The 500 Hidden Secrets of Rotterdam

The 500 Hidden Secrets of

ROTTERDAM S A S K I A N A A F S & G U I D O VA N E I J C K

5 great MEDITERRANEAN restaurants

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DESTINO Zaagmolenkade 37 North ➂ +31 (0)10 842 20 59 www.restaurantdestino.nl

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BORGO D’ANETO Nijverheidstraat 2 South ➄ +31 (0)10 290 77 32 www.borgodaneto.nl

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At this restaurant with a view of the river Rotte you can eat modern Spanish tapas that go well beyond your regular albondigas or patatas bravas. The dishes are seasonally inspired and tastefully presented, with a choice of warm and cold tapas and daily specials. Destino doesn’t take reservations but you can enjoy a good glass of wine or gin and tonic while waiting for a table.

Chef Faouzi Chihabi serves fresh, seasonal Italian cuisine in a daily changing three-course menu. Enjoy his creations while admiring the city’s skyline. Chihabi is passionate about the untapped possibilities of Rotterdam South and offers training to local youngsters. The most beautiful way to reach this restaurant is by Watertaxi (stop Nassauhaven 26).

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ZENNE Willemskade 27 Centre West ➀ +31 (0)10 404 96 96 www.zenne.nl

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FILO-FILO Nieuwe Binnenweg 230-A West ➅ +31 (0)10 786 57 94 www.filo-filo.nl

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LE SOUQ DELFSHAVEN Voorhaven 54-B West ➅ +31 (0)10 476 55 58 www.lesouq.nl

Zenne will take you on a culinary tour through Turkey. There’s no set menu so just sit down, enjoy the fantastic view of the Erasmus bridge and let yourself be surprised by the chef. There’s always a choice of fish, meat or vegetarian for the main course, mezze for starters and a dessert that will leave you full and satisfied.

This small eatery specialises in bougatsa, a Greek delicacy. Layers of fluffy puff pastry are filled with feta cheese, spinach, minced meat or sausage. If you have a sweet tooth, try the bougatsa with custard or with chocolate and hazelnut.

In summer, have a very good freddo (iced espresso) with your bougatsa in the back garden.

Sample the rich, complicated flavours of Lebanese cuisine in historical Delfshaven. Le Souq will tease your taste buds with a wide variety of mezze, small dishes to share. Definitely try the homemade hummus for dipping, and the kibbe, a Lebanese treat with wheat, minced meat, onion and pine nuts.

Le Souq is 100% halal, so no alcohol.

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The 5 best places to sample ASIAN CUISINE

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YAMA Eendrachtsweg 31-A Centre West ➀ +31 (0)6 213 724 51 www.jcyama.com

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DE KLEINE ONDEUGD Oostzeedijk 348 Northeast ➃ +31 (0)10 213 07 18 www.dekleineondeugd.nl

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GAMASOT Pannekoekstraat 103-A Centre East ➁ +31 (0)10 213 30 48 www.gamasot.nl

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Authentic Japanese cuisine served in an intimate setting where you can watch the two chefs at work. This restaurant pays the highest attention to quality, taste, presentation and service and is therefore very popular. Reserve well in advance using the online reservation system.

Avoid the stress of choosing from an endless list of curries and fried noodles and just let yourself be surprised by the set menu that changes daily in De Kleine Ondeugd (‘a minor vice’). The chefs have been serving authentic Thai dishes of constant high quality from their cosy kitchen for the past twenty years.

Thanks to the minimalist interior of this small Korean eatery, all the attention goes to the fabulous authentic dishes served by chef Choi and his wife. Noodle soups, bibimbap (rice, veg, beef and egg), fried dumplings and of course the Korean specialty kimchi (fermented cabbage) that Mr Choi makes himself.

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PHO HANOI Botersloot 58-A Centre East ➁ +31 (0)10 846 93 08 www.phohanoi.nl

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AP HALEN Mathenesserdijk 412-C West ➅ +31 (0)6 199 895 13 www.aphalen.nl

Chef Minh Le serves dishes from North-Vietnamese cuisine, like bánh mì (Vietnamese sandwiches), bun noodles and variations on the national dish pho: a noodle soup filled with beef, chicken or meat balls. A hearty, nutritious and spicy dish that’s a good antidote for an oncoming flu or nose cold. Try one of the fresh spring rolls as well.

Chef Albert Kokosky Deforchaux cooks an Indonesian menu that changes daily in a charming setting. It’s like stepping into someone’s living room in the seventies. Get a portion to go, or grab a seat at the one table or sofa. It’s a popular spot with the young professional crowd of Rotterdam-West. Open from 5 pm until 8 pm, closed on Sundays and Mondays.

42 DE KLEINE ONDEUGD

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The 5 best CHINESE restaurants

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SANSAN Hang 33 Centre East ➁ +31 (0)10 411 56 81 www.sansan33.nl

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TAI WU Mauritsweg 24-26 Centre West ➀ +31 (0)10 433 08 18

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Don’t be shocked by the fish heads, jellyfish or duck’s tongues on the menu; Sānsān is considered to be one of the best Chinese restaurants in the country by some food critics. The chefs cook according to traditional recipes from the Sichuan region in southern China, a cuisine with spicy dishes.

This huge restaurant covers two floors and looks like any other kitsch DutchChinese restaurant, including Buddha statues and an aquarium filled with carps. But don’t be fooled, the menu features a wealth of tasty dishes, including dim sum, Peking duck and seafood. The steamed oysters with garlic or black beans are a favourite.

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ASIAN GLORIES Leeuwenstraat 15 Centre East ➁ +31 (0)10 411 71 07 www.asianglories.nl

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DE LANGE MUUR West-Kruiskade 1-A Centre West ➀ +31 (0)10 280 05 18

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LITTLE ASIA Kleiweg 87-A North ➂ +31 (0)10 422 62 63

Asian Glories serves elegant dinners in a modern, Chinese setting. Through the open kitchen, you can see the chefs prepare your steamed razor clams, oysters, or scallops with noodles. There’s also a nice selection of handmade dim sum and vegetarian food to choose from.

The large selection of dim sum (steamed dumplings) is De Lange Muur’s specialty, but you can also order other favourites like Peking Duck, Cantonese soup or seafood. The restaurant, which is located on the corner of West-Kruiskade, is the gateway to a modestly sized China Town, where you’ll find an abundance of Chinese restaurants, markets and bakeries.

The spicy Singapore crab and Peking duck are just two of the specialties of this Cantonese restaurant in Hillegersberg, but there’s a wealth of dim sum and pork dishes to choose from as well. The restaurant is small, so book in advance or order a take-out.

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The 5 best places to see STREET ART

401 READY2RUMBLE Van Speykstraat Centre West ➀ www.ready2rumbl.nl

402 LASTPLAK Gouvernestraat 277 Centre West ➀ www.lastplak.nl

403 BIER EN BROOD Ketelaarstraat Centre East ➁ +3 (0)6 455 146 05 www.bierenbrood.nl

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A graffiti artist from the age of seventeen, Ready2rumble draws inspiration from pop culture, American sports, and likes to draw animals and fast food. A lot of these subjects come together in this facade-filling mural in the Van Speykstraat. A bold and uplifting piece.

Lastplak (troublemaker) is a collective of nine painters, working on whatever surface they can find. You can see a lot of their brightly coloured work in the Gouvernestraat. There’s an especially elaborate piece on the facade of house number 277. Check out the website for more locations around town.

An illustration duo from Rotterdam, Bier en Brood’s work is featured in national newspapers, as well as on the streets.

Some of their intricate black and white pieces are temporary, others stay around for a while, such as this piece on science on the side of an office building.

404 DAAN BOTLEK Boomgaardsstraat Centre East ➁ www.behance.net/ daanbotlek

405 MELIKEPAINTING

AND ROBERT ROST Boomgaardsstraat/ Witte de Withstraat Centre East ➁ www.melikepainting. com

Daan Botlek is a Rotterdam-based illustrator and artist and is known for his minimalistic figures showing up in strange places, on the window sills of dilapidated buildings for instance, or stepping through walls. Here, a single white man is scaling what seems like a collection of blue floating meteorites on the metal rear wall of the Kuhne & Co architecture firm.

The magpie in this mural is holding an engagement ring, above the bird it says: ‘Sam will you marry me?’ Tymon, the artist behind Melikepainting, used this piece to ask his girlfriend to marry him. Of course she said yes. The part of the wall with the flying cranes is by Robert Rost.

403 BIER EN BROOD

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408 KAREL APPEL –

GLASS RELIEF

Hofpleintheater Benthemstraat 13 +31 (0)10 243 50 50 North ➂ www.hofpleintheater.nl

409 HENRY MOORE –

WALL RELIEF NO.1 Weena 762 Centre West ➀

410 JEFF WALL –

LOST LUGGAGE DEPOT Wilhelminakade South ➄

When the architect Hugo Maaskant was commissioned to design a new building for the technical school in the 1960s, he asked the famous artist Karel Appel to design the facade. Appel made an untitled artwork of stained glass and concrete covering an area of 6 by 24 metres. It’s now the facade of Hofpleintheater and can be admired from both inside and outside.

Rotterdam had to be rebuilt after World War II. To showcase the beauty of stones and bricks, the Dutch organisation of brick producers invited the English sculptor Henry Moore to decorate their office. Moore was inspired by the usage of bricks by the old Assyrians. His wall relief contains 16.000 bricks and was completed in 1955.

The municipality invited the Canadian artist Jeff Wall to make an artwork about the city, to celebrate its 650th anniversary in 1996. Wall decided to build it on Wilhelminapier, in front of Hotel New York, where millions of migrants boarded the ships of the Holland-America line. His iron sculpture shows the piles of luggage of the migrants as they faced an insecure future in the new world.

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5 of the most interesting OLD AND NEW ARTISTS from Rotterdam

411 DAAN ROOSEGAARDE Vierhavensstraat 52-54 West ➅ +31 (0)10 307 09 09 www.studio roosegaarde.net

412 KEES VAN DONGEN Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Museumpark 18-20 Centre West ➀ +31 (0)10 441 94 00 +31 (0)10 441 94 75 (weekends) www.boijmans.nl

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A living wall, a smart highway or a dress that react to their surroundings: Daan Roosegaarde’s (1979) innovative designs – or ‘techno poetry’ as he calls it – have garnered worldwide praise.

The Rotterdam-based designer recently designed a smog-free tower which filters harmful particles from the air to create clean urban bubbles. You can find it in front of his Studio Roosegaarde.

Kees van Dongen (1877-1968) was born in Delfshaven. As he was too poor to go to art school, he attended evening art classes, which were too rigid for his taste. He preferred to draw the sailors and prostitutes of the rougher neighbourhoods. At the age of 20, he moved to Paris. At the Boijmans museum you can admire several of his colourfully painted females with large eyes.

423 NORTH SEA JAZZ

FESTIVAL

www.northseajazz.com

424 ART ROTTERDAM

WEEK

www.artrotterdam week.com

425 SUMMER CARNIVAL www.rotterdam unlimited.com/en/ summer-carnival

Many legendary soul and jazz legends have given performances here over the years such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, James Brown, Sara Vaughan and Amy Winehouse. Although the emphasis is on jazz, the festival is known for its wide range of musical styles reflected in more than 150 performances. The festival usually takes place in July.

In February Rotterdam hosts three art fairs simultaneously: Art Rotterdam, Object (for design) and Rotterdam Contemporary Art Fair. The city’s galleries, studios, cultural institutions and industrial sites also open their doors, showcasing the work of established and up and coming artists, making the Art Week an excellent indicator of what is happening in the art and design world.

What started out as a small Caribbean party in 1984 has grown into a fullfledged festival with the colourful street parade as its highlight. Imagine yourself at the Rio de Janeiro carnival, but with Rotterdam as backdrop. There are lots of parties, performances, plenty of tasty street food, drum battles and beauty contests. The Summer Carnival usually takes place at the end of July.

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5 great MUSICIANS from Rotterdam

426 SEVDALIZA www.sevdaliza.com

427 DE LIKT www.facebook.com/ plaatsdelikt

428 HARRY MERRY www.harrymerry.com

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At the age of five she fled Iran with her family and ended up in the Netherlands.

Sevdaliza lives in Rotterdam and released her first ep in 2015 – The Suspended Kid. She soon gained a following on both sides of the Atlantic with her ethereal mix of soulful r&b, synthpop and melodic house.

Watching De Likt live is like a transformative experience. The rapper Jordy Dijkshoorn goes all out and won’t stop until the entire room is jumping up and down with him. De Likt raps in Dutch with a lot of Rotterdam attitude.

Provocative, creative and with humour.

Harry Merry was born in Rotterdam West in 1971 and started making music from an early age. This keyboardplaying, wild-haired musician in a sailor suit became a cult hero. You either love or hate his bizarre pop compositions, but there is no question that he is an original, one of a kind artist.

Visit R O T T E R D A M in the footsteps of two locals and track down the city’s best-kept secrets!

Discover places and details that few people know, like a hidden park under a bridge, a coffee roaster annex social project, a vintage shop that fronts as an underground club, a century old garden village built in the middle of the harbour, and 496 other good-to-know addresses and facts.

The 500 Hidden Secrets of is a series of affectionate city guides, written by true locals and filled only with independent advice, based on thorough research and the authors’ personal opinions. All content is updated frequently.

About the authors: S A S K I A N A A F S and G U I D O V A N E I J C K are journalists with a special love for Rotterdam.

They write for national newspapers Het Parool and de Volkskrant and weekly magazine De Groene Amsterdammer.

In 2015 they wrote The 500 Hidden Secrets of Amsterdam.

ISBN 978 94 6058 1786