by Joy Nedved
This genial café is just a few hops, skips, and jumps away from Dam Square(Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 87). It’s the perfect place to sit back, get comfy, and escape from all the frenzied tourists of Kalverstraat.
Besides being the perfect place to get mellow (may I suggest the “Blue Cheese Strain”), Home Grown has an impressive array of teas, hot chocolate, and other beverages. Home Grown is also a magnificent place to take first timers to try “space cakes” which are brownies and cakes cooked with hash. I would say that the quality here is better than your average “space cake”.
Also above average here is the hot chocolate. It was especially appreciated since I was there during mini monsoon season also known as the first week of August. I’m pretty sure that is there isn’t anything more heavenly than sipping on some yummy hot chocolate while waiting on your turn at the pipe and watching as the rain and wind pound hapless tourists w-a-l-k-i-n-g along the bike path.
Plus, if you are easily amused, and I am, then you should definitely take a trip to the loo here. They have ultra-violet lights installed in the bathrooms that make your pee look bright green. Now any other time, I would probably find the sight of neon urine alarming but here I found it vastly comical. So did my friends and after a space cake so will your friends!
There is definitely an atypical vibe here. Home Grown seems spacious and bright for a coffee shop but yet the feel is sedate and friendly at the same time. The bud tender was helpful and patient as we decided on what to drink, smoke, and snack. I kind of felt like I was at a kinder, gentler, and more melodious version of Starbucks. Of course this would be in a world where Starbucks would use their world franchising domination powers for good, not evil. That would be a “home grown fantasy” come true. Oh well, a toker can dream, right?
If looking for a place to dream a little dream then Home Grown is just right up your alley and also down the street from Magna Plaza. See you around the pipe.
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