JJ is studying Dutch, and came home with a new word for us last week. It appears that your local cafe/bar/pub whatever you call it, is your “Stamcafe”.
In the short time we have been here we have visited more than 3 times each “a local” and we have enjoyed them all. BUT our local is really and quite regularly “The Coach House Inn” in Gedempte Oude Gracht.
Before we had even moved to our current house – we had experience of the Coach House. It is run by a quite mad Dutchman who serves with gusto, delivers to the table meals for elephants and is shocked that you cannot eat it all, and thinks it is very funny that JJ has the leftovers for his breakfast.
The first time we had dinner there we had a lovely time but I can’t remember a thing about what we ate, other than there was an enormous amount of food on the plate, and JJ had a doggy bag to take home. What I do remember absolutely vividly is that when we went to pay, we did not have enough money to cover the bill, and our credit card was useless because like many many places in the Netherlands the Coach House does not take credit cards.
Oh shit.
We did not have enough cash – We had been there maybe twice before, for gluhwein, and I think for lunch. It is amazing what happens to your gut when you do not have the funds for the food you have just eaten. We offered to do the dishes – his response, come and pay me tomorrow, which is just as well because we didn’t even know where the cash machine was in Haarlem and our bank with cash machine was about 3 k’s away. He didn’t even want the money we had between us.
That should have been enough to make this our Stamcafe, but it continued to get better. This Hans is fine with my English, and he is fine and has joke sessions with JJ and his not so very good Dutch. He continues to deliver meals for giant weight lifters, and he continues to provide a great service.
So when you are here in Haarlem you must visit our “Stamcafe”, and yes it is called “The Coach House Inn” in English, that is not a translation of a Dutch name.
We do know where the cash machine is now – and it is not 5 mins walk from the Coach House Inn and JJ has rushed there a couple times prior to paying a bill at the Coach Inn.
Tags: daily living, Haarlem, Restaurant, Stamcafe, the Coach House Inn
