Scandinavian bakery & lunchroom in Den Haag: Norvolk

On my quest to find somewhere to buy a Lussekatt (Swedish Christmas time saffron bun) in the Netherlands, I found a lovely place in Den Haag: Norvolk. A Swedish / Scandinavian-inspired lunchroom and bakery, or Brödstuga, serving their freshly baked breadstuff, various cookies and cakes, and many open-face sandwiches.

Norvolk is located in a pretty building right on the harbour of Scheveningen. You recognize it quite easily for the Nordic flags flying!

NL – Op mijn zoektocht naar een plek om een Zweedse saffraanbroodje in Nederland heb ik Norvolk gevonden, een Zweeds/Scandinavisch geïnspireerde lunchroom en bakkerij. Hier kun je vinden: kaneel- en kardemombollen; Zweedse cakjes als prinsessårta en Budapest rol; koekjes voor met de koffie vinden (hallongrottor, kokosbollar); Lunch opties als de Zweedse klassiek Janssonsfrestelse ‘Janssons verleiding’ – potato quiche with ansjovis of brood met Zweedse gehktballen, vis en meer. Zie alles onderaan!

Once entered, you see some buns and cakes. Standard at Norvolk are of course cinnamon and cardamom buns – kanelbullar & kardemummabullar; lingontosca (Lingonberry jam cake topped with almonds), lemondcurd shortbread are also always there.
On the corner are fika cookies: hallongrottor cookies (butter cookies with jam), kokosbollar (chocolate-coconut balls) and ginger cookies among others.

On the inside, a detail I loved was the words in Nordic languages on the wooden beams:

Noitið daginn (Icelandic) – enjoy the day
Ei pidä ennä merta edemmäs kalaan (Finnish) – “it does not pay off to go further than the sea to fish” – do not get ahead of yourself when doing something
Smi mens jernet er varmt (Norwegian/Danish) – ‘forge while the iron is hot’ -seize the day. In Danish it is (man skal) smede mens jernet er varmt
Elsker samvær mad – either Danish or Norwegian, but I cannot find this saying online..

A bit further you have the cakes and sweet or savory breadstuff: croissant, typical Danish almond pasted filled T-birkes with poppy seeds on top, egg-filled Danishes..
Among the cakes the Swedish classics Budapest rollcake and Princess cake – with green marzipan in the classic version – at Norvolk varies its look depending on the season!

On the menu there were a few Scandinavian-inspired Lunch options as:

Swedish classic Janssonsfrestelse ‘Janssons temptation’ – potato quiche with anchovy
Sill o Dill – herring on rye bread with egg and pickled red onion.
Bullen – Meatballs with beetroot salad, red cabbage, fried onions
Värmland – smoked salmon on rye bread with piccalilli sauce
Skagen – shrimp salad and eggs
Laxråg – salmon and remoulade sauce and dill

I ordered Janssonsfrestelse for lunch Swedish-style, and since I was already full I saved the Lussekatt for later.

At Norvolk you can also find others products for sale, as cookies and spreads: Among these the 7 sorter (there is a Swedish/Norwegian tradition to bake 7 kinds of biscuits), fruit bread and homemade lemoncurd, Picalilly sauce, kimchi.

The owner Carla Visch made her own Swedish traditions birthday calendar, a really cute idea I would actually love to copy…

Below is the summary of Norvolk in a journal spread:

Afterwards I went to the centre, and in the library – which has a good Nordic language books collection – I stumbled upon Nordic countries-themed books, and I found a Kalevala (Finnish epic poem) in the language section…!! I hope to be back when I will have more time.