Sunday 20 May 2007

Eating out in Nijmegen




This post is a list - so I'll keep adding to it as the year goes along.

Since I have resolved to be a cheerful expat - let me start this by saying that beer in Nijmegen is good and always cheap. An excellent range of beers and a cosy atmosphere may be found in almost all drinking establishments. Food and Nijmegen however, are a combination that can cause some anxiety in the minds of expats. Firstly shops are closed all day Sunday - which can lead to the disorganised expat getting a little peckish. But you can buy pretty much anything between the supermarkets, health food shops, toko marts (asian food shops) and Turkish and Russian groceries. As far as eating out, food establishments can be very variable, and are always overpriced so the experience can be somewhat deflating. Which is why you need a food guide to Nijmegen....

As it happens one is at hand. Allow me to lead you around the best food options I've found so far. First I'll give you a picture of my tastes - I am vegetarian, but can eat large amounts of dairy (believe me it's come in handy), tolerate a fair amount of grease (in the absence of sogginess), am not so keen on mixing sweet and savoury or salt in large amounts and above all enjoy fresh vegetables and interesting mixtures of spices (as opposed to the prevaliling one spice per item attitude I find around here - oops I complained!).

I've put an address or link where possible, you can always find your way to these places using:
http://www.routenet.nl/


Tips and warnings:
1. Do not go into any old pizza or kebab shop thinking 'how bad could it be?' You will find out.
2. In many places you need to order dinner before 8pm.
3. Many bars have snacks of some type
4. When it doubt order appeltaart (apple pie) it's is always nice.

1. Maoz vegetarian, Grote markt 19
A little take-away with seating for about 8. The food is good and you always find an interesting crowd, although you won't want to stick around as it's always also crowded. They offer falafels in flatbread with a range of salads and sauces as well as chips and drinks. I recommend the carrot salad and the coriander sauce. The chips are actually crunchy, the only place you can get crunchy chips north of the belgian border. Maoz is a chain, but don't let that put you off. People do eat the salad out of their pocket and then refill it, so don't hold back if you get thrilled by this place (I know I did the first time). I find it a nice place to go when I get sick of my own cooking. Leave plenty of time, if you're off to see a movie or something as for some reason it takes 15 minutes to fry a falafel and stick it into a break pocket. But it's worth the wait.
Prices: 4-6 euros depending on your 'meal' option.
(thanks for the tip JP)

2. Weet je wel (y'know), Priemstraat 13
A little cafe down the hill behind the Grote markt. A bit tricky to find but worth finding. The staff are nice and friendly, also quite attentive. The food is relatively fresh and they always have a few different vegetarian options. One time I had a quiche, the next time a lasagne. Both were very tasty. Food is typically dutch here in being very soft in texture. Being used to that I wasn't surprised that there was no difference between the texture of the noodles in my lasagne and the eggplant. I would steer away from the asian food here - which from the look of it is very dutch-style (sweet, salty brown sauces). With your main meals at dinner time you get the traditional 3 bowls to share a dutch (?Nijmegen) tradition. The three bowls are: salad, (!brown) bread and chips. The yellow walls are especially cosy in winter. You can't sit outside at all, but it's still nice in summer.
Prices: 13-15 euros for a main course at dinner time
Note: You have to order dinner before 8pm
(thanks for the tip - M&A)

3. Australian ice cream, Koningstraat 35
You've heard of New Zealand Ice Cream and all those ones with scandinavian names, now it's time for.... Australian ice cream! Complete with dot designs on their chocolates. I found out from their website that they have 2 shops in Sydney which is pretty funny. Click on the website and listen to the didjeridoo:

http://www.australianhomemade.com/front/index.asp

First I should mention that the ice cream and chocolate at this place is very yummy. Purported to be a Belgian company, it is actually a chain based in Nijmegen. There is also a chain called Australian ice cream in Belgium but their shop-design is different (green and gold) and the ice cream isn't very good.
They seem to be cutting down on the use of dot-patterns in the shop and on the chocolates, I think they got a bit of flack for it - kind of a shame. Australians do not get a discount - I tried already!
Prices: usual ice-cream prices (under 5 euros)
(thanks for the tip Clair)

There are also some nijmegen restaurants reviewed on this website, but most seem to be the fairly touristy ones:
Virtual tourist website

Translation exercise 2: Shenkie video

My apartment comes with a tv with MTV which might seem dangerous but actually the videos they show aren't that exciting - they have a predominance of dance music videos (boring!) and woofy English rock (Arctic monkeys, coldplay blah blah). But! I happened to see an incredibly amusing one this morning, and even if you didn't find the article from De Brug Nijmegen interesting, I think you'll like this one, although it looks better on tele.



It's by a band called 'De jeugd van tegenwoordig' (the youth of today / contemporary youth). Purported to be the winner of a competition which asks people to make their own music video but actually professionally done. It is extremely amusing, and would probably be classified as child porn in Australia.

Band website:
http://www.dejeugdvantegenwoordig.com/
Filmakers website:
http://www.filmjugend.de/
An article about the clip/band/filmaker (in dutch):
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/artikelen/artikel/34650690

I downloaded two different transcriptions of the lyrics - both are totally different! It doesn't sound like it would be such a hard song to hear the words of, if you could speak dutch, but maybe the people transcribing it can't speak much dutch either, or perhaps they're 8 years old. Anyway, the meaning clearly isn't deep, whatever it is (think I'll stick to De Brug from now on).

Shenki
Reverse, you’re crazy for this one!

(Willie Wartaal)
Dan wat! Ik spit niet goed,
What then! I (something) no good
Ik hop hip als een konijn in de Jimmy Woo,
I hip hop like a rabbit in Jimmy Woo
G in de hoek met groepies G in de hoek met tjoeries,
G in the corner with groupies, G in the corner with [tjoeries]
Eentje voor je praatjes, eentje voor je stank,
one for your chats, one for stink
Eentje voor je …,
one for your [?skins/skinheads]
Want die dames willen gratis drank,
because the girls want free drinks
Dus twee tjoeries en twee keer twoe,
so two [tjoeries] and two times [twoe]
Je hele crew is een beetje moe,
your whole crew is a little bit tired
Nepkomen ik weet niet hoe,
fronting I don't know how
Shenkies zijn played out als Evisu
Shenkies are played out like Evisu

Chorus:
Shenkie in de koelkast
Shenkie in the fridge
Kenker je bent een fool gast
Kenker you're a fool guest
Oublié, quelque chose
(french - help!)
Faffie, faffie, oeh ah
(2x)

(Fabergé)
P en faber E en G en een E met een moeilijk streepje Gé,
to the P to the E to the G to the E with a difficult stroke
Ik kraak wat af….,
I diss a bit
Als ik door je heen prik zijn de rapen gaar,
when I pierce you with my weaving rap (a rather imaginative interpretation_
Ja ik ben weer op TV (…),
Yeah, I'm on TV again
Als ik…..(met m’n luchtbalon),
when I... (with my balloon)
Shows in Frankfürt…. ,
En ik hang met Reverse, hij is ook bekend,
And I hang with Reverse, he's also well known
Geld geven heeft zeker zin,
Getting money makes sense
Stort je props maar lekker op m’n rekening,
Kindly leave your props on my account
Wat is al die shine en die slechte geur,
What's all the shine and the bad smell
Fabergé, Willie W en Vieze Fur,
Faberge, Willie W and Dirty Fur
Wat de fok is al die shine en slechte geur,
What the fuck is all the shine and bad smell
Fabergé, Willie W enneh Vieze Fur
Faberge, Willie W and Dirty Fur
Refrein

(Vieze Fur)
Koetjesrepen in me huis,
Caramels in my house (koetjesrepen are a brand of caramel or some other typically dutch sweet, there's a lot of them)
Koetjerepen in me vacht,
Caramels in my skim
Koetjesrepen in me buik ,
Caramels in my tummy
Koetjesrepen komen hard,
Caramels come hard (?)
(2x)

Koetjesrepen, koetjesrepen
Caramels, Caramels
Wie wil er nou m’n koetjesrepen
Who wants my caramels then?
Koetjesrepen, koetjesrepen
Caramels, Caramels
Neem alsjeblieft m’n koetjesrepen
Please take my caramels

(lyrics downloaded from http://3voor12.vpro.nl/artikelen/artikel/34650690)