It's a cold, grey morning in Scheveningen and we're turning around the corner of the Kurhaus to make our way to the boulevard. We've just dropped off my partner, Rihanna Gaga and her best friend at the ice skating course that can be found in front of the Kurhaus each winter. Rihanna Gaga has developed a taste for ice skating, but Billie Stormzy will probably not be able to endure the noise and the loud music for too long, so I've decided to take him with me for another breakfast at the beach.
We walk to Westewind, another one of the restaurants at the feet of the Kurhaus, overlooking boulevard, beach and sea. As we enter, the waiter gives us a friendly welcome and asks us if we want breakfast. I answer that I do and find myself a table that is not right under one of the electrical heaters, as I suspect that won't be to the baby's liking. From here, to one side there's a nice view towards the horizon. To the other, we look at the newly constructed building that will house the Legoland theme park from May onwards.
Decoratively speaking, Westewind is a bit of a mess. There's lots of copper-coloured bits of the kind that were fashionable for about five minutes somewhere in the early 2010s, but they don't gel well with the fin de siècle brick and wood of what was formerly the outside wall of the place - like 't Pannenkoekenhuisje next door, the old tiny indoors part was long ago extended with a semi-permanently covered terrace - and the 1980s style of the light blue tiles behind the bar. It also doesn't help that there's lots of half-unpacked boxes everywhere.
Rock music from the 1970s and 1980s is playing on the soundsystem (Is this a new thing? This was also the case at De Beren) and as I settle I notice that Billie Stormzy is wide awake. He's doing gymnastics in his pram, razzing happily and smiling his dashing smile at me. Billie Stormzy, it has to be said, is a huge charmer. He may be only four months old, but he's very aware of the reaction he can get with his smile, and he's a handsome devil on top of that. Of course, every parent thinks their child is dazzlingly beautiful. (Actually, that's not true - one of my mum's favourite anecdotes is that she told people who said her second son was so beautiful that they shouldn't talk crap because he wasn't - he apparently was - quoth she - one ugly monkey.) But believe me, dear people of the blogosphere, Billy Stormzy is quite something, with his big, dreamy eyes, his curly brown locks (he was born with a full head of hair) and his long dark eyelashes.
He's discovered razzing and has added it enthusiastically to his repertoire of sounds with which he can communicate with those around him. When I take him out of his pram and put him on my lap, we chat for a while, and then he is content with just peeking around him shyly. It's a Saturday and it's quite busy at Westewind. I order the set breakfast, which doesn't offer anything original (the usual bread rolls, bacon and eggs on toast, croissant and a bit of muesli and yoghurt), but comes at a good price at €8,50. However, when it's brought, there's several bits missing. There's no bacon, no spoon to eat the muesli and yogurt with, and no sweet stuff to put on my bread. I can use the small spoon that came with my tea for the yoghurt, and I'm not interested in the little plastic cups with jam, nutella and peanut butter that should have been added to my breakfast, but I do want the bacon so I ask the waiter where it is and he runs to the kitchen to fetch it for me. It then takes a while, but in the end a saucer with two slices of bacon is brought to me. Meanwhile, the dog belonging to a woman sitting next to the window starts to bark, and she tries to hush him embarassedly.
The breakfast is a no-frills affair, but fine enough for the price. As I eat it, Billie Stormzy is getting fed up with sitting on my lap. He's clearly on the erge of crying, but luckily he stays there and can be soothed by rocking my leg, a little chat or a smile every now and then. But I do realise I have to hurry up a bit. I finish my food, pay and as I put Billie Stormzy's coat on, he does start crying. Quickly, I turn on my own coat and as soon as I move the pram, he's quite again. We leave, on our way to admire Rihanna Gaga's skating skills - when we get there, he's fast asleep.
Also on Breakfast at the Beach: Jump back in time to see what it was like when Rihanna Gaga and I ate at this place in 2016
We walk to Westewind, another one of the restaurants at the feet of the Kurhaus, overlooking boulevard, beach and sea. As we enter, the waiter gives us a friendly welcome and asks us if we want breakfast. I answer that I do and find myself a table that is not right under one of the electrical heaters, as I suspect that won't be to the baby's liking. From here, to one side there's a nice view towards the horizon. To the other, we look at the newly constructed building that will house the Legoland theme park from May onwards. Decoratively speaking, Westewind is a bit of a mess. There's lots of copper-coloured bits of the kind that were fashionable for about five minutes somewhere in the early 2010s, but they don't gel well with the fin de siècle brick and wood of what was formerly the outside wall of the place - like 't Pannenkoekenhuisje next door, the old tiny indoors part was long ago extended with a semi-permanently covered terrace - and the 1980s style of the light blue tiles behind the bar. It also doesn't help that there's lots of half-unpacked boxes everywhere.
Rock music from the 1970s and 1980s is playing on the soundsystem (Is this a new thing? This was also the case at De Beren) and as I settle I notice that Billie Stormzy is wide awake. He's doing gymnastics in his pram, razzing happily and smiling his dashing smile at me. Billie Stormzy, it has to be said, is a huge charmer. He may be only four months old, but he's very aware of the reaction he can get with his smile, and he's a handsome devil on top of that. Of course, every parent thinks their child is dazzlingly beautiful. (Actually, that's not true - one of my mum's favourite anecdotes is that she told people who said her second son was so beautiful that they shouldn't talk crap because he wasn't - he apparently was - quoth she - one ugly monkey.) But believe me, dear people of the blogosphere, Billy Stormzy is quite something, with his big, dreamy eyes, his curly brown locks (he was born with a full head of hair) and his long dark eyelashes.
He's discovered razzing and has added it enthusiastically to his repertoire of sounds with which he can communicate with those around him. When I take him out of his pram and put him on my lap, we chat for a while, and then he is content with just peeking around him shyly. It's a Saturday and it's quite busy at Westewind. I order the set breakfast, which doesn't offer anything original (the usual bread rolls, bacon and eggs on toast, croissant and a bit of muesli and yoghurt), but comes at a good price at €8,50. However, when it's brought, there's several bits missing. There's no bacon, no spoon to eat the muesli and yogurt with, and no sweet stuff to put on my bread. I can use the small spoon that came with my tea for the yoghurt, and I'm not interested in the little plastic cups with jam, nutella and peanut butter that should have been added to my breakfast, but I do want the bacon so I ask the waiter where it is and he runs to the kitchen to fetch it for me. It then takes a while, but in the end a saucer with two slices of bacon is brought to me. Meanwhile, the dog belonging to a woman sitting next to the window starts to bark, and she tries to hush him embarassedly.
The breakfast is a no-frills affair, but fine enough for the price. As I eat it, Billie Stormzy is getting fed up with sitting on my lap. He's clearly on the erge of crying, but luckily he stays there and can be soothed by rocking my leg, a little chat or a smile every now and then. But I do realise I have to hurry up a bit. I finish my food, pay and as I put Billie Stormzy's coat on, he does start crying. Quickly, I turn on my own coat and as soon as I move the pram, he's quite again. We leave, on our way to admire Rihanna Gaga's skating skills - when we get there, he's fast asleep.
Also on Breakfast at the Beach: Jump back in time to see what it was like when Rihanna Gaga and I ate at this place in 2016
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