Cheap Eats in Den Haag: Where to Eat Well for Under €10
Let me save you the time. I’ve eaten my way through this city on €800 a month for three years. Here is what actually works.
The Haagse Markt: Start Here
If you eat one thing in Den Haag, eat it at the Haagse Markt on Wednesday or Saturday. It’s the biggest outdoor market in the Netherlands and almost nobody outside the city knows about it. The tourists are all at the Binnenhof taking photos. Locals are here, buying their week’s food for half what the supermarket charges.
For eating: go to the Indonesian section at the back. A plate of nasi with two toppings is €4.50. Bami goreng with chicken, €5. Fresh loempia €1.50 each. I usually spend €7 and leave completely full.
The Surinamese stalls are just as good. Roti with chicken curry: €6. Pom — a Surinamese oven dish with chicken and tayer root that tastes like nothing you’ve had before — €5.50 a portion. Go early, it sells out.
Döner: The Real Ones
Den Haag has a big Turkish community, which means good döner is everywhere. The tourist trap version costs €9 and is mostly bread. The real ones:
Durum from any of the Turkish places on the Weimarstraat: €5.50 for a proper durum, actual meat, good sauce. Don’t overthink it, just go to whichever is busiest.
Shoarma Palace on Spui area: late night, open until 3am on weekends, €6 for a box that will fix whatever the evening did to you.
Indonesian: Den Haag Is Actually Special Here
I need to say something about the Indonesian food in this city. It is genuinely better than anywhere else in the Netherlands. Den Haag has a long historical connection with Indonesia — the community here is large, established, and has been cooking for generations rather than for tourists.
For budget Indonesian: Warung Mini on Dunne Bierkade. Lunch plates from €7.50. The nasi rames — a combination plate with rice, several dishes, and sambal — is €8.50 and genuinely filling. Go before 1pm or there’s a queue.
If you want to spend a bit more (€12-15), the rijsttafel at Bali on the Laan van Meerdervoort is worth it once. But honestly the €8.50 lunch at Warung Mini is the same quality.
Surinamese Food: Criminally Underrated
Most people visiting Den Haag have no idea what Surinamese food is. This is their loss. Suriname is a country on the northeast coast of South America with a food culture that mixes Indigenous, West African, Indian, Javanese, and Dutch influences. The result is unlike anything else.
Roopram Roti on the Hoefkade: the reference point. Roti (flatbread) with chicken curry, potatoes, and pickled vegetables: €8. Massive portions. The bread is made fresh. Cash only, tiny space, always busy. Go at lunch.
The Hoefkade in general is worth a walk if you want to eat well for under €8. It’s a predominantly Surinamese-Antillean street with takeaways and small restaurants that have been there for decades.
The One Splurge Worth It
If you go over €10 once, make it the babi pangang at any of the older Chinese-Indonesian restaurants on the Wagenstraat. €12-14, but the sweet roasted pork with that specific sauce is a Den Haag institution. It’s not trendy, the restaurants look like they haven’t been decorated since 1987, and the food is excellent.
Supermarket Hacks
Albert Heijn marks down prepared food after 5pm. The AH on Spui and the one near Centraal are both good for this. You can get a full meal — hot dish, salad, drink — for €4-5 after 5:30pm. Not glamorous. Very practical.
Lidl on the Theresiastraat has the best price-to-quality ratio for basics. ALDI on the Sportlaan is cheaper but further out. For anything Dutch — stroopwafels, hagelslag, good cheese — the market beats both.
What to Avoid
The Grote Markt food stalls are for tourists. €12 for mediocre bitterballen. The restaurants immediately around the Binnenhof are similarly priced for worse food. Walk two streets in any direction and the prices halve.
The tourist version of the Haagse Markt — the bit near the entrance with the flower stalls and souvenir snacks — is fine but not what I’m talking about. Go deeper into the market, past the fabric stalls, to where the actual food is.
