By Daphne Wayne-Bough
Coffee is
not the average Belgian's first thought when he/she walks into a bar or café,
to be honest. Beer is a more likely choice. Until recently there was
no real difference between a bar and a café here, the terms were
interchangeable, and most of them serve food in one form or another as
well. In a regular bar, a latte is known as a "lait russe" (Russian
milk) because it is served in a glass, and whether you order 'un café' or 'un
café au lait' you will get a black filter coffee with a small pot of milk on
the side and a speculoos biscuit or a chocolate. Most bars also serve
Italian style (emphasis on the style, not on the “Italian”) coffee such as
espresso or cappuccino. Service is not as speedy as in Paris or as
friendly as in New York. Foreigners constantly complain about the slow,
surly waiters and waitresses in Brussels cafés. In the end, it all
depends what you’re looking for: if it’s
beautiful surroundings, you might have to go without free wi-fi. If it’s a view, you might get appalling
service. And in most cases, the coffee
will be nothing to write home about.
Starbucks has just taken hold in Brussels, meaning it's several years behind London in café culture. Cold drip coffee, for example, has not yet made an appearance here. Brussels is still at the Central Perk stage, a comfy seat in a coffee shop is a relatively new thing. They tend to judge a coffee experience still by the quality of the coffee in the cup, which as any barista knows, is the last thing a good coffee bar thinks about. It's all about the lifestyle experience, and one must dress the hipster if one is going to hang out reading Philippe Djian on one's iPad whilst sipping overpriced mediocre coffee with a flower drawn on the froth. For men, tweed cap, waistcoat and jeans topped off with a white silk scarf knotted loosely at the neck like a pashmina are the appropriate uniform. Women can get away with anything, as long as they have a copious and expensive handbag.
Classic cafés
Café Belga, on place Flagey 18, is what the French always refer to as
“incontournable”, which roughly translates as “a classic”. Built into the ground floor of the iconic
original RTBF building, it is THE place to stop for a coffee or a beer after a
hard Sunday morning gathering handmade olive bread, sundried tomatoes or
organic mushrooms from the weekend market on the square.
Fans of
Jacques Brel should drop in to Le Cirio on Place de la Bourse,
which JB used to frequent. There is a photograph of him on the wall at the
back, taken in the cafe. They serve tea and coffee, but the house
speciality is "Half en Half" - half champagne, half white wine.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g188644-d2032109-Reviews-Le_Cirio-Brussels.html
Just up the road on Place de
Brouckère is the Café Metropole with its gorgeous art deco
interior, recently renovated and renamed. Sit and watch the
world go by from the open terrace overlooking the square that Jacques Brel
mentioned in one of his songs, "Bruxelles".
Just up the road on Place de
Brouckère is the Café Metropole with its gorgeous art deco
interior, recently renovated and renamed. Sit and watch the
world go by from the open terrace overlooking the square that Jacques Brel
mentioned in one of his songs, "Bruxelles".Surrealist cafés
La Fleur en Papier Doré, (Het
Goudblommeke in Flemish) 55 rue des Alexiens, where the early
surrealists used to hang out, is a piece of history, where you could find
yourself sitting in the same seat once occupied by Magritte or Hergé.
Cultural
cafés
Some of
the nicest cafés in Brussels are in museums. The café-restaurant in the Belgian Comic Strip Centre offers food
and drinks whimsically named after famous comic strip characters such as
Tintin. It is also a beautiful room in this gorgeous art deco building
designed by Victor Horta, Belgium's art deco maestro.
The
Flemish Library at the Munt, known as the MuntPunt, has a trendy café bar at the back, the Grand Cafe, with an entrance on Rue des Dominicains. Full of Flemish hipsters complaining there is
not enough ginger in their chai latte,
with free wi-fi and cool Cuban music.
Sometimes has live events.
Gratuitous picture of froth kitten to prove how irrelevant
the quality of coffee has become
Cafés with a view
One of
the best views in Brussels can be had from the café on the top floor of the Museum of Musical Instruments or MIM, in another beautiful art deco
building, which has a fabulous roof terrace. Sunday brunch on a summer day is a must. The Museum is pretty good
fun too. http://www.mim.be/the-restaurant
And if
its views you're wanting, the café at the very top of the Atomium (our answer
to the Eiffel Tower) is unmissable - which is more than can be said for the
coffee.
People-watching
The
coffee might be nothing special in Brussels, but the cakes are worth the
detour. Cafe Wittamer on Place du Grand Sablon
specializes in home made macarons in
lots of exciting flavours. The square also boasts several top
chocolatiers, including the uber-trendy Pierre Marcolini and an antiques market
on Sundays. The Sablons is people-watching heaven. Hipsters mingle with antique dealers and
tourists to sip aperitifs and cast a critical eye on the wealthy passers-by in
their Chanel suits and matching miniature poodles.
The
coffee might be nothing special in Brussels, but the cakes are worth the
detour. Cafe Wittamer on Place du Grand Sablon
specializes in home made macarons in
lots of exciting flavours. The square also boasts several top
chocolatiers, including the uber-trendy Pierre Marcolini and an antiques market
on Sundays. The Sablons is people-watching heaven. Hipsters mingle with antique dealers and
tourists to sip aperitifs and cast a critical eye on the wealthy passers-by in
their Chanel suits and matching miniature poodles.
Sunday is
also the day to visit Les Marolles,
the oldest district of Brussels, where the flea market and the second-hand
furniture and antique shops are open all day. Around the flea market at
Place Jeu de Balle (where Tintin found the model ship in The Secret of the
Unicorn, on which Spielberg based his film) are a number of popular cafés
and restaurants which are great for people-watching, especially if the weather
is clement.
In summer
try and get down to the Bois de la Cambre, the beginning of the vast Forest of
Soignes at the bottom of the chic Avenue Louise. In the middle of
the park is a lake, and in the middle of the lake is a cafe called Le Chalet Robinson, which can be reached by a
motorised raft. http://www.chouxdebruxelles.be/en/venue_chaletrobinson.htmlBean to cup
The Flemish have historically taken their coffee a bit more seriously
which is to be expected, since Antwerp
is the world’s biggest coffee port.
Flemish coffee shops – not to be confused with Amsterdam coffee shops,
which are something different entirely – are finding their way down to
Brussels, and about time too.
Ghent coffee specialists Or Coffee Roasters now have two
coffee bars in Brussels now, one at Rue Auguste Orts 9 in trendy St Géry, the
second on equally hip Place Jourdan 13a.
Many varieties of freshly-ground coffee are available to savour in
faux-industrial surroundings.
If you want to know about coffee, ask an Italian. The Italian I asked told me that in his opinion the best coffee in Brussels was Ethiopian coffee house Aksum at rue des Eperonniers 60 in the old town near the Grand’Place. Aksum is too cool for its own good, run by an Ethiopia-obsessed Finn.
And talking of Ethiopia, Ethiopian restaurant Toukoul has an Ethiopian coffee ceremony every afternoon on a weekend, performed by a charming Ethiopian lady in traditional dress.
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Corica (Comptoir oriental des cafés) in Rue Marché aux Poulets 49, just off Anspach, is an unprepossessing little place
with no seating – you stand at the bar – but the best selection of coffees in
town. This is where you can taste that
Jamaican Blue Mountain your dad always told you about, Sumatran Java, Ethiopian
Harar or Zambia Elephant Coffee.
(Hopefully not made the same way as Vietnamese weasel coffee).(Nothing to do with real coffee, but if you really can't manage without your Tall Flat Strawberry Mocha, there are now several branches of Starbucks in Brussels now – three at the airport alone, one at the Gare du Nord, the Gare Centrale, inside Rogier metro station near the Gare du Nord, and – sacrilege! – now on the Grand’Place).
In the slipstream of Starbucks, some real “coffee bars” have seen the light of day recently , and the brunch/teatime scene has developed a new dimension. Café Jat’ and Workshop Café at 28 and 87 Rue de Namur respectively, are pleasant, airy spaces with comfy sofas where you can have brunch, lunch, drinks, meet a friend or just sit and read the papers (on your Kindle) (my next piece will be entitled “How to be a Brussels Hipster”).
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Chic Avenue Louise boasts the original Workshop Café at no. 146, Natural Caffé at no. 196a (at the Lesbroussart tram stop) and Café de la Presse at no.493 down near the Bois de la Cambre. Natural Caffé have just opened two new branches at Schuman (rue Breydel 50) and Mont des Arts 20.
Finally, following my triumphant tour of 'Nam, where I became addicted to Vietnamese iced coffee, there is one place in Brussels where you can actually sample it. Of course it doesn't taste the same in Brussels weather, but Vietnam Express on Rue de la Paix just off Place St Boniface will run you up a fair approximation of a cà phê sữa đá.
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