  |
|||
|
| Friday, March 24, 2006 Travel: Brussels
After a month(!) of not posting, I was looking on my hard drive and realized I had never posted any Brussels reporting. This being a site named after waffles and all, I figured I should do that.
 In the Grand Place, above this doorway is apparently St. Honore, the patron saint of cooks and bakers. I suppose he is who you pray to when you want your souffle to rise perfectly.  A luikse wafel, or liege gaufre from Belgaufre, the most prominent chain of street waffle vendors. This waffle actually changed my mind about liege waffles-- I had previously disliked them, but I guess I had never had a good one!  Le Pain Quotidien (which, in the U.S., has cafes in L.A. and New York) started in Brussels. I like their formula: a huge country-style communal table, serving simple soups and sandwiches with delicious bread and pastries. The funny thing is that I made a mistake reading the menu (hey, my Dutch is questionable and I don't know French except for ordering hot chocolate), so we ended up with beef carpaccio tartines (read: beef tartar on country bread with Parmigiano, pesto and olive oil). Listen, it did not say "carpaccio" or "tartar" or even "filet americain" anywhere. Anyway, it took us a minute to figure it out, but it was delicious anyway.  Pierre Marcolini near the Grand Sablon is considered to be one of Brussels best (if not the best) chocolatiers. I didn't purchase any bonbons this time around, but I really liked their "pure source" chocolate bars, especially the one made from Ecuadorian chocolate.  Tempting pastries at Pierre Marcolini  Various molds at the Grand Sablon antiques market  We went to Dandoy, which is apparently the holy grail of cookies for Belgians. They specialize in speculoos, the lowlands ginger cookies that is known as speculaas in the Netherlands. I hate to say it, but I was disappointed. I actually came away from the shop's overpriced cookies preferring Dutch grocery-store speculaas! The perlas au chocolat (above) were the only cookies from Dandoy that I found delicious. Links Le Pain Quotidien Pierre Marcolini Biscuiterie Dandoy Chocolate and Zucchini: The Biggest Speculoos in the World Labels: travel posted by sheryl | 9:00 AM | comments (1)
|
|
Welcome to Sheryl's site dedicated to the humble waffle, among other sweet, savory and delicious things. I'm based in The Hague, Netherlands, and post recipes and travel (food, of course) photos. Mmmm...photos... Top Posts Categories Recent
Posts Food Links Personal Blogs January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 |
|||
