Finding good restaurants in the Netherlands during tulip season can take a little planning, especially in The Hague where popular dinner reservations book up quickly. De Basiliek The Hague ended up being one of our favorite meals from the trip because the food felt creative and elevated while still staying approachable and familiar.
The food was creative and delicious, the atmosphere felt moody without being too dark, and almost everything we ordered was excellent. If you like Bib Gourmand-style restaurants where the food feels high quality without completely annihilating your budget, this fit that category very well for us.
If you’re planning a broader Netherlands trip, this worked well as part of our Where to Stay in the Netherlands (Best Areas to Do in One Trip) itinerary alongside stops in Delft, Gouda, Haarlem, and Amsterdam.
De Basiliek has a menu that is modern European with Mediterranean and Asian influences mixed throughout. The dishes felt ingredient-focused and seasonal and super flavorful.
The menu changes regularly, but while we were there you could find things like tuna crudo with jalapeño and watermelon radish, crispy squid bao buns, cauliflower tempura, lamb skewers with whipped feta, steak dishes, Iberico pork, seafood, and multiple tasting menu options.
What I liked most was how flexible the menu felt. Some tables were sharing smaller plates and drinks while others were doing full tasting menus or more traditional multi-course dinners like we did. It made the restaurant feel lively and relaxed instead of overly formal.
The atmosphere was dimly lit but still bright enough that you could actually see your food.
Yes. I would absolutely make a reservation ahead of time.
That said, I was still able to get a reservation about three weeks before our trip, which felt reasonable considering how popular restaurants can get during spring travel season in the Netherlands.
If you’re visiting The Hague during tulip season or over a weekend, I would not wait until the last minute.
If you’re road-tripping around the country like we were, I’d also recommend reading Driving in the Netherlands (What It’s Really Like for Tourists) because parking rules and city layouts varied a lot between Dutch cities during this trip.
We ordered a mix of dishes across the menu and honestly liked almost all of them.
We started with the white asparagus dish because white asparagus season is a huge deal in the Netherlands this time of year. The plate came with hedgehog mushrooms, egg yolk, and parmesan.
I had never tried hedgehog mushrooms before and became mildly obsessed with them after about two bites.
The asparagus dish felt very seasonal and fresh and the parmesan and egg yolk gave it enough richness that it still felt satisfying.
We also ordered the cauliflower tempura with capers, raisins, and almonds. That combination sounded slightly crazy on paper but worked surprisingly well together. It had crunch, sweetness, saltiness, and acidity all happening at once which was a party in my mouth.
For mains, we ordered the Babette steak with smoked onions, crispy garlic, and pepper sauce along with the polderhoen chicken dish.
The steak was very good, but the standout for me ended up being the chicken, which surprised me because I rarely order chicken at restaurants since I eat it constantly at home already.
The polderhoen came with crispy leek, shiitake broth, and gyoza, and the whole dish had way more depth than I expected. It felt comforting and rich without becoming heavy. By the end of dinner, this was the plate I kept thinking about afterward. The steak was still very good, but the chicken was easily the standout between the two.
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We also ordered two desserts because the menu made that feel like the correct life choice.
The panna cotta came with mango, verbena, white chocolate, lychee, and black sesame ice cream. It was lighter and more refreshing than the rest of the meal, which balanced everything out nicely after the richer savory dishes.
But the sticky toffee cake with vanilla ice cream and miso caramel completely won the night for me.
It was warm, rich, soft, and exactly the type of dessert that makes you immediately start calculating whether ordering a second one would make you look unreasonable in public.
For the quality of the food, I thought the pricing was very fair.
We did a starter, main course, and dessert and spent around €50 per person.
Most starters were around €17–18, mains were generally around €30, and desserts were about €12. They also had smaller bites for sharing like oysters, bitterballen, and jamón.
Compared to a lot of upscale restaurants that end up feeling more focused on presentation than flavor, this felt like a good balance between creativity and food you genuinely want to keep eating.
The service was excellent throughout dinner.
The staff spoke English very well and were extremely helpful when we had questions about ingredients or dishes we didn’t recognize. At one point, one of the servers even pulled out their phone to show me a picture of an ingredient I didn’t understand, which is above and beyond in my opinion.
That kind of interaction always stands out to me because it makes the whole experience feel more comfortable instead of intimidating.
Especially when you’re staring at a menu trying to confidently pretend you know what something is.
I think De Basiliek works especially well for:
It felt romantic and upscale, but still relaxed enough that dinner never became overly serious.
If you end up loving De Basiliek like we did, we also got several restaurant recommendations from a local waiter while we were in The Hague.
The recommendations are more modern and food-focused instead of heavily traditional Dutch restaurants, which matched the dining experience we had at De Basiliek.
Yuzu Dining was one of the biggest recommendations for a more upscale dinner.
It’s known for sushi, creative plating, and a more polished atmosphere.
De Zoute Kater was recommended as a cozy wine bar with small plates and more of a neighborhood feel.
Bar Bowie felt more trendy and cocktail-focused compared to some of the others.
The recommendation made it sound ideal for drinks, smaller dishes, and a younger crowd later at night.
El Bar was suggested for Spanish-style tapas and cocktails.
Compared to some of the quieter restaurants nearby, this one sounded more energetic and social with lots of shared plates and a livelier atmosphere.
One of the better local recommendations we got was to spend time around Anna Paulownaplein.
The square is filled with restaurants, wine bars, cafés, and terraces, and it is noticeably more local compared to some of the busier tourist areas around the city.
It had an atmosphere where people were lingering outside over drinks and dinner instead of rushing through meals, especially later in the evening.
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I ate chilaquiles while a Cessna taxied past the window, and that’s just a normal Tuesday breakfast in Sedona.
@mesa_grill_sedona sits right beside the Sedona Airport Scenic Lookout, so along with your food you get red rock views stretching in every direction and a front-row seat to tiny planes lifting off. Chef Mercer Mohr runs the kitchen, serving up Southwestern comfort food from breakfast through dinner, chilaquiles, elevated diner classics, burgers, steaks, seafood, all of it.
The view is what pulls people in the door, but the food actually holds its own. Good enough that this place stays packed with locals, not just tourists passing through on their way to the lookout. It also picked up the 2025 Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice and OpenTable Diners’ Choice awards, so it’s not just me saying it.
Indoor seating if you want the AC, a pet-friendly patio if your dog’s along for the trip. Either way, get there before plane-spotting turns into a wait for a table.
Link in bio for the full Sedona breakfast roundup ✈️🌵
Confession: my newsletter is where the good stuff lives. Not the polished, edited-for-the-grid stuff, the “here’s the hole-in-the-wall I almost skipped” stuff, the packing lists I actually use, the “don’t book this hotel” warnings before you waste your money on them.
The newsletter is basically me texting you before a trip instead of after one. Sign up and you’ll be the first to know where I’m headed next, plus a few things I’ll never post here.
Link in bio if you want in. ✈️
Yes, it’s only July. Start planning anyway. Fall books faster than people expect, and a few of these destinations are worth getting ahead of. Here are five places worth putting on your radar right now.
Ireland: Cooler temps, moody skies, dramatic coastline fall was made for it. Tourist crowds drop, the green stays, and the whole country feels a little more like itself.
Great Smoky Mountains, TN/NC: Fall foliage in the Smokies is the real thing. The color peaks mid-October and the views from the ridgelines are hard to argue with. It’s also one of the most visited national parks in the country, so going on a weekday makes a real difference.
New York City: Fall is NYC at its best comfortable temps, the energy of the city shifting into a new season, and every neighborhood doing something worth showing up for. It’s also just a great walking city when it’s not brutally hot.
Japan: Fall foliage season is as good as spring cherry blossoms and somehow less talked about. The colors are dramatic, the temples and gardens are stunning, and it’s worth planning around peak dates by region.
Mystic, Connecticut: Small, walkable, genuinely charming Mystic in fall feels like exactly what a New England autumn is supposed to look like. Easy to pair with a broader New England road trip if you want to extend it.
Full guides linked in bio 🍂
There are two kinds of travelers: people who plan a trip and then figure out where to eat, and people who book a restaurant and then build the rest of the itinerary around it.I am the second kind. I will not apologize for this.
The reservation gets locked in first. The hotel search happens within the same 24 hours. The flights get compared around the restaurant’s hours of operation. The rest of the trip exists to fill the days before and after the table I actually came for.
If this sounds unhinged, I completely understand. It has also resulted in some of the best meals of my life, so I’m going to keep doing it.
Drop a 🍽️ if you plan your trips around food too.
Let’s talk about when to actually book that Dubai trip you’ve been pinning for two years. I get asked this constantly, so here’s the honest breakdown: October through April is your window. Anything outside that and you’re basically touring in a sauna!
October and November give you warm days and cooler nights, which is basically the sweet spot for wandering around without melting. December through February is peak season: gorgeous weather. March and April are the quiet insider pick, right before summer heat shows up and ruins everyone’s plans.
Saving this for later? That’s what it’s here for. Full breakdown linked in bio.
Follow @travelwithwendyplummer for Beautiful Beach Destinations, City Guides, Foodie Spots, and Luxury Hotel Recommendations.
