Venue provided complimentary drinks during Sherika’s visit for this feature. The Hague Online retained editorial control, and the views expressed are the writer’s own
There is an Arabic word — baytna — that means our home. It is the kind of word that carries weight: not just four walls and a roof, but the smell of something slow-cooking, the sound of family, the feeling of being truly welcome. For the owner of Baytna Café, Tatjana Sharif, that feeling has a very specific geography. Every summer of her childhood, no matter where life had taken her, she would return to Palestine, the country of her father and his family – and every time, she was reminded of something she has never forgotten. “No one hosts like Palestinians,” she says.
She is right. Palestinian hospitality even has its own name: karam. It is not merely a social custom but a deeply held moral value — the idea that a guest must be offered food and drink before any other conversation takes place, and that turning someone away unfed is simply unthinkable. Walk into Baytna and you will understand immediately that this is not a concept she has left behind. Baytna’s owner is half German, half Palestinian, and has spent much of her life moving between cultures and countries. She studied in the UK, worked in human rights, and carried Palestine with her everywhere she went — in memory, in identity, and eventually, in food. As a child, she was a tomboy and didn’t particularly love cooking. What she loved was eating. Her grandmother made sure of that, quietly and consistently ensuring she was always well fed, always at a full table. It was only later, as a student navigating life abroad, that she began to find her way into the kitchen herself. Cooking, she discovered, was grounding. A way to slow down. A way to feel at home even when home was far away. “It became something that helped me relax,” she says.
Tatjana believes strongly that you shouldn’t force life to move in a particular direction; that when something is right, it finds its shape on its own. The café is proof of that philosophy. What began as a desire to share Palestinian food and culture with her community in The Hague has become something far more alive than a menu. Regulars now message her directly to ask what’s available that day. There’s a warmth to it, a neighbourliness – the kind of relationship between a cook and her community that used to be common and is now rare. Karam, alive and well, in the heart of The Hague.
Step inside Baytna and you are not simply walking into a café – you are walking into someone’s story. On the walls hang tapestries from the Tatjana’s parents’ home: rich, tactile pieces that carry the particular warmth of a family house, the kind of objects that hold memory in their threads. They are not decorative in the conventional sense. They are personal, and that is precisely what makes them so affecting.
It is a small but significant detail. In a city full of beautifully designed spaces, Baytna feels different. The kind of place where the décor has a history and the person who hung it could tell you exactly what it means.
Palestinian cuisine is one of the oldest continuous food cultures in the world, rooted in the Levant and shaped by thousands of years of trade, agriculture, and migration. It is a cuisine of the land — built around olive oil, sumac, slow-cooked meats, and grains — and deeply communal by nature.
At Baytna, the menu draws from this tradition while also reaching across the broader Arab world —the flavours that travel across borders because good food always does. Everything is made with care and intention, and the weekend brunches in particular have become something of a quiet institution. Expect dishes that are rich with spice, slow with flavour, and generous in portion — food that, as she puts it, is for the soul.
Her cooking style is intuitive, shaped by memory and instinct rather than strict recipe, which is reflected in her popular cooking classes. The goal isn’t to follow instructions to the letter but to understand ingredients, trust your senses, and cook the way her grandmother did: from feeling.
The seasonal menu shifts with what’s available and what feels right, which means there is always a reason to return — and her regulars certainly do. The space designed for people to linger. Book clubs meet here. Workshops are hosted here. Companies looking for a warm, characterful venue for team events or off-sites can hire the space, with Baytna providing the food and drinks. The events calendar reflects the owner’s background in community and human rights: thoughtful, inclusive, and always centred on bringing people together. “I love hosting,” she says, and you believe her entirely.
It would be impossible to write about Baytna without acknowledging the weight of this moment in history. Tatjana has lost family in the war. She carries that with her every day. And yet, she remains — extraordinarily — positive and hopeful. What she wants people to understand is this: Palestinian identity is so much richer and deeper than what the news cycle reflects. A people reduced in the global conversation to conflict alone lose something essential — their food, their laughter, their legendary hospitality, their culture of gathering and feeding and welcoming strangers as family. A quiet, delicious act of reclamation. A reminder that Palestinians are warm and loving people with a food culture worth celebrating — one plate, one gathering, one shared meal at a time. And on the walls, the tapestries from her parents’ home bear quiet witness to all of it. Every dish served here is a small piece of that story.
Baytna Café is located on Piet Heinstraat 112 and is open for weekend brunches as well as private events, workshops, and community gatherings. Follow them on Instagram for updates on seasonal menus, upcoming events, and daily specials.
Images: Sherika Rooplal-Clappers and provided by Baytna cafe
Do you have a story about your own café, restaurant or bar in the city? Reach out to sherika@thehagueonline.com to possibly be featured.
Sherika Rooplal-Clappers is a contributing writer for The Hague Online, covering culture, lifestyle, and local events. With a passion for storytelling and international perspectives, she highlights the people, places, and experiences that make The Hague a dynamic city.
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