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Strandtent La Cantina Food Identity independently reviewed
Food Identity How restaurants source, cook and care. Independently reviewed

Strandtent La Cantina

A beach pavilion at the start of the Zuiderstrand in Scheveningen, run by the same owners since 1998, serving fish, tapas and grilled dishes from nine in the morning, with surfers' showers and a first aid point on site.

Allergies Not published, ask the kitchen ahead

Food Identity How restaurants source, cook and care. Independently reviewed

Strandtent La Cantina

A beach pavilion at the start of the Zuiderstrand in Scheveningen, run by the same owners since 1998, serving fish, tapas and grilled dishes from nine in the morning, with surfers' showers and a first aid point on site.

The essentials, at a glance

Allergies Not published, ask the kitchen ahead

Documented practices
Independently
reviewed
Low waste
Social impact

Documented practices

Low waste Green Key audited waste and purchasing baseline
Social impact First pavilion provides surfer showers and first aid

Style
Café
Casual
Cosy
Cuisine
Dutch
International
Mediterranean
Seafood
Good to know
Terrace
Bar
Private dining room
Dog-friendly
Child-friendly
Children's menu
Recognised by
Green Key
Recognised by
Green Key

The delicious details

La Cantina sits at the beach entrance where the Zuiderstrand begins, under the windmill near the southern harbour head. Richard and Bianca Arnold took the pavilion over in 1998 and still run it, to a simple principle: everyone is welcome, and nothing needs to be complicated.

It is the first pavilion on this stretch of sand, so it does more than serve food. Surfers use the showers and lockers, there is a well stocked first aid point and a defibrillator, and staff keep an eye on the beach. The terrace is left without background music, so the sea stays the loudest thing on it.

The kitchen runs through the day, from breakfast to dinner, with fish, tapas, buffets for groups and a children's menu. Coffee is Fairtrade. The pavilion holds a Green Key certificate in its own name.

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

Daily service from breakfast to dinner, with fish, shellfish, grilled meat and Spanish tapas on itemised menus. Group packages offer parallel fish, meat and vegetarian versions so a table can eat together. Vegetarian dishes include lasagne, stuffed aubergines, mushroom risotto and sweet potato stew.

The card runs from breakfast through lunch to dinner. Fish and shellfish are well represented, with salmon, prawns, hake and squid across the group menus, alongside grilled meat, spare ribs and Spanish tapas.

Group menus are built in three parallel versions, fish, meat and vegetarian, so a table can eat together. The vegetarian dishes stand on their own rather than serving as a single fallback: a vegetable and goat cheese lasagne, aubergines stuffed with chickpeas, a sweet potato and vegetable stew and a wild mushroom risotto.

A children's menu runs alongside the main card, and the bar pours craft beers, wines and Fairtrade coffee.

Cuisine

Dutch
International
Mediterranean
Seafood

Dietary options

Vegetarian options
Impact score
How this restaurant rates
1 - Starting

La Cantina holds a Green Key certificate in its own name, awarded after an on site audit against criteria covering waste separation and reduction, purchasing, water and energy.

The pavilion also carries a standing community role on this stretch of the Zuiderstrand. As the first pavilion on the beach, it keeps a well stocked first aid point and a defibrillator, offers showers and lockers to the surfers who use it as a base, and watches over the beach. Its owners have run it since 1998 on a stated principle of keeping the door open to everyone, children, dogs and grandmothers included.

Green Key is an international environmental certification for hospitality businesses, held here by La Cantina itself and by a number of the other Den Haag beach pavilions.

The impact dimensions

Low waste & circular practices✓

Social impact✓

Plant-forward menu

Green Key certified for waste separation, purchasing, water and energy management.

La Cantina holds a Green Key certificate in its own name, awarded after an on-site audit covering waste separation and reduction, purchasing, water and energy. It sits amongst other Green Key certified pavilions on this stretch of the Zuiderstrand.

The pavilion's owners have designed plans for a replacement pavilion with solar panels, a vegetation roof, double glazing and aquathermal heat pumps, using timber from responsible sources. These plans were drawn up but are not yet permitted under the current beach licence.

Strongest sourcegreenkey.nl ↗

Offers surfer showers and first aid, and maintains an open-door community policy alongside forty-seven years of ownership.

La Cantina is the first pavilion on the Zuiderstrand and fulfils a standing community function on this stretch of beach. It keeps a well stocked first aid point and a defibrillator on site, offers showers and lockers to the surfers who use it as a base, and staff keep watch over the beach and give first aid.

Co-owner Bianca Arnold states the standing principle: 'Everyone is welcome here, bring your child, your dog and your grandmother.' The terrace is kept free of background music so the sea stays the loudest thing. Richard and Bianca Arnold have owned the pavilion since 1998, with Bianca having moved from employee to co-owner.

Strongest sourcelevenmagazine.nl ↗

Vegetarian menus run in parallel to fish and meat options, with lasagne, stuffed aubergines, stew and risotto.

The group menus run fish, meat and vegetarian versions in parallel across lunches, high teas, wraps, quiches, tortillas and skewers. A dedicated vegetarian buffet lists a vegetable and goat cheese lasagne, aubergines stuffed with chickpeas, a sweet potato and vegetable stew, and a wild mushroom risotto sits on the Italian buffet.

The vegetarian dishes stand on their own rather than serving as a single fallback. At the same time, the buffets are structured around meat and fish, with vegetables appearing mainly as components within the dish. The à la carte card is published as images and could not be reviewed.

Strongest sourcelacantina.nl ↗

Sourcing signals

✓
Fair-trade commodities

Fairtrade coffee is served, as stated on the operator's venue page.

Visit & practical info
Address, price, and more
Address
Zuiderstrand 1, Slag 12, 2583 ZZ Scheveningen, Den Haag, Netherlands
Open in Google Maps ↗
Price
€€
Format
À la carte daily 9am-10pm, group menus and event spaces by arrangement.
Hours
Monday09:00–22:00
Tuesday09:00–22:00
Wednesday09:00–22:00
Thursday09:00–22:00
Friday09:00–22:00
Saturday09:00–22:00
Sunday09:00–22:00
Seasonal beach pavilion. The restaurant's own website states it reopened on 21 March 2026 and is open daily from 09:00; regional press reports that year round operation on this stretch of beach has not been permitted, so the pavilion closes over winter. Structured hours to be backfilled from Google Places.
Style
Café
Casual
Cosy
Good to know
Terrace
Bar
Private dining room
Dog-friendly
Child-friendly
Children's menu
Web
lacantina.nl
Reviewed by My Treats
Last reviewed 30 Sep 2026
Reserve To website
Link copied
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 an impact score from 1 to 5.

The five levels

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

Starting First verified signals of sustainable practice.
This place
Engaged Credible practice across two dimensions.
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.

Scores of four or five 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
—
How this dimension works
—
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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