We found this place online while visiting Haarlem for the day and decided to walk in right when they opened for dinner. We didn't realize how popular De Lachende Javaan is--they were completely fully booked! The owner noticed we were visiting from out of town and was incredibly accommodating. He explained the situation but managed to squeeze us in, provided we could eat relatively quickly before the next reservation arrived. We were so grateful because the meal ended up being fantastic. Since it was our first time trying Indonesian food, we went with the Rijsttafel Biasa (the smallest menu option). It was a variety of small plates served on portable burners to keep everything warm, accompanied by rice. It was the perfect introduction--there wasn't a single dish I didn't love. Even though the plates look small, we were completely full and satisfied by the end. We managed to finish just in time for the reserved party to take the table, so it worked out perfectly. Highly recommend booking a table in advance, but if you get the chance to eat here, definitely do it! read more

De Lachende Javaan - Indonesian Near Me - Haarlem, New Hampshire

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Wonderful and unexpected dining experience. We had the fish/veggie tasting menu. Beautiful dishes. Service was great and the place was humming with laughter and enthusiasm. Totally recommend. read more

De Lachende Javaan - 2 person tasting menu - Indonesian Near Me - Haarlem, New Hampshire

Shared a lovely evening with my nephew, a Haarlem local. A welcoming and authentic, comfortable ambiance. We shared a vegan dinner for two. The dishes were uniformly interesting. Spice level was "comfortable!". After diner, we had a peek at the restaurant's interesting collection of KLM advertising from the colonial era. Delicious and fun read more

Great food. Great food presentation Great service Great atmosphere. A group of 6 of us just showed up one evening and they accommodated us wonderfully. The food was extremely well prepared and delicious. Would visit again in a millisecond. read more

10/10 recommend! We've had similar food at places around and they just don't compare. This one was delicious! I would've gone there multiple times every week if I didn't have to leave! read more

De Lachende Javaan - Skewers and more - Indonesian Near Me - Haarlem, New Hampshire

Groeten uit Chicago!! PI've been to the Netherlands many times since I wrote my initial review and on each trip I will pay at least one visit to De Lachende Javaan. The quality in both the food and the service is outstanding! We tend to order dishes that we like vs. doing the rijstaffel only because we've done the rijstaffel before and it's a great introduction to Indonesian food, but once we learned what dishes we liked ... that's what we'd order. The room is very charming and sometimes patrons can be a bit boisterous but that's because they're having a great meal in a great environment. read more

We made a reservation for a Friday night. It was moderately busy but they were ready to seat the two of us without a reservation. My friend lives in Haarlem and chose this restaurant for the experience and the authenticity of the food. We ordered the Kuning Rijsttafel for to share for two. The meal started with crunch bread and sauces. That was already good. Then they brought out heat trays and placed the dishes on top of the trays. It was delicious but too much for only the two of us! We unfortunately were unable to finish, even though I was famished when we arrived. Service was so friendly and they were careful to explain each dish. The restaurant interior is exquisitely decorated with retro travel posters and architecture remniscent of travel. I look forward to coming back when I am next in Haarlem. read more

De Lachende Javaan - Kuning - Indonesian Near Me - Haarlem, New Hampshire

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Best Indonesian Rijsttafel in Haarlem!!! Went here with the whole Bende family 25+ of us. We took up one of their entire dining rooms on a Thursday night. Service and food were excellent. Great awesome Rijsttafel. This restaurant is now in our must eat here list when we visit Haarlem from San Diego, CA. Love coming here for the food and being able to reunite the family every couple of years. We'll be back many times over. read more

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Came here as a party of 7 ppl, for a colleague's farewell dinner and he wanted to try out Indo cuisine as it was something he'd never eaten before. I must say this restaurant has gone to the top of my list for Indo cuisine as the food was excellent and our server, Komang was lovely!! Also loved the menu, which had a fabulous history of Indo-Dutch history and also some recipes! I definitely took my menu with me. The only (small) negative was that it did take a while for the food to come out, but I reckon that's the norm with bigger parties. In the meantime, Komang kept us supplied with Shrimp Crackers and a delicious peanut dipping sauce. For drink & dessert combined in one shot, we started our menu selection with Es tjendol, which was coconut cream/ milk with shaved ice, rice jelly and proper Javanese brown sugar coating the inside of the glass. THIS WAS DELICIOUS!! And if u have a sweet tooth, definitely recommend ordering it. Three of us decided to get the Vegetarian Rijsttafel and there were two options, so two people got the "Sarirasa" (which Komang our server said was her fave) and I decided to get "Nusantara." And oh gosh - the amount of delicious food we got as part of these two rice tables was fantastic and had a good mixture of entree plus salads as well as hot & cold dishes. The omelette was a standout, as was the egg curry. Honestly everything was just super delicious and if you are Vegetarian, this restaurant absolutely takes good care of your dining! Other items ordered on the table were: -Ikan pepesan (mackerel in spicy bumbu sauce, oven baked in banana leaf) which was super delicious and had a great taste + kick. For a lot of folks on the table this was the fave dish and I liked it very much too! - Ayam taoco (Chicken in dark bean sauce) which had a great mild salty taste. This wa good, but not sure would get it again. But interesting dish, as you see the Chinese influence in Indo customers. - Ayam bumbu rujak (boneless thigh chicken in spicy coconut bumbu, salam leaves & lemongrass) which was another highlight for folks on the table, and I liked the texture and taste of this dish very much too, so definitely recommend. I loved the food, the service and had a great night out. Can't wait for another opportunity to return back to this restaurant! Highly recommended!! Yelp 67 / 2019 read more

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Absolutely adorable restaurant that is located in one of the alleyways. Although I experienced great service, I found this restaurant to have my least favorite rijsttafel during my visit. Definitely not an authentic experience for me. When the food arrived, the dishes were explained in the lowest voice possible. My guess, she was not comfortable speaking English. I ordered the kuning rijsttafel, 28.50 pp, and was disappointed by the lack of flavor and spice. A lot of the meat was tough and fatty as well. We added the tjendol, which was just ok. Great atmosphere, cute menu, good service. Too bad the food wasn't great. Yelp challenge #28 read more

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This is the best experience in rice tabled i had so far. The Kuning ricetable is incredibly tasty and the price is fair. The service is very friendly & they speak four languages. Absolutely recommended, we will come back! read more

De Lachende Javaan - Indonesian Near Me - Haarlem, New Hampshire

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We have eaten here at least 5 times over the past 2 years living in Haarlem. We've eaten Rijsttafel at a lot of places including all over Bali and this is the absolute best one. The people that complain - i have no idea where they're coming from. This place is amazing and all the people are super sweet. People who complain about the wait are probably American where all the food is served within 2 minutes or less without any athmosphere in the restaurant. Just enjoy the experience! Last note (and I'll stop, promise): People that complain about their drinks not being refilled? What about raising your hand and asking for another round? Really people.. 10/10 - you won't regret eating here!!! read more

I never liked any other Indonesian food than my mother's or Moluccan food. Since our 1st visit here I make sure we can attend a concert nearby so we have reason to enjoy the delicious food they serve here. My favorites are the pepesan, sambal goreng boncis and sambal goreng tahu/tempeh. The place is very nice decorated and gave me goosbumps although I was born in Holland and never visited Indonesia nor the Moluccan Islands. Friendly staff and owner. Worth to make a 1.20hrs drive from Apeldoorn to Haarlem! read more

My daughter calls this the best restaurant in the whole world. We have been to Haarlem on several occasions and always stop here for dinner. The food is fabulous. Always one of the highlights of our trip. read more

I've eaten here about 10 times over the last three years. I see that one reviewer had a not-so-great experience with the food, but I can assure you this is an outlier. The food is generally among the best rijsttafel Indonesian I've had. The decor is engaging and the atmosphere lively. it can be good for groups and despite being a little on the classy side, it's great for (well trained) kids. So here are some things I think folks might want to consider before going. Like most rijsttafel places, it's a bit on the pricy side. It gets sold out surprisingly often. I will grudgingly admit that the service, although friendly, is almost always slow. But if you anticipate these things before hand and just roll with it, you'll have a great meal. Pro-tip: order two drinks at once so you don't have to wait to reorder ;) On a romantic note, when my wife and her sister were small children, my in-laws would stash them at my father-in-law's house in Zandvoort and slip away to eat here. This was the 1970s and1980s. The place has been around a long time! read more

I was visiting the Netherlands and was told I HAD to have Indonesian food. My first pass at a place in Amsterdam was terrible, so I was very skeptical when our tour guides brought us to this Restaurant. Boy was I glad they did. The food was outstanding. The service was great. We came in a group of 10 and ordered and ate family style so we sampled a broad range of offerings, all of which were memorably tasty. Prices are reasonable. If I go back to Haarlem I am heading straight for this place. read more

Had a very nice dinner with friends here. The food was good and the interior looks wonderful. A few more rounds of drinks would have been even better. Now we had to settle for one drink each. Other than that a good experience. read more

My husband and I took a day trip from Amsterdam out to Haarlem and decided to do dinner before heading back. We did a quick Google search to find a restaurant and decided to give this place a try. We never had Indonesian food before and boy have we been missing out! We informed the waitress that it was our first time at an Indonesian restaurant. A few moments later the owner of the restaurant came to our table to help us with ordering. I'm not really sure what we ordered, but it was a sampling of all these little dishes and they were delicious. There were maybe two things that we could probably have passed on but glad we tried it. It was all so flavorful. The owner did come back to check on us and gave us some history about his family and the restaurant. So very nice. Would definitely recommend. read more

I went her for dinner with colleagues in May. This is my first experience with Indonesian food. It was very good - similar to Thai. We had the Rijsttafel (rice table) and really enjoyed the varied selection. I highly recommend trying it if you like Indonesian food or want to try something different. One negative - the servers were very slow to refill drinks. read more

It is a must to eat in this Indonesian style restaurant. It is famous for its " rijsttafel". Of course plenty other dishes available. Nice and friendly atmosphere. Food is outstanding. The restaurant is just around the corner of Joops Hotel and Ambassador City Centre hotel. 2 minutes walk from both hotels. read more