De Lachende Javaan Haarlem

Very good Indonesian food. In the menu, each dish is marked with all allergens that it can contain (glues, eggs, lactose, soya,... The staff is very friendly and helpful. The food is excellent.

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

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.

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.

Very good Indonesian food. In the menu, every dish is marked with all the allergens it can contain (gluten, eggs, lactose, soy,... Staff is very friendly and helpfull. The food is excellent.