Basaal

Basal can also mean delicious and refined. This is proven by the kitchen of Restaurant Basaal in The Hague, with dishes that appear on the table without unnecessary fuss, yet are inspired and carefully prepared. Such as a flavorful terrine of var...

good quality, good value cooking

Located on the Dunne Bierkade, one of The Hague’s most delightful culinary spots. Since 2021, owner-chef Daan van Munster and hostess-sommelier Edmée van Zwieten de Blom have been running a lively restaurant and wine bar here, where simplicity and cooking with seasonal produce take center stage. The menu changes regularly depending on market availability, while the wine list features biodynamic labels from across Europe and plenty of options by the glass. The unconventional dining space offers comfortable seating. Paired with an elegant 2021 Weissburgunder from Wasenhaus, we indulge in a plate of freshly sliced coppa before moving on to the first course: a pork neck and duck terrine with plums, ketchup, and cornichons. We’d call that Burgundian indulgence. Next comes cod accompanied by a rather unfamiliar Italian vegetable, cime di rapa—a cabbage variety with a sweet and slightly bitter flavor—alongside celery root and Dutch shrimp. Sunshine on the plate. The courses follow one another at a pleasant pace, and we are impressed by the expertise of the service team. We wrap up with sweet summer kings, tangy rhubarb, and fried cream. On sunny days, you can reserve a spot on the waterside street terrace. All the Mediterranean vibes, right here in the court city of The Hague.

A long-standing favorite in The Hague and its surroundings for years: the charming restaurant Basaal. Situated on the Dunne Bierkade in a beautiful historic building, it boasts a lovely waterside terrace during the summer months. Since 2021, chef Daan van Munster and hostess and sommelier Edmée van Zwieten de Blom have been running the place and have successfully maintained its quality at an equally high level. The kitchen serves refined, creative dishes centered around pure seasonal ingredients. Guests feel right at home in the modern, simply designed dining room, where all attention is directed toward the creativity of the cuisine and the comfort of the patrons. The extensive à la carte menu offers a selection of small starters, main courses, and a modest array of desserts. Grilled sourdough bread topped with goat butter and lightly sweet Roscoff onion confit is served with Cantabrian anchovies from Spain, offering a delicate aroma and texture. To die for. This is paired with a glass of 2020 Sancerre Chavignol rosé by François Cotat, which features a beautifully long finish. Equally impressive is the dish of al dente green peas and asparagus with starfish, ricotta, and a velvety nettle sauce. For the main course, we choose the côte de boeuf accompanied by pommes dauphines and butter lettuce. Nothing more needs to be said. Apart from the fact that the bill is remarkably reasonable, particularly by Randstad standards.

Located in a beautiful old building on the Dunne Bierkade, a lovely canal, in The Hague. Chef Daan van Munster and hostess and sommelier Edmée van Zwieten de Blom, both previously working in London, took over the establishment in 2021 and have kept its name and approach intact: basic ingredients and equally simple dishes. The restaurant has an inviting and atmospheric character, and the interior is simple yet stylish and tasteful. The beautiful, spacious terrace where you can dine in good weather is highly recommended. The menu is straightforward yet very comprehensive, offering a choice of small starters and à la carte dishes. The wine list, curated by Edmée, focuses primarily on European wines, including organic selections. The partridge terrine starter is deliciously rich and creamy, well-seasoned, and generously portioned, while the accompaniment of cornichons and plum compote makes it a harmonious dish. Next comes tomatoes from the pizza oven with yogurt, fresh oregano, and Asian dulse. What a sophisticated dish—packed with flavor and stunningly good. The accompanying Chenin Blanc, Les Vignes Herbel La Rue Aux Loups, unfortunately lacks the body to match the pronounced flavors of the tomato dish. The roasted pork from Gascony, served with summer beans and anchovies, is simply unparalleled. The same goes for the French “Avalanche” wine from Savoy, a light red that pairs perfectly. It takes a while for dessert to arrive, but the wait proves more than worthwhile. We would gladly return tomorrow just for the chocolate crèmeux with hazelnut ice cream, crunchy oats, and salted honey caramel. A charming restaurant with very reasonable prices, too—and that in the heart of the Randstad.

The kitchen at Basaal focuses, as the restaurant’s name already suggests, on pure preparations without embellishment. The young and passionate owner-chef Daan van Munster remains faithful to his predecessor in doing so. Co-owner and sommelier Edmée van Zwieten de Blom selects beautiful wines to accompany the dishes, and the menu features quite a few biodynamic options. The interior of this canal house, complete with a wine bar where you can order small bites, is minimalist, featuring comfortable kitchen-style chairs and cushioned benches. It was absolutely packed on the evening of our visit. To start, coarsely sliced veal tenderloin with smoked cod liver and bottarga—a lovely and fresh beginning. Surprisingly, a lightly chilled Austrian red, Puszta Libre! by Claus Preisinger from Burgenland, was poured alongside it. Delicious! Next came vegetarian ricotta dumplings served with peas and aged sheep’s cheese. The dough pillows were wonderfully soft and melted in your mouth. And applause for the perfectly cooked veal sweetbreads wrapped in attic bacon, accompanied by lightly sautéed chanterelles. Even though the portion size can easily be considered generous, we would have gladly ordered another plate. The service was quick and attentive, deftly weaving between all the tables. A wonderful spot!

Since the arrival of new owners Daan van Munster (chef) and Edmée van Zwieten de Blom (sommelier), little has changed at Basaal. Van Munster already cooked here under the previous owner, Bas Oonk, and after a brief interlude in London, he effortlessly continues his former boss’s unadorned, rustic nouvelle cuisine philosophy. The restaurant name remains unchanged, and the minimalist decor has been swapped for an equally sober classroom-style interior that Van Munster drew inspiration from at his previous employer, the neighborhood restaurant Clipstone in London. Space has now been carved out for a wine bar where you can also order small plates. We take our seats in the compact dining area, which is practically bursting at the seams with (predominantly local) foodies, and we sample roasted quail served over charred pointed cabbage, bilberries, and house jus with bacon. Deliciously rich and well-seasoned, much like the finger-thick slice of succulent pheasant terrine with plum ketchup and cornichons. Elegant starters, paired with a full, robustly oak-aged Burgundy (David Butterfield). He also accompanies the main courses. Take the cod, for instance. A thick cut, initially seared and then gently finished in the oven, served perfectly atop spinach, fried rösti, chanterelles, and butter sauce. Delicious! And the juicy slices of venison backstrap on parsley root mousseline, Brussels sprouts, and house jus. A wonderful spot!

Basaal sits on one of The Hague’s beautiful canals. Chef-owner Bas Oonk has been preparing an unpretentious French cuisine here for years, also described as modern bistro fare. We would add to that: what you see is what you get. The ingredients on the plate are familiar, the flavors are rich and pure, and the chicken livers in port sauce have us wanting to return immediately. Year after year, the quality has remained consistently excellent. The interior, much like the restaurant’s name itself, is refreshingly simple. Two adjoining ground-floor spaces from small townhouses are decorated in subdued, monochromatic tones, featuring upholstered wall benches, bare wooden tables, linen napkins, a single flower in a small vase, and understated ceiling lighting. During the summer months, you can pull up a seat at the cozy waterside terrace. The wine list is thoughtfully curated and features many reasonably priced labels. Notably, it offers generous half-bottle portions for both white and red wines. An excellent spot.

We love to see this: reasonable prices for generous treats. And a wine list thoughtfully curated with several affordable finds. The beauty here, incidentally, lies not in the location or interior (the establishment with its interconnected ground floor, vinyl flooring, bare tables, window film, and partition curtain looks, as the name already suggests, quite basic) but in the French dishes crafted by owner-chef Bas Oonk. He welcomes us with a smoked meat croquette and piccalilli mayonnaise. We’d gladly devour a whole bowl of those. We begin with steak tartare. Westland beef is finely minced, seasoned with onion and cornichon, pressed from a ring mold, and served alongside fried quail eggs, croutons, and shredded lettuce. Paired with glasses of elegant Chablis by Bernard Defaix. This wine also complements the simple yet exquisite dish of smoked eel, grilled pork belly, and braised sauerkraut. Rich, earthy, savory, and tangy—a beautiful spectrum of flavors. The duck that follows is roasted. Two substantial portions in pink peppercorn sauce. Absolutely delightful. Served with homemade fries and generous pours of Dornfelder Stepp 2016, a ruby-red Pfalz wine with notes of laurel and plum. If we must find fault, it’s with Oonk’s no-frills “nouveau rustic” philosophy, where massive chunks, slabs, and thick slices of vegetables dominate the plates. In our view, it could be presented with more refinement and elegance. Otherwise: superb.

The atmosphere is relaxed and welcoming in this casually decorated restaurant run by chef-owner Bas and hostess-sommelier Loes Oonk, located on a city canal in The Hague. We are the first guests of the evening and are served promptly. Chef Bas serves French-inspired dishes, and nicely, the wine list features plenty of half bottles. For an aperitif, we have a white wine from Gascony, accompanied by a small jar of duck liver pâté and toasted baguette. To start, there is a creamy mushroom ragout encased in crispy puff pastry, topped with quail sunny-side-up eggs. The presentation is simply stunning. The other starter features perfectly cooked chicken livers with Zeeland bacon, confit shallots, and a robust port sauce. We continue with chicken fillet in a morel sauce, served with red lentils and fries. The fillets are beautifully seared and tender, though the fries could have been hotter. The other main dish is slow-braised lamb sukade with grilled zucchini, carrots, and roasted endive. The portions are more than generous. Our glass holds a full-bodied red Chassagne-Montrachet 2016 from Burgundy, which we happily sip along with the cheese board featuring, among others, raw-milk Blaarkop cheese, farm goat cheese, and Lady Blue. The value for money here is excellent.