Strandclub Wij

The first Monday morning isn’t a Monday morning. I had to be in Amsterdam last Monday, so I’ve taken this Wednesday morning off to have breakfast together, before I bring Rihanna Gaga to daycare.

We start our little project at Strandclub Wij, which is the beach club right in front of the Scheveningen harbour. As could be expected, there are very few other guests: only some mums and grandmothers, together with their children.

Strandclub Wij has clearly chosen the lounge concept as its leading principle. The design is very turn-of-the-Millennium: classic, almost kitsch design covered with black and white lacquer, mirror balls and a touch of decadence such as lavish chandeliers and a grand piano (which is fake, actually). The fat basslines of laidback house music welcome us as we enter the club. Later on, the music will become even more loungey, and towards the end of our visit the electronic dance tunes have been replaced by smooth jazz. Rihanna Gaga is less enamoured of the latter, preferring – as she always does – bleeps and burps over brass. She likes to bop along to any four-to-the-floor beat, but Jamie Cullum and his ilk decidedly bore her. Other music she likes includes KISS, the Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode which shows she takes after her father. Less fortunately, however, she also likes Bob Marley.

The wide black lounge couches that line the walls of Strandclub Wij don’t make for comfortable sitting – the only way to enjoy couches like these is by reclining on them, which is of course what they are designed for. They’re also great when you’re with a nine months old baby. Rihanna Gaga can crawl and roll around all she wants on the wide couch and she clearly enjoys doing so. This is a good beach club to take your older children to as well, since they have a small playground. Although I personally don’t find the decoration of this beach club particularly interesting – with its almost clichéd black, white and purple lounge design and a few shells here and there to remind one that this is a beach club – a lot of attention has clearly been paid to detail. Whether it is, as it claims on its website, the best spot in Scheveningen is open to debate, but it has to be said that the view here probably is the best of all the beach clubs in Scheveningen. Located right next to a pier, it almost feels like Strandclub Wij is facing a bay and the fact that there are no other beach clubs close by makes the view quite panoramic. The beach club has added nice touches to the view too, by adding palm trees and olive trees to its terrace, which gives the whole place a nice, maritime atmosphere.

Service is friendly, if a bit slow this Wednesday morning. Strandclub Wij offers two breakfasts, but unfortunately the special breakfast is only available for two persons or more. This leaves us with the simple breakfast (€8,50): yoghurt with muesli and bananas, a slice of bread with tomato, cucumber and cheese, an egg and tea or coffee. I take an espresso and an extra mint tea. It takes some time before the breakfast arrives and after a while the cook appears to tell me they’ve ran out of bananas – would I like to have other fresh fruit with my yoghurt? Not keen on bananas anyway, I happily agree. When breakfast is served, it turns out to be a bit hit and miss. The egg is too hardboiled for my taste and the muesli and fruits drown in the large amount of yoghurt (which is attractively served in a weck jar). Moreover, the honey served with the fresh mint tea tastes metallic. However, the rest of the food is clearly of good quality and the breakfast as a whole tastes quite nice.

Unfortunately, this Wednesday morning turns out to be the moment Rihanna Gaga discovers the fun of letting things drop on the floor and watching daddy pick them up. Apparently all babies go through this phase, even mine – despite my hope that she’d pass this one by, finding it too childish. All in all, she seems to enjoy herself, playing with a leaflet announcing an Easter breakfast and the pepper and salt – I brought toys, but as usual, anything that is not officially a toy is much more interesting.

The weather is surprisingly fine for early April as I walk Rihanna Gaga to her daycare in the hazy sunshine. I enjoy the fact that Strandclub Wij is located at the end of the Scheveningen Boulevard, making the trip here a nice morning walk among elderly men walking their dogs, early skaters and runners. By the time I arrive at the daycare, a 20 minutes walk later, Rihanna Gaga is vast asleep.