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My little holiday is almost over already. Time sure flies, even more if you sleep 9 or 10 hour every night to recover from over-exhaustion. But today we did something nice again. We wanted to have dinner at a nice little restaurant in Den Bosch. We don’t really know that city, so we didn’t know where to look for that, so we started on the market place.
A rule of thumb for finding a nice restaurant is the following: Go to a famous street or square and look for a nice little off-street. There you will find it. It worked again this time. In the Kolperstraat we found a small café, where meals are served as well. On the wall is the name “Hof van Holland”, but inside everyone just called it “‘t Hof“.
It was busy, but there was still room for us. The menu offered too much to choose from, but there was also a “Tip menu ‘t Hof”. Usually a dish, that carries the name of the house is very good, so that is what we picked.
As a starter we got a very nice, spicy tomato soup. The main course was fillet of pork with mushroom sauce, served with (Belgian) fries and a fresh salad. For the desert we had a choice between a dame blanche and a coffee. We chose the coffee, but as an extra we got a mini-glass of coffee liquor (Café Marakesh) with whipped cream. Delicious!
Unfortunately credit cards are not accepted, so I had to go outside to find an ATM to be able to pay in cash. Paying in cash does make it easier to leave a tip and so I did.
Speaking about ‘tips’: Nowadays you won’t often see people tipping in Dutch restaurants. And that is understandable, because when we switched for paying in Guilders to paying in Euros, the restaurants took the opportunity to double their prices. Don’t tell me it is not true. Ever since we pay in Euros you almost faint when you look at the bill in any hotel, café or restaurant. People don’t get in the mood for tipping when they see the amount on the bill. I can understand, but it is not fair for the waiters: They have lost a source of income.
So be nice to them and do give a tip, especially if they have served you well. In the past it was usual to give 10% of the total amount on the bill as a tip, but with the new, double prices 5% will do.
The waiters at ‘t Hof certainly deserved it!
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Comment from Evelien
Time 22 November 2004 at 22:11
Don’t get me wrong: The price in ‘t Hof was — measured by the current standards — not to high at all. You won’t easily find a three course dinner for two including two drinks each for less than 40 Euros ($50) anywhere else.