tips from the editors: Maja Landeweer

Favourite restaurant

Capriole Café is a hidden gem. In a somewhat desolate corner of the former industrial area the Binckhorst lies this beautiful, sturdy café. This old and abandoned 1920s paint factory has been refurbished into an impressive space with lots of steel, concrete floors and a sea of light. You will always receive a friendly welcome here - after just one time they already know who you are - for good food and really good coffee from the in-house roastery. In summer, this is a great place to sit by the water, away from it all.

Capriole Café

Read also: The Hague's best tips from our editors Casper Postmaa

Tastiest cake

Top of the list: patisserie tartelettes Philippe Galerne in Aert van der Goesstraat. Pure, refined and prepared with great love and skill by Frenchman Philippe. When I still lived near here, I was a regular customer. On Sunday mornings, there is often a long queue at the door here. Logical, because once you have tasted these cakes, you don't want anything else. They are so tasty because they are not ant-sweet and averse to fuss. Delicious dough filled with fruit or chocolate. And then chocolate that doesn't taste like sugar paste, but really like chocolate. Pure and intense. Other tip: the croissants and the (healthy) bread. Actually, everything is delicious here.

Patisserie Philippe Galerne on Aert van der Goesstraat. Pure, refined and prepared with love and craftsmanship by Frenchman Philippe.

Guilty pleasure

My guilty pleasure is coffee with a thick dollop of firm, lumpy, not-too-sweet whipped cream, aka panna montata mentioned. So no spray cream that immediately collapses into a watery puddle. It has to stand firm until the last sip. Nothing is better than drinking the spicy brown goodness through a cloudy cream layer. I happily cycle around for it. Businesses that serve just the right cream are thin on the ground. La Place in the defunct V&D was a master at it, but alas, it is no more. The one in the Megastores, which filled the gap for a while, has unfortunately also disappeared.

Panna montata.

Fortunately, having recently moved to a former sheep shed on the edge of Rijswijk, I discovered a great alternative: coffee house de Hooiberg in the small village of 't Woudt in Midden-Delfland. A congenial establishment, beautifully located, surrounded by the wide green polder. It is no The Hague, but is worth a visit if you want to explore the city's surroundings for once. Fun detail: 't Woudt is known as the smallest village in the Netherlands and counts no more than a charming church, a row of cottages and three farms.

Coffee house the Haystack in mini-village 't Woudt in Central Delfland.

Holiday in your own city

With a surfboard attached to your bike towards the sports beach and then into the sea, where there is nothing but water around you, for me that is the Hague holiday feeling. You merge into the waves and everything falls off you. You can wave surf at the sports beach in The Hague, on Scheveningen's Noorderstrand, against the breakwater. Unfortunately, surfing has fallen by the wayside for me recently, but this is a fun place to be, even if you don't surf. There's a relaxed atmosphere and you're away from the Scheveningen crowds elsewhere on the Noorderstrand. Tip: bhe surf schools Aloha and The Shore you can settle down for coffee and a sandwich or pancakes (The Shore). At The Shore, everything is organic. Aloha is open all year round.

At The Shore, everything is organic.

Golden tip

While surfing - not been for too long - I sustained a shoulder injury, which prevented my left arm from lifting properly. Treatments at the physiotherapist did little to help. It didn't seem to get much better, until I joined Saijai Wellness came to the Statenkwartier. Not because of that shoulder, but for a relaxing massage. The masseuse discovered that something wasn't right, started kneading and afterwards that arm could suddenly rise again. Great. Anyway, great masseuses here and a nice atmosphere: it looks nice, you are only allowed to whisper and before corona you got tea and a bowl of fresh fruit afterwards (since corona that has been replaced by a take-away bottle of water).

Another tip: the Hidden Gym, exercising in special locations. Joy's yoga classes (Joyful Yoga) at Barth Chapel are heavenly.

Tip from Maja Landeweer: Hidden Gym.

Special shop

For years, I was a fan of The Northbound store, a shop with Scandinavian clothing and stuff for your interiors. Beautiful, minimalist stuff in calm tones of good quality. But that shop is no longer there. Other tip: Edwin Pelser for beautiful, playful and contemporary design by Dutch and Scandinavian designers. Lovely to browse around here. Like a mini museum. Where I never get bored either: The Fine Store, which recently moved into a beautiful, bright corner building on Thomson Avenue. For beautiful, subtle timeless stuff for your interiors in natural, light colours.

The Fine Store, on Thomson Avenue, has beautiful, subtle timeless items for your interiors.

Hague nature

Not very original, but then again the beach. And the dunes. Here you can see endlessly far and it never gets boring.

Read also: The Hague's best tips from our editors Fleur Beemster

Which Hague resident would you like to interview again?

I write a lot about healthcare, an interesting world that is constantly changing and affecting everyone. In 2019, I spoke Wilco Peul, neurosurgeon at HMC, who was then on the TV programme 'Top Doctors'.

Wilco Peul, neurosurgeon at HMC.

An incredibly passionate doctor who cares deeply about the fate of his patients. This top specialist, who performs medical feats of excellence, told me how he is devastated one moment when a patient dies before his eyes, while the next moment he can focus almost autistically on a piece of the spine. An interesting man in a fascinating field, whom I would love to speak to again about the plans he had at the time. For instance, he wanted to start coaching young doctors more on how to deal with their emotions.