8 Best Restaurants in Delft, The Randstad

In a restored 18th-century building, Delft's classiest restaurant actually began as a humble pancake house, but owner and top chef Joris Peters now serves an ever-changing, but always innovative, array of exquisitely refined French-inspired dishes. Set a little outside town, but easily reached by cab, in fine weather it is worth trying to snag a table on the beautiful terrace, overlooking the Schie River.

This airy high-ceilinged restaurant inside a monumental stone-facade building provides the perfect setting for daily changing modern Dutch tasting menus. You can guide the choices according to taste, or opt to be surprised, whether you go for four, five, six, or seven courses.

This Delft staple has loyal regulars, drawn by a mean Indonesian satay, served at one of the many terrace tables on a small square overlooking a narrow canal. There's a smart restaurant on the first floor, but the bar and mezzanine have plenty to offer, with lunch snacks, a reasonable menu for dinner with the latest tracks on the speakers, and great fries and salads.

The interior of this brewpub is spectacular enough with its exposed stone walls and foundations, but it is the setting for its beer garden---on Heilige Geestkerkhof beside the Oude Kerk---that makes it truly worth stopping here for a scenic snack or lunch. Toasties, rolls, and burgers dominate the lunchtime menu, while if you drop by later the dinner menu expands to more substantial fare, such as pork stewed in a house beer. 

The ancient brick-and-stone walls of this cavernous former weigh house are adorned with hulking 17th-century balance scales—happily, dishes such as Flemish asparagus with ham and egg, or parelhoen (guinea fowl) in a rich dark broth, are equal to the fabulous setting. Tables on the terrace in front nestle under the town's magnificent, looming clock tower, while a more intimate restaurant area upstairs, open evenings only (closed Sunday), offers a more upmarket menu.

The tiny, family-run restaurant serves tasty meat-and-potatoes fare as well as good fish dishes such as kabeljauw (cod) with asparagus sauce. The adjoining Café de Oude Jean serves up somewhat cheaper fare.

Chic, modern decor forms a welcoming backdrop in this extensive café, which serves an inventive range of salads, steaks, and burgers, but a bigger draw awaits outside. Sunny skies will have you heading for the tables, set under leafy lime trees out front on the picturesque square.

In business for more than half a century, Stads-Koffyhuis looks out over the oldest and one of the most beautiful canals in Delft. Inside, you'll find a stamtafel, a large table laid out with newspapers and magazines, where anyone may sit and chat, as well as smaller individual tables where you can enjoy good coffee, delicious pancakes, and terrific apple pie.