Our kitchen, our team

By yourself, just the two of you, en famille or the entire posse, café – brasserie ‘Nationaal’ will let you experience Belgian hospitality at its best. An apéritif in the café and after a while dinner in the brasserie or maybe both on the intimate balcony overlooking the entire place.

Chef Jermain Huisman (previously Capriole) serves a seasonal menu inspired by the richness of the Belgian cuisine with Bruxelles as the epicentre.

Besides the classics as Coq au vin or Toast Cannibale we are happy to venture into vegan and vegetarian dishes, such as King Oyster mushroom ‘coquilles’.

Our wines are selected by sommelier Paul Fonderie.
We serve an extensive cocktail menu engineered by our bartender
Carl Tjong-a-Tjoe.

Gastheer Charlie Merle and his crew will be here to welcome you.

Soyez le bienvenu! Welcome!

Café ‘Nationaal’,
gloriously restored with an eye for detail

Imagine walking around with the idea of opening a Belgian bar in The Hague’s city centre. And that the property you are eyeing, at Prinsegracht 2, once housed a place named café ‘Nationaal’.
It does not get any more Belgian than that now does it?!

The building, a national monument, situated on the corner of the Prinsegracht and the Boekhorststraat, dates from the 17th century. In the 19th century Prinsegracht 2 and the attached property at Boekhorststraat 1 were made from homes into shops with an entrance on street level.
On this location in 1885 a beer and coffee house opened that eventually in 1905 was called Café ‘Nationaal’.

Much later Chinese restaurant Lung Fung and King Spareribs were situated here.
We have thoroughly renovated the place, carefully touched, restored or renewed everything.
Everything but the name.

 

 

Café ‘Nationaal’ anno 1925 – photo: The Hague Municipal Archives

café – brasserie ‘Nationaal’, old-fashioned splendor, not an old-fashioned story