Egg ball, aaierball in regional language, is the culinary highlight of a genuine Groningen evening out. Which chip shop serves the best in 2024? The Great Groningen Egg Ball Test gives the answer.
Is the entire Netherlands about to embrace the egg ball? If Groningen has its way, yes, as the province has funded an egg ball machine with a fifty thousand euros subsidy. A nice plan, for sure, but how land-conquering this brown delicacy in the near future might become, HanzeMag’s egg ball test will remain a local tradition!
Last year, Roos and Barend, who grew up with a deep fryer, had the honour of conducting the Great Groningen Egg Ball Test. Having avid snack enthusiasts run the test is a logical choice. But I thought it’d be interesting to approach it differently this time. I invited two international Hanze students, Kyriakos Papasavvas from Cyprus and Marco Siciliano from Italy to test our local delicacy. Until this test both gourmets had never tasted an egg ball before.
For the great egg ball test of 2024, we selected six chip shops. Naturally, we visited last year’s winner, Cafetaria Koning, and Big Snack Hoek, the winner in 2020, couldn’t be skipped neither. Additionally, we visited snack bars with high Google scores: Frietwinkel, Friet van Piet, ’t Vosje, and Tasty Joe.
Big Snack Hoek
We start our egg ball quest at Hoek on Grote Markt (very convenient: hoek means corner, which is exactly where the snack bar is located). The service is exceptionally fast, with the egg balls already awaiting us in the vending wall. We pull out two and take our first bite.
‘I don’t know what I was expecting’, says Kyriakos, ‘but it wasn’t this. It’s curry, isn’t it?’ The crust is reasonably crispy, the taste is okay, a bit dry and not much ragout inside. A plus is the egg’s temperature, which is warm on the inside, and with three euros it’s also very reasonably priced.
Score: 5 (out of 10)
Frietwinkel
We continue our test at Frietwinkel, a place mostly known for its fries (which is obvious, because friet is the Dutch word for fries, but please be careful: some people will punish you for saying friet, these rabid fanatics insist you use patat). Marco and Kyriakos already agree this is their favourite spot for delicious fries, but what about the egg balls? Priced at €3.20 per ball, it’s bigger than Hoek’s, it has considerably more ragout, and it tastes less dry. ‘A bit better, but not by much’, Kyriakos concludes. His verdict is strict, a five and a half. Marco and I are slightly more lenient.
Score: 6 (out of 10)
Friet van Piet
Then, another Groningen classic: Friet van Piet. We arrive there Sunday evening around eight, and it’s still pleasantly busy inside. The egg ball costs €3.40, the priciest in our test. Marco: ‘A higher price means higher expectations!’ The service is exceptionally fast: this egg ball is, after Hoek’s, the first on our table. In terms of size, it’s pretty equal to Frietwinkel’s. Marco: ‘I find this tastier. The flavour is good.’ Kyriakos doesn’t seem convinced at first but admits after some hesitation: ‘It’s more creamy.’
Score: 8 (out of 10)
Cafetaria Tasty Joe
Also a cafeteria with very good Google-scores, and, as an extra bonus, Tasty Joe runs two chip shops in the city. The egg ball is again large, creamy, and crispy. Moreover, the price is relatively low, at €2.80. This brings us to a nearly equal score with Friet van Piet.
Score 7.9 (out of 10)
Cafetaria ’t Vosje
’t Vosje (which as you might have guessed is Dutch for: little fox) also has particularly good scores on Google, yet it’s somewhat of a Great Unknown to us. The price of an egg ball here is on the high side, €3.30. The service is very friendly, though, with the gentleman cutting the egg ball in half for us. However, the ragout’s flavour falls a bit short. ‘I feel this is quite average for an egg ball’, concludes Marco, who takes the role of expert more and more seriously. The crust is medium crispy, and overall, it’s an okay egg ball.
Score: 6 (out of 10)
Cafetaria Koning
Koning (which is the Dutch word for king) merged as the winner last year, but the establishment changed hands over the past year. Fortunately, this included the recipe for the famed egg ball. Priced at €2.60 each, Koning’s egg ball is the cheapest in our test. The egg ball looks perfectly round. The ragout’s flavour is perfect and wonderful spicy. I dare now say that there’s a significant quality difference between the cafeterias. Any downsides to this treat? Yes, the egg inside my tasty ball is a bit overcooked, it has turned slightly blue.
Score: 8.2 (out of 10)
The Final Verdict
The top three egg balls were very close together, each with its pros and cons. The price at Koning is exceptionally low and the ragout tastes delicious, though the egg is slightly overcooked. The egg ball from Friet van Piet also tastes fantastic, and Piet’s yolk is perfect. Tasty Joe is a newcomer in the lineup of the Great Groningen Egg Ball Test, but scores well right off the bat. Good taste here too, and again a relatively low price. Yet, Cafeteria De Koning proves its worth once more, remaining, in our opinion, the king of egg balls!
Foto: Marco Siciliano
