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Leiden · Netherlands

Restaurant La Diva

A small, owner-run restaurant in the centre of Leiden where the kitchen writes a fresh four to six course surprise menu each day around the best seasonal produce.

The essentials, at a glance

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Impact score
2 - Engaged
→
Documented practices
Seasonal cooking
Sustainable meat/fish

Style
Fine dining
Cosy
Cuisine
French
Mediterranean
Fusion

The delicious details

Restaurant La Diva sits on the Noordeinde in the centre of Leiden, a small dining room run by chef Frank Hakkenberg in the kitchen and Kim Hakkenberg front of house. There is no fixed menu. Each day the kitchen builds a sequence of four, five or six courses from whatever seasonal produce is at its best, so no two visits are quite the same.

The cooking has a French and Mediterranean base, opened up with ideas drawn from further afield, and every course can be matched with a wine chosen by the glass. Guests can flag what they would rather not eat, and a full vegetarian menu is prepared with a day's notice.

The result is a personal, hands-on style of dining in a compact space where the daily surprise menu is the whole point.

Menu
What's on the table, and what's left off

The menu changes daily and is served as a set sequence of four, five or six courses, so the kitchen cooks to the market rather than to a fixed card. Recent courses have run from a tuna tartare with cucumber, mango and wasabi to glazed langoustine, veal with morels and a sweetbread croquette, and a cheese course chosen with Kaasfort Amsterdam. Fish comes through the Vis & Seizoen foundation, which works with seasonal, responsibly caught species, and the meat is selected from animals raised for good welfare.

Cuisine
French
Mediterranean
Fusion
Dietary options
Vegetarian options
Allergies handling
Notice Advance notice

Notify the restaurant with advance notice (at least 24 hours) when booking; the kitchen accommodates dietary restrictions and allergies by adapting the surprise menu.

Impact score
How this restaurant rates
2 - Engaged

La Diva builds its menu around seasonality: with no fixed card, the kitchen composes a new sequence of dishes every day from the produce at its best. Gault&Millau notes independently that the menu changes each day depending on what is available.

Fish is supplied through the Vis & Seizoen foundation, which focuses on seasonal and responsibly caught species. Meat is selected from animals raised for good welfare.

The impact dimensions
Local & direct sourcing
Seasonal cooking✓
Sustainable animal products✓
Plant-forward menu

Local sourcing stated as a kitchen value but no named local producer is identified.

The restaurant describes its produce as fresh, from nearby and responsible ('vers, van dichtbij en verantwoord'), positioning local sourcing as a kitchen value.

The suppliers named—a cheese distributor in Amsterdam (Kaasfort Amsterdam) and the national Vis & Seizoen fish foundation—are not regional producers.

Strongest sourcerestaurantladiva.nl ↗

Daily menu changes compose a new sequence from seasonal produce at its best, independently confirmed by Gault&Millau.

Seasonality is the founding principle: the restaurant composes a new sequence of four, five or six courses every day from the seasonal produce available. The chef builds the menu to the market rather than to a fixed card.

This daily rotation is confirmed independently by Gault&Millau, which describes a menu 'that changes daily depending on what's available', and is echoed in multiple review sources.

Strongest sourcegault-millau.nl ↗

Fish sourced through Vis & Seizoen (seasonal, responsibly caught); meat from animals raised for good welfare, no named supplier identified.

Fish is sourced through the Vis & Seizoen foundation, a named third-party initiative that supplies seasonal, responsibly caught species. This gives a traceable sourcing partner with a stated sustainability commitment.

Meat is described as coming from animals raised for good welfare. No named butcher, farm or certification is identified for the meat category.

Strongest sourcerestaurantladiva.nl ↗

Menu centres on fish and meat; vegetables are components. Vegetarian menu on request with advance notice; no vegan option offered.

The daily menu structure is built around fish and meat courses (tuna, mackerel, langoustine, veal, lamb, duck), with vegetables appearing as components rather than the foundation of the plate.

A full vegetarian menu is available on request with 24 hours' notice. No fully vegan menu is offered.

Strongest sourcerestaurantladiva.nl ↗
Visit & practical info
Address, price, and more
Address
Noordeinde 23, 2311 CA Leiden, Leiden, Netherlands
Open in Google Maps ↗
Price
€€€
Format
Four to six-course surprise menu, advance booking
Hours
MondayClosed
Tuesday18:00–21:30
Wednesday18:00–21:30
Thursday18:00–21:30
Friday18:00–21:30
Saturday18:00–21:30
SundayClosed
Dinner service only, from 18:00, Tuesday to Saturday; closed Sunday and Monday. Lunch available on request for groups of 10 or more. Closing times not published on the website; Google Places backfill pending.
Style
Fine dining
Cosy
Web
restaurantladiva.nl
Reserve a table
Reviewed by My Treats
Last reviewed 11 Jul 2026
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How we score
The My Treats impact scale

Every restaurant is assessed against SEERO, our six-dimension sustainability framework — covering sourcing, seasonality, waste, animal products, social impact, and plant-forward cooking. Each finding is weighted by how strongly it is corroborated. The combined result is translated into a planet rating from 1 to 5.

The five levels

SEERO is an acronym for Starting, Engaged, Endorsed, Recognised, Outstanding:

Starting First verified signals of sustainable practice.
Engaged Credible practice across two dimensions.
This place
Endorsed Meaningful practice across three or more dimensions.
Recognised Strong practice across four or more dimensions, with independent corroboration.
Outstanding Top-tier practice, confirmed by recognised third-party audit.

How a level is reached. Each level needs two things together: a minimum number of dimensions covered, and a minimum overall strength of evidence across them. A dimension only counts once its evidence is specific and substantiated — a passing mention doesn't qualify. Meeting only one of the two keeps a restaurant a level lower.

Ratings of four or five planets require human validation and, at the top tier, an external audit. Scores are based on publicly available evidence and restaurant submissions at the time of assessment.

Full methodology→
Impact dimension
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How this dimension works
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How evidence is weighted
Self-declared Stated by the restaurant on its website, menu or in a submission. Plausible, but not yet independently corroborated.
Researched Found through independent research; one credible third-party source backs the claim.
Vouched Corroborated across more than one independent source. Some gaps may remain.
Audited Fully corroborated across independent sources or by a recognised third-party certification.
What the sourcing checkmarks mean
✓ Full check — independently verified: corroborated across more than one source, or audited / third-party certified (vouched or audited).
✓ Light check — self-declared or from a single source. Not yet independently verified.
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