In the old town weigh house on the Kaasmarkt · since 1924

The town once weighed its cheese here. Now it pulls up a chair.

A large brown café under the beams of the old town weigh house. Chandeliers, a long bar, the paper on the reading stick and a billiard table at the back. The kitchen runs from breakfast until late in the evening.

Book a table Read the menu

1The room
2The menu
3The reading stick
4Drinks and billiards
5The Waagzaal
6A hundred years

Breakfastfrom 09:00Kitchenuntil 22:00Billiardsat the backWaagzaalup to 120 guests

Main room of a brown grand café in an old weigh house: high beamed ceilings, brass chandeliers, dark oak panelling, marble tables with Persian rugs and a long bar, warm evening light — The main room on a weekday evening, quarter past eight.

Chapter one · The main room

High beams, a brown ceiling and always a seat

You come in through the heavy door where the cheese carts once rolled in. Behind it: a room seven metres high, eight chandeliers and twenty-two marble tables.

During the day the light falls through the tall windows onto the reading table. In the evening the candles are lit and it turns brown and warm. A grand café belongs to everyone: you can have breakfast with the paper here, lunch for hours, drink a beer at the bar or celebrate your party in the loft.

How the house came to be

Eight chandeliersBrass, from 1924. Every winter they come down one by one to be polished.
Oak panellingUp to shoulder height along every wall, darkened by a hundred years of hands and coats.
The smoke ceilingEighty years of cigars and pipes. Nobody has smoked here since 2008, but the colour stayed.
Marble tablesTwenty-two of them, each with a Persian rug, as is proper under a smoke-brown ceiling.
The reading tableA long oak table under the window, with nine newspapers on wooden sticks.
The billiard tableA carom table from 1938 under a low copper lamp. The cloth is green, the balls white, yellow and red.

Chapter two · The menu

From uitsmijter to steak

A menu that has worked for years, with a fresh soup and a dish of the day every day. We make everything ourselves, bitterballen included.

From the menu

Breakfast09:00 to 11:30

Waag breakfast€14.50Two boiled eggs, rye bread, young Gouda, croissant and fresh orange juice
Uitsmijter€11.50Three eggs on farmhouse bread with ham and cheese
French toast€10.50With cinnamon sugar, fried apple and a dollop of cream

Lunch11:30 to 17:00

Soup of the day€7.50With a slice of bread and butter. Ask which soup is simmering today
Croque monsieur€10.50Ham, cheese and béchamel, with a small salad
Croquettes on bread€11.50Two from the butcher, on a farmhouse roll, with mustard

Dinner17:00 to 22:00

Steak€26.50With chips, salad and pepper sauce or herb butter
Dutch beef stew€22.50Braised for three hours in dark beer, with stewed pear and chips
Veal schnitzel€24.00With lemon, capers and chips

Prices incl. VAT · bar snacks until 23:00

The full menu, including snacks and taps

Chapter three · The reading stick

Today at De Oude Waag

At the oak table under the window, nine newspapers hang on wooden reading sticks. We write one of them ourselves.

De Waagcourant has the soup, the dish of the day and what's on that week, every day. It hangs among the national papers, and here on the site.

Today's editionVoorbeeldstadFree at the reading table

De Waagcourant

Daily menu, events and news from De Oude Waag

Soup of the day

Pea soup

With rye bread and smoked bacon. Thick enough to stand your spoon in. €7.50

Dish of the day

Beef stew

Braised for three hours in dark beer, with stewed pear and chips. When it's gone, it's gone. €22.50

Events

Thu 20:00 Billiards night, straight rail for everyone
Fri 17:00 Drinks with the seasonal beer
Sun 15:00 Jazz under the chandeliers

New on tap: the autumn bock from a local brewer.

Chapter four · Drinks and billiards

Twelve taps and three balls

Green carom billiard table with three balls under a low copper lamp, at the back of a brown café with oak panelling — The billiard table from 1938, at the back under the copper lamp.

After five it's time for drinks. We roll the bitterballen ourselves and pour twelve beers at the bar.

Pils25 cl
Witbiercloudy and fresh
Ambermalty, lightly bitter
Dubbeldark, caramel
Tripelblonde and strong
Seasonal beerchanges every quarter
IPAhoppy and bitter
Stoutcoffee and chocolate
Alcohol-freepils or witbier
Krieksour and cherries
Guest beerfrom a local brewer
Weizenbanana and clove

The billiard table

Free for guests. Ask for the cue and balls at the bar.

Thursday 20:00 billiards night, straight rail for everyone

Chapter five · The Waagzaal

A party under beams from 1658

Party room in the loft of an old weigh house under heavy oak beams, long laid tables with candles, an old wooden weighing beam above the bar — The Waagzaal, laid for a wedding of eighty guests.

Above the café is the old loft of the weigh house. Above its own bar still hangs the beam the cheese was weighed on.

This is where you hold your wedding, the company anniversary or a staff party. Pepijn plans everything with you, from the first tour to last orders.

All about the Waagzaal

How many guests fit
Standing, drinks or party	120
Dinner at long tables	80
At round tables	64
Theatre style, for a presentation	100
Meeting in a U-shape	30

Chapter six · A hundred years

From weigh house to grand café

In 1658 the cheese of the whole region was weighed here. It has been a café since 1924. The Tuinstra family has been behind the bar since 1971.

1658The Waag is built
1924The grand café opens
2008The ceiling stays brown
2024A hundred years

The whole story

Barman pulling a beer behind a long dark bar with brass taps, behind him the reading table with newspapers on wooden reading sticks — Casper Tuinstra behind the bar, third generation.

Book

A table under the chandeliers?

Book for dinner, or just walk in during the day. The coffee is always hot.

You can also call: 06 12345678