Dutch street food, Part II: Everybody wins with Vlaamses frites

The lure of fried food

Other than the stands selling fish snacks and stroopwaffels, the Netherlands is full of little tiny snack bars that specialize in all things fried. Particularly amusing (to me) are the krokets - tubes of meat, cheese and potato filling covered in breadcrumbs and fried, like over-sized mozzarella sticks. I am filing this under "corn dog": comfort foods you love even though you know you should be disgusted by them.

Fit for a TGI Friday's appetizer menu

And of course, no fried food stand break would be complete without French fries. The Dutch call the real thing Vlaamses Frites (Flemish fries), which makes sense, as they are just like the fries you get in Belgium - except that instead of heaps of mayonnaise on top, you can opt for heaps of peanut sauce or spicy chili sauce (nods to the Indonesian influence in the Netherlands). Or you can go all out and opt for all of the above, at the same time - and with chopped onions. Personally, I'm filing that with "raw herring sandwich."

And this is with a "light" helping of mayonnaise

Variations on the kroket are available in automats on street corners and in train stations
- for some reason, it doesn't seem quite as appealing