The tastiest spots at NS stations
In the distant past, when a train delay could still simply be called a delay, you had to seek comfort on a draughty platform, if your train didn’t show up, with a lukewarm frikandel from the vending machine or a dubious sausage roll. How different things are now! Train delayed? Indulge at our favourite culinary hotspots.
UTRECHT
Comptoir Libanais
Lebanese cuisine, so mezze, grilled dishes and salads just as colourful as the interior. You can take a cookbook home too, so you can enjoy good food nearby even without a train.
Recommended: flatbread with halloumi and za’atar, fattet moussaka.
Leon Naturally Fast Food
(also at Schiphol and Rotterdam CS)
Motto: naturally fast food. So it’s a kind of snack bar, but healthy. Or can you order chicken with fresh basil, quinoa and Korean mayonnaise at Friet van Piet?
Recommended: the rice boxes, brown rice and coleslaw with, for example, chicken satay or sweet potato falafel.
Yoghurt Barn
(also in Amsterdam and Haarlem)
Left the house without having breakfast? Luckily, there’s Yoghurt Barn! There you can order a cup of yoghurt with a topping such as kiwi, Bastogne biscuit and cinnamon sugar, or banana, coconut, chocolate and hazelnuts. At least it gives you the feeling that you’re making a fairly healthy choice, right?
Recommended: yoghurt smoothie with dates, walnut, banana and organic apple juice.
AMSTERDAM
Exki
(also in The Hague)
A great place to bridge an hour between two appointments. All the food is (very) healthy, with plenty of vegetarian and vegan options. Think: vegetable tart, soup and generously filled salads from a buffet. All fresh.
Recommended: carrot cake, McKinley energy salad.
Wagamama
(Also in Utrecht)
By now, it’s a regular stop before a concert or theatre visit. Sit down at the long tables, order, struggle with those chopsticks and move on. Think: Japanese. Think: ramen, soba and donburi. An added bonus: plenty of room at the performance, because the dishes contain a fair amount of garlic. Having a mint is also an option.
Recommended: the gyoza and – guilty pleasure – the tonkatsu, schnitzel with rice and a sweet sauce. Not a vitamin in sight.
Wurst & Schnitzelhaus
Very decidedly un-hip: a German Wursthaus. Warsteiner on tap, enormous schnitzels on the menu, views of the IJ. How about seventies classics such as the Holsteiner schnitzel (with a fried egg) and the Jaegerschnitzel (mushrooms and cream sauce)?
Recommended: currywurst of course! With fries and an apologetic side salad.
ROTTERDAM
Dudok
Rotterdam: Erasmus Bridge, Euromast, Dudok apple pie. The pie is also sold at Rotterdam station. Or will you choose the butter cake? The brownie bar? Chocolate chip cookie? Red Velvet cupcake? Chocolate truffle cake? The temptation to miss your train at Station Kapsalon and stay here snacking is enormous.
Recommended: everything.
Satebar
(Also in The Hague)
No, no, not that deep-fried or (horror!) microwaved snack-bar satay; Satebar grills its satay over hot coals. Add some tasty nasi putih and atjar, and there you have it! Perfect. You wonder: why isn’t this chain at many more stations?
Recommended: saté ayam, but also the rendang.
Huiskamer
Also a good place to work flexibly, or to bridge some time between two appointments. Handy: screens in the corner let you keep an eye on whether you still have time for a sandwich, soup or tea.
Recommended: delicious cappuccino – and you can charge your mobile phone there.
THE HAGUE
Grand Central Food Market
Leave that AH to go well alone, and try to ignore Hema’s half smoked sausage too: at The Hague CS, head straight from the platform to Grand Central Food Market. Because there you’ll find: Pickles, with excellent burgers, fish bar Saltzer (fish & chips or a dozen oysters) and Bellotas (ham, sausage and matching wine).
Recommended: Saltzer’s fish taco.
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