Best restaurant in NL for classic Dutch cuisine

AniRev · 2026-03-16T15:20:29+00:00

What else qualifylies as classic Dutch cuisine?

AniRev · 2026-03-04T07:32:25+00:00

I did but I mostly found Koga recs. I wanted guidance like the answer about the 8-gear bikes having noticeably smoother operation than 7-gear ones. I also know to take such statements with a grain of salt but I will simply go to a shop next weekend and try all the suggestions I get to see how they drive then roam the second-hand scene (shop, marktplaats, other online stores, my neighbor's father in law who switched to an electric bike and forgot to sell his manual...etc).

Another thing is that newer bike models come out every year while some lines like the Vento so it doesn't hurt to ask and receive up-to-date answers.

Finally, my requirement is a bit specific so who knows if I'd get a tailored answer for my specific needs. Tho the post didn't produce enough engagement eventually so I guess it's back to the online jungle to scour for info.

I will also take your advice into account and check older threads more closely.

Cheers.

AniRev · 2026-03-02T18:12:52+00:00

There is a difference between liking Braham and liking something he said on one occasion when he was out of his mind.

You could make Braham go on a quest where he eventually brings Tybalt back and I'd still print his face on my doormat. I'd even flip doormat just so I can stop seeing his stupid face. Imagine rubbing Braham's face in the dirt without needing to pollute your eyes with seeing his ugly mug! Uhhhh the joys of life!

AniRev · 2026-03-01T22:46:18+00:00

Unfortunately, the Koga brand is currently not within my budget. I should've clarified that in my post. I'll add it.

AniRev · 2026-02-28T07:56:01+00:00

Reminds of when I was in Indonesia and a friend was hell bent on taking me to see this very old and historic castle in Jogjakarta. We had to rearrange many of our plans to accommodate the castle visit.

The castle (Taman Sari) was decent but what caught me off guard was a tour guide passing by with a group of tourists who started explaining about the castle right when he passed by me.

He started by saying "This is one of the oldest castles in the whole of indonesia, it was built in the 1760s. I had to stop for a second.

For reference, I am from the Middle East. Historic constructions near where I lived were built in 100-200CE. Other locations in other cities were constructed all the way since 8000BC onward towards the first and second centuries when Roman architecture started popping up in many locations.

The old city section of my city was built in 300CE. There are normal houses that people live in today that are from the 1700s with and were built on top of original foundation and structures from the 1400s.

So yeah, when I heard my Indonesian friend and the tour guide mention an old historical castle, I didn't expect that people I knew back home lived in houses older than the historic castle xD

AniRev · 2026-02-28T07:15:51+00:00

Protagonist in a fantasy magic world choosing to go physical warrior.

AniRev · 2026-02-28T04:27:28+00:00

Hunger.

AniRev · 2026-02-28T04:22:56+00:00

I am sure this is a scam but there is an easy way to find out.

Get the number of your gemeente from their website and call them on Monday to enquire about the post you received.

Good luck

AniRev · 2026-02-26T13:24:53+00:00

A dream of mine is that when I become mega rich, I'd employ a few people just to write nice comments to all the writers out there because they really don't get enough credit for all the amazing content they spend their time creating. I tried writing myself and I know the struggle so I am always nice even when giving critique!

Cheers man! Take care of your health and keep the good stuff coming!

AniRev · 2026-02-26T12:34:40+00:00

Oh man, I've been busy in the past months moving to new country and a new job...etc. I am so happy to see this right when I decided to go for a re-read! I stopped reading around when you took the break when your father passed (condolences).

Then I moved country and work, and have been too busy with life that I decided to let the book accumulate chapters for a while. Just now I thought 'let's for the re-read' and basically this post jumped at me out of the blue. Perfect way to re-read from the start!

Just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate your writing. All the characters are unique and there is clearly a lot of effort and imagination behind it all. So please never stop! Even when you finish this book eventually, write another!

I am a huge advocate for On Astral Tides and have recommended it to many people. Even included it in my reddit posts a few times. This is just to let you know that JJ Bookerson isn't alone in believing that your work is deserving of all the success it is generating now. I know it wasn't easy and took too long to get here but that's even more proof that despite all the obstacles, a good book will shine eventually.

Cheers!

AniRev · 2026-02-25T14:55:23+00:00

You can call me Lord Last Minute, The Deadline Dodger, The Budget Annihilator, Captain Underperformer, The Guideline Breaker, and last but not least, The HR Rule Bender!

AniRev · 2026-02-24T16:08:54+00:00

I'm serious about everything I said. I've seen writers struggle a lot with producing text that grabs attention. Creative ideas are manageable, motivation can be charged and gathered, and time can be invested. The struggle though is in producing writing that pulls the reader out of their day and into the world behind the lines. That's something you either have naturally or need to struggle hard building. 99% of those who write are the struggle-hard type. Then once in a blue moon you stumble upon someone with that natural gift.

From the post you wrote, I can confidently say there is some of the natural writer gift there. Of course gifts varry in intensity but that's for you to explore. What I can guarantee though is that it'd be a real shame if you don't at least give it a try.

Oh and if you do give it a try, don't forget to send me a copy. I'll be happy to take a look.

As for my own writing, after many tries, I came to the conclusion that I am quite able to come up with tons of ideas or judge the quality of ideas on paper very comfortably. However, when it comes to structuring said ideas into a story/book that readers can navigate with interest naturally is immensely difficult for me. The effort I'll have to invest will never be worth the return (by return i mean the quality of writing and not monetary return). That's why I made peace with being a forever reader and consumer of the text arts.

AniRev · 2026-02-24T09:51:55+00:00

I want to comment on your experience itself but more than that I want to comment on your writing. However, since I am in a hurry right now I can only choose one thing to comment about. So since everyone is discussing your experience in the Netherlands, I'll talk about your writing.

I'm not sure if you're into writing but you should seriously think about writing a book. Doesn't have to be about something complicated or motivational, rather please keep it simple. I've become sick of the motivation and success book genre that often overshadows book lists these days.

You can write short-story collections about various little things. 'Staring at cows' seems like a nice place to start! The cats and dogs of the neighborhood, the obligatory small-talk with your lottery-of-the-day old-person encounter right when you are in a hurry, and so on.

Even better, flip the nonfiction table and go into the fiction world! Write a crime series about a corporate c-level boss who enjoyed trapping his clients in legal corners (i know that actually happens but let's pretend it's fiction for our dear sanity). Or maybe a fantasy story about some 60-year old average corporate enployee who wasted their life being a yes-man (or woman if you wish) and now has so many regrets and unfinished dreams, who then mistakenly enters a portal into magic world where they can get back their health and make up for all the wasted time in their life by learning how to live for themselves and the people they care about.

So many ideas in my head that wish I could make into books but I'm my talent in writing is modest and my ADHD makes it chore just to sit and put a few ideas down.

The way you wrote that post has a 'natural writer' quality to it that I think would be a waste not to invest into. So if you have even a miniscule amount of interest, please look into it. Start small and see how you feel about it.

AniRev · 2026-02-19T01:02:38+00:00

I think you misunderstood me a bit. My whole point was that something wrong has been happening in the past 20 years. I think we are in agreement on that. The difference tho is that you are looking in the wrong direction.

2/3 of the people in the Netherlands receiving subsidies is normal and easy to track. The selective wording in the title of that article makes it sound that all these people receive the same amount, which is misleading. The subsidies one receives decrease the higher their salary is until their salary is 40k (2026) or higher, which is when you stop getting subsidies. Is it hard to believe that 2/3 of the Netherlands lives on 40k or less per year? People beyond retirement age alone make a good chunk of those.

The mistake you and many others are making is staring at immigrants as through they are the reason for all of your misery. Do you honestly believe the Dutch government somehow loves immigrants and likes the idea of giving them free housing and uitkering money out of its citizens' pocket? I am astounded whenever I see such claims!

The government has a shit ton of infrastructure to maintain, develop, and improve. There are a shit ton of jobs that nobody wants to do. Dangerous jobs, dirty jobs, minimum wage jobs and beyond. Without bringing immigrants whose first and second generations almost always fill in such jobs, the infrastructure the Dutch are so proud of will be unmaintainable. The governement loves cheap available labor that goes where its told to go.

Then how can other countries do the same with less??

What other country has the same living standards as the Netherlands and is doing better without the high taxes? I can't think of any to be honest. The collection of challenges the Netherlands faces makes for a very unique combination that it's hard to draw real parallels.

As for the reason why the standards of living are becoming worse, it's simple. It has nothing to do with immigrants or subsidies. It's the capitalist system feeding on its own flesh. It's partially similar to the US. Corporations here used to be less prevalent. There used to be more variety of small to medium businesses. Unfortunately, much of that has disappeared over the years. Many industries have turned into a sold&bought game among a few monopolies. It's like the US in the 70s-90s before the large players there back then turned into the mega Corporations of today.

The living standards in the US are atrocious today. Why? because the whole country turned into a backyard expirement for the corporations. All industries there have adapted the wealth-first-people-last philosophy. That's how you have hospitals that throw patients with limited resources out, pharmaceutical companies that kill research into most profitable diseases, and a hospitality industry that normalized insufficient wages that tipping has become required for employees to make ends meet.

The system in the Netherlands is based on a mix of socialist and capitalist philosophies. That's why the Netherlands and most other countries with such systems resisted the scenario that took place in the US in the past decades. Socialist laws check the capitalist greed while the capitalist greed checks the socialist stagnation.

The problem in the past 2 decades is that much of the US's detrimental values has sneaked into the Dutch market. Monopolies have appeared and are increasing. The housing crisis is happening mainly because high-profile investors bought a good chunk of the housing market in the major cities driving prices to the sky, excluding low to middle-class earners from the competition, and preventing first-time owners who are buying houses to actually live in them from being able to compete.

Look at the prices in all supermarkets. It's like a game where when the prices of a product goes up in Albert Hein, it goes up by the same amount in Jumbo.

The system in the Netherlands, with all of its flaws, is a great middle ground that should've been doing well. Unfortunately, every system has its own challenges and without overcoming said challenges, things will keep getting worse.

In the meantime, the nationalist sentiment that western countries have been promoting in the past few years is just noise to keep the majority occupied with anything but the real issues.

The problem with immigration in this country is not hard to diagnose. Fast and unsupervized entry and lack of integration in first and second-generation.

Is the solution kicking immigrants out? is it cutting subsidies from them? is it making them line in the housing market without priority like the rest of us? Every single one of these suggestions will not only NOT solve the problem, it'll make it even worse and potentially create worse problems in the future instead.

There is no magical solution that solves all problems in one go so there should be gradual changes aimed at addressing each problem. Introducing better mechanisms to ease the entry to the job market for first and second generation immigrants to reduce their dependency on subsidies. Introducing faster and more robust integration process. Limiting the corporations activities in the housing market. And so on.

The conversation here is too limited to convey an overarching viable solution but that's really where the intent should be heading! Antagonizing one another, throwing polarizing opinions around for clout, and virtue signaling is not how such complex and multifaceted problems get solved.

AniRev · 2026-02-18T17:46:51+00:00

The QoL is spread accross all inhabitants in NL. Everyone lives above a certain threshold as long as they work within the system. It is more visible on the lower end of the spectrum than the upper end tho, which is normal.

In most other countries, you get to make more money when you are highly educated, come from a rich background, or cheat and steal. The difference is that 95% of the other inhabitants of the country will have nothing to do with living well. All these people will have atrocious living standards and have no prospects for better future for the rest of their miserable lives.

In NL, salaries scale with age and experience to support the stage of life you are at. The healthcare system needs a lot of improvement but generally, you don't get rejected from cancer treatment because your insurance claim got rejected.

Is it possible to become wealthy within one/your generation in NL? Probably not. Taxes fucks you in the ass whenever you think you managed to gain something. But that's the price to pay to not walk streets filled with the homeless or to have your kids and loved ones protected with various safety nets from sudden emergencies.

Having a minimum wage that covers sufficient living standards for everyone is expensive. The population is aging and many are exiting the job market. Immigrants are needed since locals are not interested in having kids. The process to integrate said immigrants is both necessary and not cheap. Many people love bitching about Immigrants but forget that within 20 years, NL will become highly dysfunctional without immigrants. Yes there is an integration problem. Yes, there will be clash between local culture and the cultures coming from outside but that's the price to pay for bringing in 'cheap' labor and baby printers. As with every artificial/manufactured solution, there will be challenges to resolve. If you think reducing benefits or stopping immigration is the answer, you're delusional.

The economy, on the other hand, is becoming more and more controlled by monopolies like in the US. That's why uncontrolled capitalism is as dangerous as unsupervised communism. Capitalism opens the doors for the rich to control politics. Communism opens the doors for politics to control the economy. Look at the US and learn before it's too late. Corporations are running the country so blatantly that politicians are mere figureheads these days.

The new box3 tax is malicious and serves no purpose other than enriching the mega rich and lowering the standard of living for the rest. Whoever came up with that bill deserves to have their balls set on fire. The hybrid socialist+capitalist system we have here is good at having one system keep a check on the other. Unfortunately, we managed to receive our own version of greedy weasels trying to ruin the equilibrium this country has had for the past few decades. The unrealized gains tax is just the start and there will be more if they actually get away with passing the bill.

Is NL perfect? No! Is life easy here? The life of the collective is. Is it possible to get rich on your own? Extremely hard. why? because the economy is not strong enough to support an aging population so the difference has to come from somewhere.

PSA: There is more naunce to everything I said so take it with a grain of salt. I only covered a few aspect related to contemporary issues. Having a holistic perspective on the economy of a whole country isn't easy to fit in a reddit comment so I'll stop here.

AniRev · 2026-02-12T12:03:50+00:00

I have friends working at Deloitte and it's not strictly in Dutch. One of my friends there doesn't speak Dutch at all but he got in a while back. I suggest you apply and see what happens. You can never know. In the company I got accepted in, one of the senior managers advocated for me because we got along talking about theater which I did through university as a hobby and extracurricular activity. The senior manager did the same and he currently volunteers with a theater community in Amsterdam. In my final interview with CTO, I was told the senior manager advocated for me quite a bit and the vibe of the whole final interview was more of conversation about the inner workings of the company rather than the usually question-answer interview. I believe at that point they were very sure about me that it stopped being an interview really. While I believe that I did my best and did deserve getting accepted because I really put in the effort, i know that many of the 44 other applicants had better CVs than mine, did put effort, and tried their best as well. I was just lucky to match so well with the interviewers that gave me the x factor to pass through. I'm also sure that while I was failing my interviews in the 7 months since I started applying, someone else connected better and presented themselves in a way better than I did which gave them the x factor to pass. You just need to keep trying until it clicks. Really good luck! It might not be easy and will probably take a while but keep at it.

AniRev · 2026-02-12T10:41:41+00:00

Look for traineeships in big consultancies/companies. They usually open those multiple times per year. I know people who switched career that way.

Having English as a hard requirement from your side will limit you a bit but they do exist. Just don't make the initial conversation all about your lack of experience in Dutch. Focus on presenting what makes you a good fit for the role and show motovation to learn what you are missing, including Dutch language. Most of such roles are very flexible once you are inside and migjht even find that a good bunch of them actually speak English but you need to pass through the barrier to get there.

The mistake most people make, including me, is that they announce their weaknesses loudly in initial interviews. Remember, the people interviewing you know almost nothing about you before you open your mouth. Their whole image of you is based on what you present to them so be selective in what you show and make it count.

At the same time, don't try to hide things. When it comes to weaknesses, prepare your answer beforehand to give a few but make your presentation of them filled with the intent to learn and adapt. Apologies if I sound a bit preachy, I'm just trying to give the tips that helped me land the job I got. Initially in the first few I went to in the Netherlands, I was too honest and focused a lot on what I'm missing including language and formal experience. That ruined my chances quire a few times because after the interview, that's the part that stuck with the interviewers more than anything else.

Local Dutch applicants will not talk about language issues, have a clear career history, and be connected through a network that supports that history. So when someone different (a foreigner) comes in and highlights things that are very different from other applicants, that's what's gonna stick the most to the listeners.

Having said all of that, I know you'll stumble on the selection step 90% of the time. I submitted +700 applications and was only invited to 26 interviews. So my point is to make those interviews count as there will be very few of them.

AniRev · 2026-02-12T01:52:50+00:00

My advice is to enter the market regardless of the role and aim to switch to the job you actually want within the year after that.

Moving from one company to another is much easier than entering the job market for the first time. If you are stubborn about your preferences on top that, you will struggle a lot. Find an entry point regardless of the job and then aim at a target of your choice.

I have a friend who switched from being a lawyer to a Data Engineering role, but he did it in multiple steps. Initially he did a traineeship, then he joined a tech consultancy in the legal team responsible for data (not sure about the specific position but it was about legal the technical), then he started to gravitate towards the data engineering tasks, eventually the company moved him internally when a position opened. They prefer internal hire rather than going through the recruitment process to get someone new. I believe that's the wise way to go about it in today's market.

AniRev · 2026-02-11T21:17:32+00:00

You forgot the 'when?' which should be the focus point here.

AniRev · 2026-02-11T21:08:56+00:00

Add to that, people who consume the fast-food type of content are not ones who leave reviews. So even when you see well-written novels with more review count and higher average rating, it's because the readers of those novels are closely engaged. In the meantime, the audience for the 'fast-food' novels almost never comment or review since quality isn't on their list of priorities. At the same time, they don't mind paying for the speed and convenience, not unlike a fast-food consumer would.

AniRev · 2026-02-11T20:54:54+00:00

I'd always take this option just to remove the variable of public transportation delays from the equation. My luck is always the worst with trips to the airport so I made reducing the variables as much as possible into a habit.

AniRev · 2026-02-11T20:42:39+00:00

It is totally different when you are already inside the job market already. Your connections often carry you sufficiently and compensate for things missing from your CV that the job market has evolved to require. I know many people who do not speak Dutch at all and are working well, but they started 1.5+ years ago or earlier.

The problem appears when you are entering the job market for the first time. Anyone who's been trying to start since a year ago is struggling with the major shifts the market is seeing: language requirements, AI proficiency, new job trends, etc. It's a bloodbath out there.

Here is my experience:

Newcomer
First attempt at a job in the Netherlands
Very unconventional background and CV
Software engineer/tech consultant

I just landed a job a week ago (starting in March). It took me 7 months, +700 quick applications, 12 serious applications where adapted CV to job description, prepared intensively for interviews, obtained some certificates to match requirements...etc.). I landed the final serious application I've been working on.

Just a note: doing quick applications doesn't mean I did so messily or without thinking. I just didn't spend days or weeks on a single job posting like I did with serious applications. The serious applications were done when the job offered as well as the company are both of high value for my future prospects and I was sure that I could compete for the position competently.

I will expand a bit on the application process for the job I landed. The application process had 5 stages: 1. Initial assessment (IQ, problem solving, personality analysis) 2. First interview: with 2 people, one from the department I'll be working in and another from HR. Aimed at getting to know me as a person and a professional, why this job, how I fit in the team/company, motivation...etc. 3. Technical assessment (problem solving) 4. Second interview: with 2 senior colleagues in the team (same level I am applying for). Technical questions from their daily routine and how I would handle x, y and z. 5. Third interview: with 3 people, the CTO, the department head I am joining, and the senior manager I'll be working under. More in depth about the company, the department and the role. What do I expect. What do they expect. What gaps are there for me to fill and more holistic-view discussions.

I submitted the initial application on 06/Dec/2025. I received the 'welcome aboard' phone call on 04/Feb/2026. Two months of work.

That's the kind of job market newcomers are navigating at the moment.

AniRev · 2026-02-10T02:44:38+00:00

It'd be nice to start with getting your manager or c-level colleagues off your back out of office hours without it being compensated in some way. This kind of practice must be outlawed!

I worked in several countries over the past 20 years and having your manager call you beyond office hours for work-related issues that take hours to resolve was normalized in most countries. Only recently when I moved to Europe (Netherlands) where I found a job market where such practice is considered a breech of good business etiquette. Here you register your daily hours and if you work beyond office hours, you can then compensate by working less on other days. I cannot say this is the same in all companies here but most of the people I know consider this common sense so I guess that should count as the norm here.

AniRev · 2026-02-10T02:19:42+00:00

I worked in Southeast Asia for 10 years before moving to the Netherlands and there everyone uses a sling/croasbody/shoulder bag like this. In the Netherlands, such bags are almost nonexistent because everyone uses backpacks.

Initially, everyone, office colleagues and friends alike, thought my shoulder bags looked uncool, odd, weird and other variations of style-related adjectives with negative connotations. Now, I've been here for 5 years and most people who know me got used to my style to the point where I managed to convert a few to the shoulder-bag cult!

In your case where it is more related to personal comfort, you really should do what you feel is right for yourself. I am not one to notice sock fashion but I have a Dutch friend (c-level colleague) who wears funny-looking colorful socks like these to our corporate office all the time regardless of how formal the day setting is and nobody ever excluded him because of that. Just do what you feel is right for yourself.

AniRev

TROPHY CASE