De Pier Pannenkoeken

For most Dutch people, Scheveningen brings to mind the Pier. Once a beautiful turn-of-the-century steel and wood construction, the original Pier burned down during the second world war and what was left of it was destroyed by the Germans who feared that the Allied Forces would use it for their invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. In the early sixties a new Pier was built, the aesthetic quality of which was - well, let's say it doesn't match the original. After a few golden years in the sixties, the Pier left a troubled existence. I remember visits here as a child with my parents and grandparents, but what I didn't realise back then, in the eighties, was that the Pier was already in a bad state and approaching bankruptcy. It was closed in the late eighties, then reopened in the nineties but things did not really improve. Fires and accidents haunted the Pier and despite several renovations, it remained in a state of bad repair. In 2013, just one year after my girlfriend and I moved to Scheveningen, the Pier closed again and there was talk of demolition.

Now, it has reopened as a hipster foodcourt, with craft beers and artisan burgers. Its fate remains unclear - there is talk of a hotel being opened on one of its islands - but nothing seems definite. Problems with maintenance are still visible, but in the weekends there is a nice, lively vibe here, despite the fact that the hipster aesthetic of the food court doesn't really fit the functionalist architecture of the Pier. Nor does it really match the more mundaine style of the restaurant where we are heading today: De Pier Pannenkoeken, a pancake restaurant on an artificial island at the end of the Pier.

On Monday, the Pier is very quiet. Many of the bars and restaurants are closed, but the large ferris wheel on one of the islands is functioning. We walk to the pancake restaurant - Rihanna Gaga on her kick scooter, me alongside her. And we're not alone. A former student of mine and her 20 months old son have joined us. Rihanna Gaga is delighted. It's the first time since we moved to the Netherlands that a child is visiting her and she has been running around frantically the whole morning in anticipation. Then, when the little boy was walking around in our appartment, she kept bringing him toys and food. She's quite hospitable and one of the things she insisted upon was showing the little boy the petting farm and playground she loves so much. The children had a great time running around there and looking at the sheep and cows.

The weather is cold and beyond the windows of the restaurant, the sea is turbulent. There is a corner with toys. Rihanna Gaga has been here before with her mother and knows exactly what there is to find. She and the little boy have a great time tyring out the different toys. We order pancakes - Rihanna Gaga used to love pancakes in Tunisia, so I thought she would be enthusiastic about this. She is, however, more concerned with the boy and the toys. When I ask her what kind of pancakes she wants, she picks the usual Tunisian options: Tuna/fish or chocolate. They are not to be found on the menu, however. So I suggest a cheese/ham pancake (€8,75) and one with ice-cream (€7,95): just as in Tunisia, she has to eat a healthy pancake before she can get a sweet one. She is okay with this.

I talk with my former student while sipping a Grimbergen triple beer. She has moved on to work in a field that I am specialised in and it is nice to hear what she is up to these days. I always like to hear what students have moved on to after I taught them and I am happy to say that quite a few students of mine are doing very interesting things nowadays. We discuss future collaborations, while the kids amuse themselves hugely. So much so that Rihanna Gaga is only slightly interested in the pancakes. She eats a large part of the cheese/ham pancake, but only a small bit of the icecream pancake.

Like I said, the interior of the restaurant is quite bland - not the white, black and wooden tints of the hipster foodcourt, but rather something resembling the more boring beach clubs that line the parts of the beach closest to the Pier and the harbour. The pancakes are okay, but the speed at which they arrive make me suspect they are pre-made. In any case, they taste not very fresh. The other guests are what you usual find on a Monday at the coast: senior couples, and a few families with pre-school kids.

Rihanna Gaga is deeply disappointed when we announce that the little boy is not going to stay when we return. He and his mother still have quite a distance to travel and it's already quite late in the afternoon. Rihanna Gaga had very much looked forward to the boy doing his afternoon nap in her bed and now she becomes sulky. She stays so all the way home, only brightening up a little bit when we stop at our house to pick up the drawing that she made for the boy and give it to the mother - the boy is fast asleep in his pusher by now.