Watch my video here: The Hague | Babaque Authentic Japanese Restaurant
A hidden place in The Hague where your tummy and the soul travels to Japan.
Babaque is an authentic Japanese restaurant at the Laan van Meerdervoort 13A in The Hague. The restaurant looks nice and cozy with a homely atmosphere.
An antique-looking pendulum clock hangs on the wall, with a pendulum that regularly swings back and forth. It is a typical clock that you used to have in the past, hanging on the wall at your home. We are welcomed by a cute dog who jumps out of his basket as soon as we walk by.
We meet the lovely couple Takashi and Madoka, owners of restaurant Babaque. They originally come from Japan, but for a long time they lived in the United States.
Two years ago they moved to The Hague. They thought that The Hague, a very internationally oriented city which lies close to the beach and the sea, is a good place to raise their children. They love The Hague.
The Hague was a good place to start their restaurant instead of opening a restaurant in the bigger cities, that are usually very crowded.
It is very pleasant outside and we sit down in the beautiful backyard of the restaurant with a view of the Peace Palace. We have an interview with Madoka, who tells us more about Restaurant Babaque.
Opening of Japanese Restaurant Babaque
In October 2020 Takashi and Madoka opened their restaurant in the middle of the lockdown. They started as a takeaway only, which has grown into the current restaurant Babaque. At Babaque they cook authentic Japanese dishes. At the moment they are catching up and according to Madoka things are getting better.
The name Babaque
Pronounce as: Baback with -ck at the end.
Madoka tells us that they have a special needs daughter, non reverable. When their daughter was little, she used to have a dog that she called Babaque. They wanted to keep that sound alive, so that’s why they named the restaurant Babaque. So Babaque means dog, but literally the word has no meaning. It means a lot to them.
Describe Babaque in one word:
Home.
Home for everyone.
A hidden place in The Hague where your tummy and the soul travels to Japan.
Interior of Babaque
Babaque is a Japanese restaurant, but they didn’t want to have a typical Japanese interior. The thought behind it is, that they wanted to be open to anyone, especially people who have never tried Japanese food before. It’s easy for them to come in. The door of Babaque is open voor everybody.
Samurai
An impressive samurai costume is displayed in the shop window at the entrance to Babaque opposite the door.
The samurai is originally from Japan and is shipped to the Netherlands.
Madoka explains that they have the Children’s Day in Japan every year on the fifth of May to celebrate the children’s happiness, wishing health and prosperity upon their children.
Usually they display the samurai on Children’s Day to celebrate that event, but now they display the samurai in the shop window for everyone to see.
Takashi’s parents bought the Samurai for him when he was a child and they have kept the samurai for a long time. The samurai is a sweet memory from Takashi’s youth and now they can explain to their children what the meaning behind the samurai is, because they might never get to live in Japan.
Calligraphy
When you enter Babaque, there’s a table with different kind of calligraphy work displayed on it for the customer to see. The calligraphy is created by a local Japanese calligraphy artist. They support her and give her more acknowledgement in town. Right now she’s the only calligraphy artist they support, but they want to support more artists.
Paintings on the wall
Several paintings hang on Babaque’s wall. The paintings are painted by people with an intellectual disability. The paintings are from a place called Atelier de Weesperstraat, an art studio where you can borrow or buy works of art made by artists from Atelier de Weesperstraat.
The Food
It was a hard decision to choose what to put on the menu, because they like to introduce Japanese food to someone who has never tried Japanese food before. Everybody knows ramen and sushi, so they are targeting more outside of the box. The food is something you see in Japan, like at local diner kind of places and they like to focus on that.
They have a set menu with the Don, which is the rice bowl added with different ingredients as a set with the Miso Soup and Salad or they have the Noodles, which is noodle soup. There are different kind of noodle soups or Ramen, which is typical Japanese.
Top 3: Custumers’ Favorites
- Una Don – Barbecued Eel over rice
- Katsu Don – Pork cutlet in a soup with rice
- Sushi – Spicy tuna rolls and shrimp tempura rolls
- Udon Noodles (fourth favorite)
Madoka’s Favorite
Una Don – Eel
A really specific Japanese dish
A typical Japanese dish which is not so very well known is the Nanto roll with fermented soy beans. Either you like it or hate it, according to Madoka.
We don’t eat pork because of allergies, but we will show you the Katsu Don with chicken instead of pork.
We also have Takoyaki, a typical Japanese snack made from octopus balls.
We drink Ramune, a Japanese carbonated soft drink which comes in a bottle, whose bottle mouth is sealed with a round marble instead of a cap and is opened in a special way. You have to knock the marble down by hand and after that you can drink the Ramune.
Dessert
We have Mochi rice cake with sweet red bean filling and a Fish shaped Taiyaki.
Taste the authentic taste of Japan and come and have a nice meal at restaurant Babaque in The Hague, where you can enjoy homemade Japanese dishes that are freshly prepared for you. Highly recommended!
You can see my video of our visit to restaurant Babaque here: The Hague | Babaque Authentic Japanese Restaurant
Babaque
Address:
Laan van Meerdervoort 13A
2517 AB Den Haag
The Netherlands
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