Pink Eyed Jim’s Blog

I’ve been getting quite a few hits lately from people searching for “Leiden coffeshop” on Google. And I’ve decided to give people what they’re looking for, I’ve had these reviews wirtten for quite some time, they have just needed editing and such. I’ve been entirely too lazy this year, I haven’t even gotten around to posting the reviews of some of the fine coffeeshops I visited while staying in Leiden, the town that I hope to someday call home.

So here goes:

Bebop
Diefsteeg 3
Leiden

Nestled down an alley in Leiden, this small shop has cow-hair stools and zany space-aged ashtrays, and a view of the alley and the pedestrian traffic therein. You’re literally watching women pushing baby carriages and women with five year old children walking by, smiling at you as they pass. We bought a 12 Euro pack of both White Widow and K2 (around 2 grams each). The bar has a space-aged, south pacific island decor, at least that’s the most accurate description of it. Kieran and I also split a 12 Euro pack of Bebop Special hash. These guys apparently grow their own stuff, and they do a good job of it, with a bong of Northern Lights (Kieran’s) mixed with our hash, and then a White Widow and K2 cone joint, I was quite high.
A nice green hit of the K2 yielded a sweet smoke with a piney exhale. Shannon says the flavor “reminds me of California, it tastes kind and fresh, and pine is fresh.” Really good homegrown pot, really cool atmosphere.

Coffeeshop Joy/ New Times Bar
Beschuitsteeg
Leiden
“Mostly Middle Eastern people” my friend Kieran informed me of New Times’ clientele. Mid 40’s Middle Eastern people bobbing their heads to The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Blood Sugar Sex Magick, older black people and a couple of twenty-something locals is more accurate.
Next door to New Times bar lays the (almost) literal hole-in-the-wall Coffeeshop Joy. It was there that I dropped a cool 50 Euro on 5 grams of K2, having endeared myself with the K2 at Bebop, and 2 grams each of sneeuwijte (Snow White) and Dutch Passion. Shannon later trotted back to Joy and bought 2.2 grams of Border Afghan hash and a gram of Northern Lights. This place also gives scratch-offs out with every bag of weed you buy, with which you can win more weed, or a t-shirt.
We then hopped next door to New Times bar… Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Blood Sugar Sex Magick was playing in the background (as I said before), old Arabic men were playing pool at one table, while a Black and Spanish couple played pool on the other table. We squeezed into a booth next to a disused fireplace and ordered a pitcher of Heineken, which the bar was decorated with paraphernalia from; the beer being of course, a national standard which inspires fierce, well deserved, loyalty. We sat with our pitcher and packed our little bong with some of the Coffeeshop Joy K2.
The pitcher was huge, and I started to note the lean towards Middle Eastern in the clientele as people came and went. But these Middle Easterners have great taste, sitting in a bar in Leiden smoking pot and hash, gulping Heineken, and listening to RHCP’s glory days.
Sitting in New Times, after smoking a bong of Northern Lights and Border Afghani hash, I began to notice the ominousness of the Middle Eastern men with their big Dutch tobacco-bound joint. It didn’t help that all the hash in this town reminds me of the Frankincense incense from my childhood Byzantine (old-school Turkish) Catholic Church. But it all helped to add to the exotic, relaxing atmosphere.

Leidseplein
Leiden
We got here on a Sunday at 4 PM because it was packed at 4:15 on Saturday (15 minutes after it had opened!). We were the second group of customers at this highly recommended coffeeshop. We took a brief glance at the menu and decided to order the bulk of it. I bought 1 gram of Super Silver Haze for 12 Euro, it smelled like grated ginger and tasted like candied ginger when smoked. I also ordered 2.1 grams of Bubblegum (which I was assured by many was prime), it smelled sweet, like raspberry Bubble Yum, and was comprised mostly of one huge bud. This coffee shop undoubtedly has the biggest buds I’ve seen yet in The Netherlands. Shannon ordered 2.3 grams of Super Skunk (12 Euro), which smelled slightly like sweet blue cheese, for lack of a better description. I did find a bit of mold on the bud, but once picked off, with a loss of maybe 2 milligrams, the skunk smoked sweetly. She also ordered 1 gram of Oranje Bud (Orange Bud) (6 Euro), redolent of oranges and cinnamon. Shannon’s other pick was 2.1 grams of White Widow (12 Euro), which was some of the dankest smelling pot I’ve ever encountered; it smelled like pine tar and sweet skunk at the same time.
The atmosphere at Leidseplein is great; the decor is classy, all wood tones, beiges and mahoganies. At the table next to us were two Dutch ladies playing a rousing game of chess and having a lively chat; if you’re the sort of guy who finds that sort of thing sexy (we seem to be few and far between) then Leidseplein is well worth the trip. Leidseplein is situated at the corner of two perpendicular streets, well, alleys really. Directly out the door, one has a spectacular view of the Pieterskerk towering over the tops of the houses that line the alleyways. When I was there, the church was being restored, hopefully later visitors will be able to sit at Leidseplein and view the restored church in its full beauty.

We also went to a few restaurants while in Leiden (gee, we were smoking a bunch of pot, does that surprise you?) which I decided to review as well. Click for more.

Cojico
Leiden
A reasonable Dutch take on Mexican cuisine. I ordered a “Budin Azteco,” something I’d never heard of before. It turned out to be a meat/cheese/vegetable and possibly egg mixture wrapped inside a strip of tortilla rolled into a circle-shaped crust. It was quite good, albeit rich. Shannon ordered a Shrimp Quesadilla which she liked, except for the dressing (a thinnish sour cream, but she doesn’t like sour cream generally). Kieran just ordered the standard Dutch staple: Tomato Soup. Every guide that I have read says that a split-pea soup is the “national dish” but every restaurant I went in, regardless of ethnicity, offered Tomato Soup, and at the end of my fourth day in The Netherlands, I’ve yet to see split-pea soup on a menu. To be fair, I haven’t visited and Dutch restaurants yet. The tomato soup at Cojico was “exquisite” according to Kieran, who then followed up with “like studying abroad… or two… I’d have to study at least two broads… perhaps a brothel full.” Anyhow, Cojico is a fine choice if you find you have a yen for Mexican while in Leiden, as I did.

Bagels and Beans
Leiden
This cute little multi-story breakfast joint had a clean, efficient feel, like a Starbucks, which some will undoubtedly look down on. For what it was; Bagels and Beans was great. I bought a Farmer’s Ham bagel with Chive Cream Cheese (3.80 Euro). It was spectacular; the ham was real ham, the back leg cut of pork, and it married perfectly with the chive cream cheese and spring greens it came with. Shannon got a BLT bagel, she wasn’t too pleased with the Caesar Dressing, the Dutch Bacon (more of a vinegary cure, like Canadian bacon (or rather American Canadian bacon, but I digress), or the bagel; the Dutch like their bagels crispy and not terribly doughy inside, very little like a New York Bagel. Kieran ordered the Banana, Maple Syrup and Cinnamon bagel (Cinnamon Raisin). He chowed down. Through chews, he told me that it was wonderful. If you’re looking for a nice light breakfast or lunch in Leiden, check out Bagels and Beans. It’s quite close to Leidseplein coffeeshop too; an added benefit.

Leiden Central Market
It’s well worth spending a day in Leiden if you’re in Holland; it’s only a 30 minute train ride from Amsterdam Centraal. If you go though, go on a Wednesday or Saturday so you can experience the nearby open-air green-fish-flower-and-cheese market. There’s a sizeable amount of fresh fish, evident by the fact that the greenmarket did not smell one bit like fish. If you are within inches of fish, and it doesn’t smell like fish, it’s FRESH fish.
These people are particular about their fish; they have a unique way of eating a smoked herring: you dip the boned, smoked fish in chopped onion then toss your head back and lower the fish into your mouth as deep as possible and bite off the flesh. Yum! I just wish I was in town for the Maatjes Herring. There are myriad varieties of fish at this market, from monkfish to herring to mussels to Coquilles St. Jacques to head-on Mexican shrimp.
I bought some brussels sprouts and beet sprouts at the green market, I poached the brussels sprouts and tossed them in salt, pepper and Spanish olive oil; I salted and peppered the beet sprouts and then wilted them with a warm honey-vinegar-olive oil dressing. At a butcher shop I bought a bacon wrapped sausage roll, a ground chicken patty coated in what was either a corn flake or rolled oat crust and a sausage broojd. I rendered the bacon-sausage roll and fried the chicken patty in the rendered bacon fat. Everything was scrumptious.

Kroketen
At the Leiden Centraal train station, commuters were filing into an automat to buy these little Kroketen, which I’m not sure what they were filled with, but since they seemed to be so universally loved, and only 1 Euro a piece, I tried two: the regular kroketen, and the satekroketen. The latter was a sate-spiced version of the former, spicy and thick, and totally comforting. If you do happen to take the train into Leiden on a Wednesday or Saturday to check out the open-air market, as I suggested, pick up a Kroketen or two in this little automat.

I’ll have a little to say soon about some of the coffeeshops in Amsterdam Proper, too.

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