Toontje

Order one of each for me too!

barnowl

Hi Joanne,
most has been said already, can i add that you will find most of what you want, tea bags are called engles melange and are pretty good, the cheese is awesome here, but you wont find a fish and chip shop and no pies pasties, i make them myself. but lots veg for dinners and stew, we have aldi and lidl here and mostly it is better than the uk stuff, baked beans are much nicer here and taste a bit like hp beans, better than hienz. lots salad stuff etc, but the bacon is wafer thin and smoked so i get mine cut to number 14 at the butcher, then it dont shrivvle to nothing when u cook it.
one piece of advice though, bring lots oxos, they dont sell them here and the altervative is not nice. my mum sends me 2oo at a time in food parcels hehe, otherwise you wont starve as the food is pretty good and you can buy from thomas greens for english food but it is expensive, well the transport costs shoot the price up. search the web for thomas greens in amsterdam and you will get idea, good luck with the move.

joanne77

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply Barnowl, that was really helpful and much appreciated xx

Dave C.

Hi Joanne,

That's good information from Barnowl, but I've a few more tips for you about The Hague.
You will find a chippy in Den Haag - Chester's Kitchen makes their own pies and does a cracking battered cod.
There are 2 ex-pat shops in the Hague - "Kelly's Expat shopping" in the centre and "Thomas Green" near Scheveningen. These sell pretty much everything from home, and will order it if they've not got it. They won't be cheap though, most stuff is imported of course.
I can't tell you which one is best because they're both good and both are customers of mine :-).
Thomas Green in Amsterdam has changed it's name and become "Absolutely British". Same bloke, same place, same range, just no longer part of the Thomas Green franchise.
Like Barnowl said, there are a lot of local alternatives, some you will find better than British, others terrible, but it's fun finding out.

Den Haag has a strong ex-pat community due to the amount of international businesses there, just ask around in the shops and (British/Irish) bars and they'll tell you what's going on.

Anyway, it's a good place to live in my opinion, I hope you get to like it too.

Good luck,
Dave

barnowl

Hi Dave, Its amazing how many expats there are here and, nice to meet you. Well i will say i am surprised to learn about a fish/chip shop i was saying to the wife when i arrived here, if i had the money thats what i would be investing in, in my learning of the dutch people as is usual just about all kids love chips and i find the parents look upon them as we in the uk looked at chinese take aways and indian curries lol. but soon learnt that its a good change in taste. so theres money to be made in the chippy. anyway i live in drenthe and well actually live in a woods the nearest shop/store is a couple of kiloms away in the village. but the nearest city (hoogeveen) is 12 mins by car. so not too far and i enjoy our weekly shop as i get to see people. where i am we see the postman and the odd person who took a wrong turn lol.
i make lots of my own food cakes roast dinner, stews, and chinese and indian. it was funny that when i cooked stew and roast dinner people just said WHAT is that ? but now my wife and her son love it. iI guess its what we are all brought up on and so obviousely the dutch dont eat english and vice versa. but as you say its fun to learn and, i think they eat more healthy than us brits. I love living here and do not intend to move back to the uk. and i gained lots weight so im hardly starving, the diet is working now lol.
there was a thomas greens in groninham but its closed now, what a shame i had found great items there and the lady even imported onion bahjies for me we split the pack and i took about 15 euro worth and she used the rest on customers. but oxos i cannot get and, i am not sure if i should be getting them by post from the uk as they are in fact beef produce, but i have managed to keep the flow going, and the wife drinks them on a cold winter night, so i lock some away haha.
anyway it is so nice to have found this site and to talk with you all.i am sure we can make good friends here as i do hanker for some brit company and am at present looking for a friend to fish with, have a nice day, and thankyou.
ralph.

Dutchie

Hi,

I'm Dutch. I would almost commit a murder for a bag of English Fish and chips. And that awesome brown sauce. I know not very healthy. But.... O yes, leave the over cooked peas away please. Never understood why a UK national can't cook peas.

barnowl

Hi Dutchie.
as i type i am cooking peas with a casserole, but it is a prefferance as to if u want soft or semi soft veg, i like mine cooked or raw. peas from the pod are amazing. carrots raw are great, its just taste and texture, tonight i made casserole with mash aardapple (potatoe) thats carrots onion mushroom (champion) is mushroom salt pepper and 3 oxo.
its an english meal but i know my family will eat it with vigour. (with love) a fat belly is a happy belly lol.
I was born just after ww2, i was one of 9 kinder (kids) my dad worked at the docks and mum was a housewife, his pay was small (klien) but we all survived i think i am very lucky, we all ate good enough, supermarkets never existed, but every meal was 4 existence not for what we have today,but thats fine, i look at my wifes son and get mad somedays, he wastes sooooo much. it is strange when one can shop and argue, I WANT DOHNUTS ? for gods sake i want 2 be a millionaire. truth is when in moved 2 holland ,,, my life changed. it is wonderful and i lost nothing,i gained a wife and will die here, food well thats a prob lol no pies or pasties.
selfish being i am, lots huggs owl.

Casa Santo Estevo

Why is there all this talk about so called English “fish and chips”? Surely you lot eat kibbeling or Lekkerbekje. You can normally purchase these on a Markt.
And the brown sauce i.e. HP is now made in The Netherlands. It caused a big uproar in the U.K.’s parliament when production was moved as HP stands for Houses of Parliament.

Dave C.

Brown sauce is widely available here, at least in the Randstad (AH and C1000 stock it round here). Fish and chips is not. There are very few chippies here that use fresh potatoes (a vast majority of snack bars use frozen chips) and no one seems to fry them the same way as in the UK. Fresh Vlaamse friet come close, as do Bram Ladage in Rotterdam, but they're still not the same.
Vinegar on the chips? Mushy peas, gravy or curry sauce? It is "so called English" because of the whole package, not just the piece of fish.

Casa Santo Estevo

I used the term “so-called English” because as I understood it fish and chips originated on the continent and it is now been adopted by a lot of the English speaking world.
Chips to vary from one shop to another, just like in the U.K. Plus it is your own taste as to what is best, is it not. I personally hate soggy chips.
The English Malt vinegar used in eh British kitchen is hard to find out side of the isles. But when you live outside of your home country you simply have to adapt your tastes. When we lived in The Netherlands we used Mayo on the chips.
Curry sauces can be found if you want it.

Dutchie

Cooked peas? Or peas pushed to the limits of calling it Suicidal cookery? The first time I saw that green mass on a plate in the UK I then asked my female counter part "What in the Queens name is this?" She replied "Peas? Don't you Dutchie's know what that is?" And I replied "Sure... If I can recognize some of them, okay one or two of them as being peas. This? Is one green mass and with a lot of imagination I do recognize the occasional "Pea" in it. My god, I can hear them crying for mercy "Just don't chew, swallow use really fast and let it be over with..."

nightrider

Haha nice1! and fair comment about mushy peas,I can see why some people would`nt like them,though I like them best with pie+gravy.

nightrider

You will find a chippy in Den Haag - Chester's Kitchen makes their own pies and does a cracking battered cod.

I never knew that! I`ll be sure to check it out,thanks Dave.

nightrider

That`s right Dave,big cod in batter+chips made from chopped potatos,from a reputable chip shop...it`s a satisfying meal with peas,beans or whatever.
Lekkerbekje+frozen chips fried in old oil(not always but)is more of a snack than a meal and a lot less tasty.In England you can be walking through town and have no appetite but then you smell the chip shop with it`s wonderfull smells and even though you`re not paticularly hungry you must have some,so you do and it`s awesome.On the other hand,you`re in Holland,totally famished and and ready to eat anything then yo see a snack bar so you stride towards it then,all of a sudden you smell the snack bar and the closer you get the more your appetite deminishes till you either give it up or go in regardless and eat,which can be done whilst drunk I might add,otherwise leave it be.Chippies offer an unhealthy but delicious meal,snackbars are unhealthy and most of the time sell digusting food.Unless you`ve eat from a good English chippy you cannot make a comparrison.

Dutchie

Ever tried it lately? It's nearly all import and tastes like fried rubber....