The best beers and a great place to go on a night out. Always have to visit when in London. 1 thing missing though, needs to stock Leffe Ruby! :)
One of the best pubs in London. Very friendly staff and great food and drinks. I have been there a couple of times and I always love to come back!
I lived in Amsterdam for a decade before moving back to London. De Hems is the place to go when I crave naughty dutch bar food.
They do all the classics. Leverworst (wedges of hard pork pate served without bread), vlammetjes (very spicy Indonesian style deep fried spring rolls) and my favorite bitterballen (balls of veal stew that are chilled, congealed then breaded and deep fried). Bitterballen (similar to croquettes but liquid when you bite into them) were a little smaller than those you typically get in the Netherlands. This suggests they are actually homemade from scratch instead of imported via the freezer section. The other bar snacks are absolutely authentic.
It can get very crowded at weekends. There's usually more room upstairs. Good selection of beers.
A stalwart pub that has been around from the end of 19th century. A good pub for meeting with friends or an after work drinks. Close proximity to Chinatown.
Lovely pub for after work drinks, and their food is actually pretty good! My colleague and I enjoyed pints in the upstairs area, and the proximity to china town means a hangover cure is nearby.
De Hems, the incongruous Chinatown Dutch pub, isn't much better but at least they don't make much of their food menu. Here it's downplayed as the Dutch would do, greasy little treats to keep you stuck to the bar for longer. The bitterballen are certainly authentic, they remind me of the fat dripping vomit gobstoppers I (drunkenly) yummed up in Amsterdam. Half an hour after eating and you've got a slight curry afternote and the occasional gaseous hit of grease mingling with your exotic pint. As beery snacking goes this isn't just dated, it's practically medieval. Don't get me wrong, fried is after all one of my favourite food groups, but if you're going to go down that route, for God's sake try harder. Imagine how good your excellent beer would be if you could soak it up with a decent snack.
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Reliable old pub in the heart of the West End, De Hems has been around since 1890, when it was bought by a Dutch sailor of the same name.
It is the only Dutch cafe bar in the UK, although it is for all shapes and purposes very much a British pub in style, albeit with a selection of real Dutch ales. It's principal lager at the taps is the Dutch drop Orangeboom, a crisp tasting pale continental pilsener. And you may feel some of the refinement of European cafes while drinking one of their sweet cherry beers, but the floorboards by the end of the evening are always just as sticky and beer-sodden as any other pub in the area.
You can also get a glass of the Belgian amber ale Pauwel Kwak here, which you can drink in a traditional glass that has a large bulbous bottom and must be hung on a wooden tressel because it won't stand on its own. The beer is a rather potent 8.4% alcohol in strength and the staff usually (and strangely) make you leave one of your shoes behind the bar as collateral for bringing the fancy glass back (They give you a bright green Croc to wear in the meantime).
De Hems occupies a beautiful old building just off the main drag in Chinatown and has a lot of history, including being a meeting place for the Dutch resistance during the Second World War.
The pub is owned by Nicholson's and has their standard free house fare, fancy sandwiches, beef or chicken pie, fish and chips, bangers and mash - all coming in slightly above or below the £10 mark. There is also a good wild boar burger you can get and a cherry Eton mess sundae dessert for sweet tooths.
However, most people go to De Hems for a drink. It has a warm, friendly atmosphere and is beset with young Dutch folk at least one Thursday each fortnight.
Last thing you would expect from London's Chinatown is a Dutch pub, but De Hems is actually one of my favourite hangouts in this area of London. The have a great selection of decently priced continental beers, with my favourite Franziskeiner on draft, and the pub is always lively without ever feeling too crowded. The upstairs room offers some nice couches where to chill out and the DJ playing on Friday evening is just the coolest think you could find around here for the price of a pint.
It is Right next to our apartment so we just strolled in. We really enjoyed the beer selection. Didn’t have the food but the bartenders were cool and attentive. Have a lovely time.
I'm kind of surprised that I'm giving De Hems a 5 as the food was a bit average - the beef stew was nice, and hearty - though had very minimal beef.
However I am giving it a 5 as they have a very interesting beer choice in what is pretty much a good beer desert - so many scruffy Greene King/Nicholson kind of pubs in the area, so De Hems is a bit of a gem. Plus we could get seated in the evening after work, and it had air conditioning on a fairly hot day.
Very welcoming staff too. Will be back. Will probably become my pre-theatre drinks spot.
Sports bar in Chinatown with a big selection of Belgian beers (but not Hoegaarden). Shows sport like f1, rugby, football…good atmosphere and obviously close to a lot of decent places to get some food afterwards. Definitely London prices though - £8-9 a pint.
Great vibes at this standout pub bar cafe in Chinatown. Seems like tourists and locals all enjoy this quaint place. Tons of beer selection and good food as well. Will be back!
An old bar with good food known for its amazing beer list. Put on an extensive list of foods for A reception, all of which were good. Some people love it. Strangely enough, it is at the edge of Chinatown. The upstairs bar is nice if you can navigate the old narrow staircase.
My favourite bar in the whole of London. I am so glad it survived the pandemic as I used to come here all the time pre pandemic. Fantastic selection of Belgian beers for me which are best in the world. Plus they had delirium red on tap this week. I have never seen delirium red on tap anywhere in the word besides Belgium so this was a huge plus. Absolutely fantastic service and great Belgian beers. If you love beer then this is the best pub in London full stop.
Love this bar, been going every now a d then over the last 15 years. Great atmosphere and really cool place. Either sitting outside watching people go by or tucked away upstairs. Food is really good and you get to try some Dutch specialities. But the beer is the real high point so much variety and choice and all really tasty served by friendly happy staff.
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An under-appreciated gem in the city!! We’re here at least once every 1-2 weeks! If you asked me to recommend something similar in central London, there really isn’t any anything even nearly comparable - really can’t say the same about another pub in town (they’re independent too and not own by the big 3 operators like literally every single pub sadly).
Get in on this place if you’re a fan of craft and unique beer offering, even rotating the tap with real Belgian and Dutch selection frequently, a lot of effort to keep the venue clean and well maintained, nice friendly staff, really chill owner but for me at least - most of all, the cutest GOODEST boy of a German Shepherd. He’s a cuddly and sometimes sleepy friendly super giant and an absolute show stealer!! 🦮
We found the place because my boyfriend needed somewhere to wait for me to finish some shopping after we grab lunch in Chinatown. But then we started to use Chinatown as an excuse to just be at this pub, sometimes skipping the food and shopping in altogether and just settling in instead 😂
Side note - they play all the big games with sound (not music), just ask the staff for schedule even when it’s not published they have it behind the bar.
Lovely pub right on the edge of Chinatown. Nice large upstairs bar with large screen showing sporting events. Downstairs bar is cozy. We ordered the Frickandellen Speciaal, the Kroketten, a side of Bitterballen and two pints of Heineken, which came to just over £40. Food was really good. Good sized portions too. Will definitely be back!
Great bar. Comfortable vibe. Great beer. Friendly staff. Great dog. Great people watching.
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