The Hague has a new hotspot: BlueBlood
The Hague has welcomed a new restaurant with grand ambitions: BlueBlood. They serve, among other things, wonderfully fresh sushi and knockout cocktails. Is this the new hotspot in the city of the court?
BlueBlood is located in Hilton The Hague in the old city centre, close to the embassy district, in the former headquarters of the Dutch postal service. Expectations are high, because BlueBlood promises a Nikkei cuisine—and that just happens to be one of my favourite cuisines. Off to The Hague!
Japanese people in South America
Nikkei cuisine is Japanese cuisine as it developed in Peru and Brazil from the end of the nineteenth century onwards. The Japanese who emigrated to South America remained faithful to their own cuisine, while using local ingredients. The result is incredibly delicious. It combines the elegant, light simplicity of Japanese cuisine with the explosive, sour, spicy and rich flavours of South American cuisine. And that makes Nikkei one of my favourite—no, let’s just call it my favourite cuisine.
Knives for regular guests
We park the car underneath the hotel (handy!) and walk straight into the restaurant. The welcome is genuinely friendly and warm (‘How lovely that you’re here!’). Impossible to miss is the cabinet full of knives (which turn out to be personalised for regular guests), as well as the dry-aged cabinets filled with tomahawks that you see as soon as you enter. Equally striking is the enormous wine climate cabinet taking up a large part of the wall, filled with bottles of Miraval rosé, the Provence wine known from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
Interior
BlueBlood is a spacious venue with room for 140 guests in the restaurant and another 70 people at the cocktail bar (or, more accurately, cocktail island) next to the restaurant area. We sit down at one of the tables with velvet benches. We are told that all dishes are meant to be shared, and that everything is prepared in a traditional way using local and seasonal ingredients.
Cauliflower with za’atar and tahini?
The menu turns out to have two sides. Yes, it features plenty of Nikkei dishes, such as various types of sushi and ceviche, but also—huh?—cauliflower with za’atar and tahini and fries with Parmesan. Delicious combinations, if you ask me, but not something you would expect in a Nikkei restaurant. We are told, upon asking, that this is because it is also a hotel restaurant. Especially for guests staying at the hotel for several days who are less fond of fish, they want to offer other options on the menu too. Fair enough.
Ceviche, Japanese style
But as mentioned, ceviche is also on the menu. Japanese immigrants also put their own spin on this famous Peruvian classic. Instead of marinating it for hours in tiger’s milk, lime, onion and coriander, as the Peruvians do, they prepare it the Japanese way: stirring the fish through tiger’s milk with dashi and ginger at the last moment.
Sushi
We start with various types of sushi, including the familiar California Maki with tobiko (the Japanese word for flying fish roe) and Tempura Shrimp Maki with Kabayaki sauce (a glaze based on sweet soy sauce). Both are delicious, wonderfully fresh sushi. The sashimi of Scottish salmon and Yellowfin tuna (a mackerel-like fish that also includes all tuna species) is excellent too.
The roasted adobo chicken thigh is delicious. It is one of the menu’s ‘Signature Starters’. The name adobo comes from the Spanish word adobar, meaning to marinate. The chicken thighs are lightly marinated and incredibly tender. A top-notch dish!
Tomahawk
The in-house dry-aged tomahawk comes from the only true Dutch cattle breed, Weiderund. Weiderund gets its name because the cattle can roam freely in the pasture. The menu also features Entrecote, Rib-Eye, Tenderloin and Bavette. The Entrecote is ‘Luma aged’; a special mould culture makes the meat incredibly tender and flavourful, with a nutty aroma found only in Luma products. The Rib-Eye is also prepared very well. Both come with chimichurri, a mildly spicy parsley-based sauce. There are other sauces on the menu too, including Béarnaise and Madeira.
Cocktail island
BlueBlood is more than a Nikkei restaurant and aspires to compete with The Harbour Club Den Haag. It is pricey, but you eat well here in a convivial atmosphere with friendly service. An added bonus is the cocktail island, where cocktail whiz Alice Razzi—who previously worked at cocktail bar Bricks Hooch & Brew in The Hague—shakes up the most delicious cocktails.
Want to learn more about Nikkei cuisine? Then listen to the enthusiastic podcast by Wat Schaft de Podcast.
BlueBlood is open seven days a week from 11:00 to 00:00 for lunch, drinks and dinner. Zeestraat 35, The Hague.
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