TableCrowd went on their travels over the Bank Holiday weekend. We were officially TableCrowd on Tour! First stop Dover, then over the channel to Calais for a drive up to a beautiful town in the east of Holland – Nijmegen. The town has been in existence for over 2000 years and it felt like it had plenty of stories to tell.

It was a good three and a half hour journey from Calais and we’d been nibbling rubbish in the car (tut tut) so by the time we arrived we were ready for something tasty and definitely healthy! The main town centre is pretty long and is understandable as the small town is populated by upwards of 730’000 people. Initially we wanted to head into ‘Staps’, if nothing more than for its location. It was situated at the top of the main high street and was a buzz on Saturday lunchtime. It may well be ‘one of the places to go’ as we couldn’t find seats for us, which was more the shame.

The day of our arrival also housed a wonderful medieval festival (which may give reason to the busy town). We didn’t have time to head to the market place but we did manage to see a stall packed with, what can only be described as, wheels of cheese! No doubt delicious.

It was then that we decided to steer slightly off the beaten track, just to keep far from the madding crowd, so to speak. So we headed down towards the river and just before you reach the Valkhof museum there was a lovely eatery – Eten & Drinken on Ridderstraat, No23.

I opted for the Duck Salad. Wonderful slivers of duck, pine nuts, diced cucumber, rocket salad, spring onion and a homemade chutney sauce.

The lady had the King Prawn salad. Tasty fresh peppers, courgettes, pine nuts, rocket salad, asparagus and chunky sun dried tomatoes.

Needless to say our plates were clear when we left. I washed that down with a small pitcher of beer. As an accompaniment we had bread, warm fresh bread, and a homemade dip. I foolishly forgot to ask what was in it. I must have been distracted, but I think it was a mix of anchovies, sun dried toms, seasoning and olive oil. It was tremendous.

The service here was above and beyond the call of duty. Timely, curtious, polite and after explaining our desire to visit a few well chosen spots in town, a staff member physically drew us a map, from memory, highlighting select places we may find of interest! We were impressed.

Beautiful town, lovely people and a plethora of places to eat and drink. We’ll be going back at which point we’ll head elsewhere and share our findings!