I just realized something. We haven’t been to the Netherlands since 2016 with our family. It is almost 4 years of NOT having yummy goodies like Dutch fries, fresh made “poffertjes”, cheese, vanilla pudding, “maatjes haring”. Until yesterday, when I had my Dutch Fix!
A small Dutch town in Iowa
Remember I was telling you about a small Dutch town only 50 minutes away from where we live in rural Iowa? This little town is called Pella. In the spring Pella organizes a big weekend festival, called Tulip Festival with parades, craft fairs, games for kids on the square, long lines in front of the Dutch bakeries, hundreds and hundreds of tulips everywhere. This is my yearly Dutch Fix.
Dutch Fix
And every year I’ve been telling people, I got my Dutch Fix again. It was like stepping into a town in the Netherlands for a day or weekend in May. The fun thing that happened was, I found out recently that a small restaurant, called “Dutch Fix” opened its doors in December 2019 in downtown Pella. Their seasonal tiny restaurant/drive through a little outside of Pella, existed longer, but I had never heard of it.
I got so exited and had to try it out soon. So, yesterday was the day. My hubby and I drove to Des Moines for a weekend and on our way, we passed Pella.
The menu with Dutch treats
I glanced quickly at their menu on my phone during our car trip. Some familiar dishes came by and I definitely wanted to try them out. First our google maps brought us to the small seasonal Dutch Fix outside of Pella, but soon we found the one downtown. As we stepped inside, I had the feeling of stepping into a “friture” in the Netherlands, which is kind of a snack shack with mainly fries and other deep fried products.
On the wall was a nice mural of the Netherlands. We looked at the menu and I had to ask the lady behind the counter:” FOR REAL! You guys have “maatjes haring”???? I mean raw and fresh?”
She said:” As fresh as you can get them in the Midwest! We get them straight from Amsterdam!”
I ordered:” One “maatjes haring”, a “kroket” on a bun, “koffie verkeerd” (they didn’t call it like that, but I was sure that was it. Coffee with steamed milk) and my husband would like to have “frietjes” with mayonnaise and curry sauce, but you probably don’t have that, right!”
“Yes, we do!”. We couldn’t believe it! And it tasted just like home.
I was so happy!
We couldn’t resist to split “poffertjes” with cinnamon and sugar and “slagroom”, the Dutch whipped cream as I remember it!
If you travel through Iowa, don’t forget to visit this little Dutch town the Dutch Fix with their Dutch treats!
Hello everyone,
Welcome to my Crafty Dutch Girl blog! Grab a cup of “koffie” and browse through fun blog posts about our Dutch family expat life in the USA, Dutch history, Dutch recipes, Dutch things to do in the USA and all kinds of crafts and activities. Don’t forget to connect with me for new ideas! “Groetjes en tot ziens”.