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ROTTERDAM 2026-06-12

Dutch travelog, part 3. Read part 2 here.

On Friday, we met up with my Mandarin language partner, Han, for the first time ever.* She coincidentally also lives in the Netherlands, which was another motivator for this trip. Not only did I get to meet up with family, I also got to meet a new friend!

*She was my Mandarin tutor, whom I found on Preply. Now, we're doing a language exchange, where I help her with English.

But first, some pictures of Luca pulling a Boba (i.e., seeing us off from the end of the hallway). He stands bow-legged when he's concerned. ʕ ´•̥̥̥ω•̥̥̥`ʔ

Luca, the white American Eskimo dog, standing at the end of the hallway. A close-up of Luca looking concerned and standing bow-legged.

We met at the central station. Han works in Rotterdam, so we thought to meet up and have brunch together before she started her shift. She pretty much curated our entire trip in the Netherlands. Later, S even commented that we showed them around, because we mentioned all these places that they hadn't visited yet.

Every single place we visited in Rotterdam was via Han. So, big thanks for being our tour guide, even though she didn't accompany us throughout the entire trip.

TIMELINE:

Breakfast

SOGEUM BY SOKO BAKERY

The journey was about 20 minutes via train. We arrived near the Cube House, which was a short walk to our first destination: SOGEUM by SOKO Bakery. Han explained that the owner is from Hong Kong and trained as a pastry chef in Paris. She now makes Korean-style baked goods. Feast your eyes:

We each got a salt bread, which is incredibly popular in South Korea. It looks like a puffy and smooth croissant and has the texture of milk bread, and the crust has slightly crispy bite to it. IT IS ABSOLUTELY DIVINE.

Each bread was filled with cream. I can't remember all the flavors we got, but among them were sea salt, matcha, and strawberry cream. (I only took one photo because I spent some time filming.) I was really impressed with the matcha, because the flavor was strong and even seeped into the bun.

MACHI MACHI

Our next stop was machi machi, a bubble tea chain from Taiwan. Han explained that since there are so many bubble tea shops there, machi machi doesn't really stand out, so it has a better chance overseas.

The store is really minimal, to the point where I thought it was still under construction when we first walked by. Despite this, it's really cute! The concrete walls have tiny drawings of trees and nature-like elements. It's completely self-service, so you order your drink on the screen and a worker then brings your drink through the small window.

I ordered a black tea panna cotta with 100% sugar (normal) and it didn't taste sweet to me at all. I could taste the high quality of the tea though and the panna cotta was super creamy and delicious. I ended up keeping the bottle, and will repurpose it as a hand soap dispenser. They also sold merch like mugs and bottles, too.

MORE ASIAN SHOPS

Other notable places we checked out:

✿ Mono Japan Store—I bought tiger-patterned tabi socks and iron on patches of small black cats.

✿ Japanese Mini Mall—There was an onigiri stand (recommended by the worker from Mono Japan Store), so Daniel and I ordered one onigiri to share.

✿ Veggie Garden Supermarket—This is a Taiwanese vegetarian grocery store. Han had never been and wanted to check it out, and I wanted to buy some instant noodles. (I just ate it today; scallion oil flavored with oat noodles. It was alright.)

We parted ways after the veggie grocery store because it was time for Han to go to work.


Lunch

CATE DAK

I had wanted to eat at Chang'an Flavour in Den Haag when we first arrived. However, due to our schedule and limited eating abilities, it became difficult to fit in.

Luckily, Han came to the rescue and recommended Cate Dak in Rotterdam, so I could get my biang biang noodle fix. Plus, it was a short 6-minute walk from the Taiwanese grocery store.

Peige lifting up a flat noodle with their chopsticks. The restaurant has yellow pendant lamps, light blue walls, and traditional art decorating the walls.

I forgot to ask for less spicy but was able to manage. Daniel ordered the chef's special, which was basically a non-spicy version of my dish. We didn't have room for the recommended rougamou "burgers." There's a bunch of other delicious looking things on the menu. In these cases, I wish I had more stomachs so I can try them all!


FENIX

We hopped back onto the underground train to get to the museum. It was two stops and a 15-minute walk, but felt like a 30 minutes because it was SO WINDY. Daniel's hat flew off twice.

The museum opened last year so it's pretty new. Unfortunately, I don't have a photos of the building because I was too busy filming, but I need to show you what it looks like because it's pretty cool.

The museum overlooks the river. It is a long and flat warehouse building with a giant, metal spiral on the roof. The metal silver spiral are staircases that wind all the way down into the interior of the building.

Photos by Iwan Baan. (Source)

We took the first entrance pointing to "FENIX" and found ourselves in an open space with elderly Asian people playing badminton and ping pong! It was confusing, but it added to the atmosphere. The actual museum was further down the building.

Once inside, I was overwhelmed as to where to start, so I asked a docent for advice. They suggested we start outside at the top of the "tornado." (That's the silver spiral thingy). So up we went.

It was windy as fuck so we didn't stay out for very long. Due to my bad knees, we took the elevator down to the second floor where the exhibits began. There are two floors total, with two wings on either side. We started with the exhibit titled, "All Directions."

ALL DIRECTIONS

From their website:

Stories that transcend borders
All Directions invites visitors to discover stories about identity, happiness and work, borders and displacement, and the meaning of home. Through their creations, the artists reveal that migration is a timeless phenomenon, interwoven with emotions such as love, sorrow, and hope. Connecting the threads of time and experience, the artists share stories of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

A standing banner explaining the exhibit in Dutch and English. A life-sized bus made out of fabric is placed inside the large gallery space. An old, open book containing photos of Chinese immigrants with details written in Chinese.

Daniel looks at a series of large portraits of a Black man posing in various historical dress while holding football paraphernalia. A lightbox lit up with photos of Chinese dishes, displayed in a 4x10 grid. The back of the fabric commuter bus with the words, A series of monuments made out of yarn and woven using different styles of African hair braids. Six old tiles in the style of Delftware, each depicting a person from a different ethnic background. A painting of a feminine figure wearing a sarong and holding what seems to be the outline of a gun, except the gun is not painted in and is left blank. Two mirrored metal plates with cut out typography. One reads, A bust of a Black woman in terracotta is placed next to a small sculpture of the Statue of Liberty as a Black woman. A copy of the infamous National Geographic issue of the Afghan girl is contained inside a glass case. On the wall is an image of the same girl, except she is covering her mouth with her hands and scarf. Her eyes looking bright and happy. A series of portraits of pickup trucks shot from a birdseye view, showing migrant workers sleeping in the backs of the trucks. A large panel with a Japanese painting of red-haired, Western men wearing baggy white pants and black hats standing together, leading a black dog with white spots on a leash. Portrait of a Black woman standing with her arms crossed in front of a pink background. Her hair has been woven into the shape of two muscular arms, sticking out from the sides of her head.

A piece that really stood out to me was "Untitled" by Shilpa Gupta. Every 30 minutes, we heard a loud BANG! in the room. It came from this gate, which swung violently to the other side of the wall, slowly cracking it with the imprint of what seems to be the outline of a territory.

"shilpa gupta’s art often looks at the physical and ideological existence pf boundaries, revealing their simultaneously arbitrary and repressive functions. her works explore the interstitial zones between nation states, ethno-religious divides and structures of surveillance – between definitions of legal and illegal, belonging and isolation." (Source)

☕︎

At this point, we realized we only had less than one hour to see the rest of the museum. We took our time in the first wing and I told Daniel that we should breeze through the second. But we couldn't, because there were so many interesting pieces!

Peige and Daniel pose in front of their distorted reflection inside the exhibit. Two large charcoal drawings by artist Samah Shihadi, featuring a young figure interacting with stones in a landscape dominated by prickly pear cacti. Peige showing their Delftware-inspired nail art in front of a large blue and white Delftware vase. A photographic image made into a blanket, showing tomatoes inside plastic tubs and a black cat looking up from the floor.

We ended up spending around 30 minutes here, which gave us around 10 minutes to view the first floor. We were on a time crunch, because Daniel still wanted to squeeze in a trip to PrintRoom which closed at 18:00, and then we had to be back in Den Haag to meet R&S for dinner at 19:00.

Usually, I would just skip it for next time, but I don't know when I'll be back and I was curious! So we did a mad dash between the two wings. (And we even managed to quickly peruse the gift shop.)

Blocks of suitcases from various eras tied together to form walls, creating a large maze. Photo exhibition, focusing on a black and white image of two Black men, one who has a sign around his neck reading, A large, black and white photo of white children from the 1980s, standing with their hands on their heart and reciting the pledge of allegiance. In the center is an Asian girl, glancing towards the side and looking nervous, with both hands down.

FENIX gets 2 thumbs up from me. A very moving museum, and as a proud immigrant, it warms me to see that people care about our stories, especially from the generations that came before us. Immigrants make the world go round!


PrintRoom

We hastily left the museum after 17:00. We still had to take the train and walk 20 minutes to PrintRoom, an independent bookstore specializing in art books. While this is totally my jam, I was super tired from our museum excursion and bemoaned that there were no buses or trams that would move us closer to the location. However, Daniel was insistent, so I pushed forward, whining the whole way.

We found ourselves in a neighborhood with a school nearby and kids playing outside. Rotterdam was bombed flat during WWII so all the buildings within the city were built within the 20th century. While I'm a sucker for old buildings, I enjoy seeing how differently a contemporary building could look depending on the country you're in. For example, most of the doors in the neighborhood had round windows and reminded me of doors on a ship. I thought that was really cute.

Finally, we arrived at PrintRoom. Alas, I do not have pictures except this one, because I filmed for 30 seconds and spent the rest of the time perusing all the books.

There were so many books and we only had about 15 minutes because they would be closing soon. I knew I had to walk out with something because I'm a patron of the arts. In the end, I settled for a teeny tiny photo book of office chairs in Taiwan.


Dinner

The store closed immediately after I made my purchase. Then it was another 20-minute walk to Rotterdam Centraal. We would be a few minutes late for dinner, so I asked my cousin to meet us at the restaurant.

We met up at T&C Haus, which serves popular Taiwanese fare. R said they visit here once every two weeks for popcorn chicken and bubble tea. I ordered the classic beef noodle soup* and a guava tea. The soup could've been more flavorful, but the texture of the noodles and beef were chef's kiss.

* I forgot to take pictures. Here's a reference of the beef noodle soup.

Daniel decided to order a mandarin basque cheesecake for dessert. I was pretty full already but had one tiny bite. My god, it was heavenly! Absolutely divine! Unfortunately, I would not have another chance to eat it again on this trip.

After our meal, we took a stroll around Den Haag. I did take pictures, but since this post is about Rotterdam, I'll do a Den Haag street art photo gallery in another post.

And that was our lovely day! Oh, here's the loot drop:

Read all NL posts here.

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