Herring and the Street Fish Cart

Hollandse Nieuwe is young North Sea herring, cleaned in a way that leaves the enzymes needed to ripen the flesh, then cured lightly in salt. The new season opens in June and the first barrel is auctioned for charity at Scheveningen, with flags and a good deal of ceremony. After that the carts sell it plain, with chopped raw onion and pickled cucumber, either laid in a soft white bun or held by the tail and lowered into the mouth, which is the photograph everybody takes and is mostly a coastal habit rather than a national one. The same cart fries kibbeling, chunks of white fish in batter, and sells smoked eel.

What you actually see

• Hollandse Nieuwe - the new-season herring, soft and faintly sweet rather than fishy.
• Onion and pickle - the standard accompaniment, and the argument about whether it belongs.
• Kibbeling - battered white fish with a garlic mayonnaise, sold by weight.
• Smoked eel - richer, more expensive, and worth trying once.

When to go

The season opens in June and the fish is at its best through the summer, when it is freshest and the carts turn stock over fastest. Outside that, carts sell frozen stock and quality varies more. Lunchtime queues are long at the good stands, which is generally the way to tell which ones they are.

Honest expectations

It is raw, oily and salty, and people either take to it on the first bite or never. Quality varies sharply between carts, and a stale herring is genuinely unpleasant. Kibbeling at busy tourist stands is often fried early and kept warm, which ruins it. Carts near stations and big squares charge more for a smaller fish.

Nearby

The Scheveningen seafront; fish carts on almost every market square inland.