For some reason, Spaarne66 was a saved location in my google map of Haarlem, and I didn’t know why.

We had just finished seeing St Bavo’s church and did a side trip to the farmers market in the main square for some herring before deciding on having a late lunch somehow in the vicinity, of which the quick answer was this curious star on my map. A few minutes of searching didn’t come up with a better alternative so after a five-minute walk we were front and center of our mystery location. First impressions complete – I still hadn’t figured it out.

The menu was limited but was unusual for what was on it – deer, goose, and even horse were on the menu. I went the least adventurous route and got the deer hotdogs, which apart from being unique came Instagram-friendly and more importantly rather delicious. Coupled with a refreshing Balon mocktail on this rather warm day, lunch turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

I can only guess that the main reason we were in Spaarne66 was because of how highly-regarded it was online, helped likely by the strange but satisfying menu. Nice as it was though it’s one of those once-is-good-enough locations, there are just too many other places to try.

Capped off with a view of the Melkbrug in front of it opening up to let bigger boats into the center, it was a good send off for our two visiting guests who left with only good memories, if not of lunch, then of medieval Haarlem.