I was very upset…. it was almost 2 years and I hadn’t gone back since. And all because of €100. A whole €100….As far as I was concerned, there was only one good thing about the whole debacle and that only set me back a fiver…. who would make up for the rest €95?
Enter DOK. I love DOK in the Hague’s passage – a lovely covered corridor lined with shops in their own ilk – shoe shops and bookstores, coffee and tea purveyors, antiques, cookware…to name but a few.
When you first get in to the shop – at least when I did, the first thing to catch the eye are the shelves on the wall with Knives – Japanese, German and other brands. They appear to know a thing or two about utensils to slice, chop and dice!
That was why I went there in the first place. And purchased 4 of those babies. Months later though, I was swearing, cursing and upset. Determined never ever to buy expensive knives. Mine were dull, dull, dull. I tried to sharpen them…they just didn’t cut it. Trust me, I abandoned them as fast as you could say A…all except for 1 knife. A small bread knife, which only cost a fiver (some comfort to my husband who had only recently broken off his illicit love affair with bread – one that has persisted since childhood). This knife was and is the bedrock of my kitchen. From bread to veggies to fruits… I look no further than this beauty.
And the other 3 knifes (€95) - sat unused…till I went back to the shop on a mission to get more of the great bread knives and happened to mention my blunt knives, to which the guy replied – ‘Do you sharpen them?’…I said ‘yes’. He said again, ‘Do you sharpen them everyday?’ And I stopped in my tracks, asking ‘are you supposed to sharpen knives everyday’… to which he said, ‘Yes’.
If you have new knives, sharpen them daily. If they’ve sat too long and are blunt, don’t chuck them out, take them to a registered/good Knife sharpener!
Relief. Comfort, joy and happiness. Forgiveness and peace…they all coursed through my veins with absolute delight. DOK a shop I loved (and could now admit) had been forgiven, vindicated, restored to its pride of place in my heart…. with those few words. No longer deceived by the shop’s bright lights… or by my mind, I felt renewed and reinvigorated to share some of the delights that the shop holds.
Just take a look…at this view from above – above being from the entrance…before you descend a few stairs to the wealth of things on display and for purchase.
You will find pots and pans of every shape, colour and size – copper to non-stick to stainless.
Tagines…of many colours and for many delights;
Le Creuset cookware;
Poffertjes pans for the homecook…;
Wooden spoons in shapes you didn’t know exsisted – from sharp-edged to pronged (for pasta);
Rice cookers and steamers;
Baking utensils – tins, pans, racks…and all the accessories in colours, shapes, designs to make you hungry…to bake, to eat to do!
Even a variety of wood-smoking chips for the BBQ and more!
An assortment of jars – these ones remind me of Bonne Maman!
Would it be an ‘A’-grade store without Kitchen Aid…..I have to have one of these…only if I lived in the US, I could at least stand a chance of winning one from PW….
This shop is full of little knick-knacks…as well as heavy duty stuff
and a range of cookbooks in English and in Dutch.
I hope that you now have enough reason to
1) Sharpen your knives daily;
2) If its too late, find a professional knife-sharpener to right all wrongs; and
2) Visit the store…you have all the details you need (excluding my debit and credit card numbers, thank you very much!)
Store details
