The terrace is the reason you keep coming back
Karavan is fundamentally simple: when the sun is out, you want to sit here. The terrace grabs the light early and holds it for a long time. That makes it one of those places where your breakfast automatically becomes lunch, and lunch automatically becomes drinks - not because you plan it, but because your chair doesn't call for you to leave.
Inside, it feels like walking through a miniature landscape
As soon as you go inside, you notice that this is not "just another café." Studio Modijefsky has constructed the interior as a kind of itinerary: different zones, each with its own feel. You don't have to remember exactly what 'forest' or 'desert' is - you notice it by materials, colors and how the space suddenly feels smaller or just more spacious. As a result, Karavaan works even on gray days: you're not just inside, you're somewhere.
Outside you come for the sun, inside you linger because the café itself is a little trip.
A neighborhood spot that doesn't pretend to be one thing
Karavaan is neither a coffee corner that happens to have food, nor a restaurant that happens to serve coffee. Instead, it's the mix that's right: you can land there with coffee, join for lunch, and stay later with a drink without the atmosphere suddenly turning. That also makes it easy to meet up: everyone can hook up at their own time, without having to call it "dinner" or "drinks."
Why this square wins with it
On Kwakersplein Karavaan acts as a kind of anchor: people blow in, stay a while, catch up, and the square immediately feels livelier. It is not a place that cries out for attention - it is a place you automatically choose because it is practical and pleasant: sun when possible, indoor atmosphere when necessary.