Recently my wife and I had dinner at restaurant Elzenduin in Ter Heijde. Elzenduin is a 27 room hotel with a restaurant, a beach pavilion and a beach terrace. We had heard and seen good reviews of the restaurant, its brasserie and its beach pavilion. Recently it had undergone a total renovation and its beach terrace won the 2009 Dutch terrace award.
Ter Heijde is a very small township in the dunes of the Dutch North Sea coast half way the 30 km between The Hague (actually Scheveningen, the beach resort of The Hague) and Hoek van Holland or “Hook” as the Brits who visit The Netherlands via ferry use to call it. Ter Heide is part of the village Monster and the municipality Westland.
On July 31, 1653 (according to the Julian calender in use in England) or August 10, 1653 (according to the Gregorian calender in use in the Dutch Republic of Seven United Provinces) Ter Heijde became (in)famous because of the Battle of Ter Heijde (also named the Battle of Scheveningen) during the first Anglo – Dutch war. Eventually there were four Anglo-Dutch wars. Dutch Admiral Maarten Harpertz Tromp leading the Dutch fleet of about 104 man of war on board of the Brederode was defeated by George Monck leading an English fleet of 105 on board of the Resolution. You can see them engaged in the middle of the painting of the battle by Jan Abrahamsz between 1653 and 1666. Not long before Tromp had twice engaged with a fleet under Admiral Blake, the “Father of the Royal Navy” in the Battle of Goodwin Sands (or Battle of Dover) and the Battle of Dungeness where he had defeated Blake. Tromp died during the battle of Ter Heide by a bullet from a sniper on board of the ship of William Penn, the father of the William Penn who founded Pennsylvania. Actually I am a bit disappointed Elzenduin doesn’t elaborate a bit more about these historic events than in the one sentence their site devotes to the battle….
Most details are from Wikipedia and some details and the photo of the painting of the battle are from the blog History of the Sailing Warships in the Maritime Art
Back to dinner at Elzenduin: This is a picture from its window. It is located at the path between Ter Heijde and the Beach. So you look a bit up at the dunes and can see the sun setting behind the dunes.
This was our starter. A painting in itself.
And this was the well sculptured and fine tasting desert we had. I predict that the chef will acquire his first Michelin star very soon.
Update 2014
Only a very short time has this high standard been maintained by the restaurant. Currently it is middle of the road again.