“When its spring again, we’ll sing again…tulips from Amsterdam.”  Well that’s enough of that; this article is about food after all!  But like in that famous old song you don’t have to go tip toeing through tulips to get a truly authentic Dutch culinary experience.  Where? Just get along to Jomtien and visit the oldest Dutch restaurant in Pattaya aptly named Tulip House which is enviably located on the beachfront at 344 Jomtien Beach Road near Soi 9.    This delightful semi covered terrace style restaurant has been in operation for nearly 20 years and is owned by Dutch restaurateur Mathieu Corporaal.    With a fantastic view over Jomtien, the Tulip House offers a wonderful range of Dutch dishes, incorporating new creations and many old authentic recipes with everything served in traditional Dutch style - meaning huge portions!   Indeed, many regular customers are expats from The Netherlands who congregate and use the place as a home from home. Whilst children enjoy the nearby playroom, parents can carry on eating, drinking and chatting, which all add to a very cheery atmosphere.  

The menu includes a range of traditional breakfasts priced from 85 baht, plus homemade soups, snacks, burgers (125 baht) and freshly made sandwiches from 85 baht, right up to enormous main course servings from 240 baht for Chicken Fillet to Fillet Steak with choice of sauces and trimmings for 325 baht.  There is also a wide selection of Thai food (110 baht) and even old style Dutch Colonial Indonesian Sate dishes to enjoy.  But of course, the Tulip House is renowned for its Dutch cuisine and so we sampled Dutch recipes covering starters, snacks, main course and desserts. 

First to the table was a house specialty, delicious Erwtensoep or Dutch Split Pea Soup (110 baht) which is probably the best you will get to try outside of Holland’s top restaurants.  A thick and full of flavour Split Pea Soup slowly cooked with shredded Ham, Bacon and Sausage, and served with crusty Bread; a meal in itself!  

This was followed by traditional deep fried Dutch snacks, Bitterballen, Croquettes (95 baht) and Frikandellen Special (85 baht).  Both Bitterballen and Croquettes use basically the same recipe of a thick Ragout base and Meat; but with end results being different shapes.  Regardless, these bite size snacks taste great, crunchy on the outside and creamy smooth inside!  Another Dutch specialty is Frikandel, which is basically a minced meat skinless sausage and tastes wonderful especially when served as Frikandellen Special. The sausage is split and smothered with tomato ketchup, mayonnaise and diced onion; this treat goes especially well with a glass of ice cold beer! 

For the main course we had two decent sized tender steaks; a local Beef Steak with Green Pepper Sauce (325 baht) and Pork Fillet Steak (285 baht) with a Cream Sauce; both served with Green Salad and a mound of Fries. Delicious!

To end the meal we were treated to light and fluffy Dutch Pancakes complete with cherries, cream and vanilla ice cream; yummy!

Wine is served at 95 baht a glass or 750 baht for a bottle of decent house red or white. All prices quoted include tax.

So for a true taste of Dutch cuisine you won’t go wrong by trying the Tulip House.  Lekke! 

Besides its fine food the Tulip House has 9 rooms upstairs available to rent and also a travel agency located next door to the restaurant.  The Tulip House is open from 8am until late every day.  Ample parking spaces available along Jomtien Beach Road!  Telephone: 038 231 134 or 038 231 319.