The grand café at the foot of the Burcht castle, with a leafy terrace running up the slope of the artificial castle mound. The interior is the standard turn-of-the-century Dutch grand-café formula — high ceilings, polished wood, reading-room newspapers — and the location, just off the city's central market square, is hard to beat.
A reliable lunch stop and an even better place for an afternoon beer with a book. Sitting on the terrace beneath the brick walls of the castle is one of the small pleasures of Leiden.