Snacks

I have always had a fascination with tea, dare to say that I’m more from the tea team than the coffee one, so when I discovered bubble tea a while ago, I fell completely in love. Bubble tea is tea in an array of flavors mixed with either fruit, milk or yoghurt, can be drank either hot or cold and with little tapioca balls. The tapioca balls feel like a gelatin in your mouth taking the experience of drinking tea to the next level!

So, one day while walking through the city I discovered YoYo!, and was instantly glad that finally bubble tea had arrived in Rotterdam. Their menu is pretty extensive and the combinations that you can make are almost endless. You can choose to take your tea either hot or cold, with milk, yoghurt, fruit, powdered coconut, taro root, etc. Also, you can choose the type of tea you wish, from jasmine to oolong, they have it all! After choosing your liquid base, comes the fun part of choosing the toppings; from the traditional tapioca balls, popping (stuffed jelly balls with fruit juice or yoghurt), nata de coco (coconut flesh), jelly and much more. But don’t distress if you don’t know what to choose, the owner, Mr. Wing Li and his friendly staff are always more than willing to guide you through their selection and giving you a fabulous experience.

This is a place worth visiting! My favorite: strawberry milk tea with tapioca and jellies. Yum!

I can write a lot about this cute little bakery, but only one thing is important…

Koekela has got the best cakes and cookies in town and I dare say, maybe even the country!

And now they’ve moved a couple of shops up the road to a bigger place where you can also sit and enjoy their goodness.

For muffins or cupcakes I’d suggest going a bit further to Alice in Cakeland (check the article), but stay in for the cookies and brownies! Don’t want to go out? They have a webshop!

What do you do when you come to a country where they don’t even have good cupcakes? That’s right, you make them yourself and share it with the others. That’s what Rebecca did at least. She came all the way from Southern Virginia, via London and Bangkok, to Rotterdam and opened her store; Alice in Cakeland.

This fantastic cupcakes shop on the Van Oldenbarneveldstraat has two floors. Downstairs is the workshop area. About one or twice a month Rebecca organizes a workshop with a different theme. Themes go from SATC and designer handbags to Sinterklaas, Christmas and Easter. Anything you can imagine and that’s suitable for that time of year. The new workshop calender is online, plus there are more workshop theme’s coming.

Then there’s the shop on the upper floor. Here you can buy the most delicious cupcakes. Now you can buy cupcakes basically everywhere, but these cupcakes are the real American ones. My favorite right now is the Oreo with chocolate, but I still need to try the tiramisu one…

Unfortunately Rebecca is going back to the States this year. The brand is for sale, so hopefully someone will take over Alice in Cakeland. But just to be sure, come get the best cupcakes in the country before you’re too late!

Hopper Rotterdam opened last year and already won the prize for best coffee bar in the Netherlands.

During weekdays there’s a big chance you will find me at Hopper, a coffee bar at Schiedamse Vest 146 for a great breakfast – home-baked sourdough bread with Stolwijk cheese and a large cappuccino:-) for example.

But I also like to meet up here with friends and colleagues for a working lunch as they have a nice and quiet area upstairs with tables with a great view below. There’s also a special corner with toys and books for (young) children.

In a typical post-war building with tons of light, high ceilings and spacious set-up, owner Karel created a nice no-nonsense ambiance. With terrace out front.

It’s all about serving good and honest food, home-bakes and delicious cakes, croque-monsieurs, sandwiches, soup and good salads. Also try their excellent wines – I like the white one .

A nice detail is the tap to get your own glass of water. They have a large reading table, small side tables and an open kitchen. In the future there will be art exhibitions upstairs.

This is the first place where I heard of ‘slow coffee’ and trust me when I say that coffee is serious business here! If you are interested in learning more about coffee, just ask the barista or you can always join a ‘cupping session’ or workshops that they organize here (with or without cooperation of Specialty Coffee) on a regular basis.

Italian ice-maker Giovanni Olivo and his lovely family are back from Italy to offer you old fashioned ice cream. I love having one on the terrace in front of the shop or buy one when passing by at the open window.

I have known Venezia for more than twenty years and appreciate the kitschy interior that never changes. The ice cream shop overlooks the Oude Binnenweg and the nice Eendrachtsplein, with Paul McCarthy’s sculpture ‘Santa Claus’, the weekly Tuesday farmers market and a flower stall. It’s lively in this Down Town shopping area which makes it nice to sit here while eating your ice cream.

When I sit indoors, my favorite choice is the small sorbet coupe with a cappuccino on the side. You’ll find the traditional selection of ice creams (including sugar free) here and Italian specialties such as Cassata, Spagetti ice and Tiramisu.