The Surprise Accoutrements of our Dutch-speaking Coffee Stops

What’s the best thing about coffee culture in Belgium (and, seemingly, the Netherlands too)? It’s the little mouthfuls-on-the-side that sneak onto your saucer somewhere between the barista’s fair hand and your table. You never know what you’re gonna get! And it makes up for a lot of frankly bog-standard coffee too…

It’ll go in the bin otherwise (even if it’s wrapped, cos the coffee cup started to melt it) so don’t deny yourself that unsolicited tickle of sugar, you are on holiday after all!

Little crunchy sugar crystal cinnamon wafer things, Paviljoen de Oostvaarders, Almere, Netherlands
Chocolate cacao nib ganache of delight, Preps cafe, Maastricht, Netherlands
A quintessentially British Bakewell tart from French-sounding Maison Dix cafe in the Dutch-speaking Belgian city of Hasselt. How cosmopolitan
An Easter smorgasbord, courtesy of Sweet Coffee, a rather saccharine high street cafe chain in Belgium: mini Twix, local hero Jules Destrooper biscuit, shot glass of slagroom 🤢 (I beg your pardon?!?)
A morsel of fruity crumble, Lento restaurant, Hasselt, Belgium
DISAPPOINTING! A plastic-wrapped chocolate Easter egg miniature, cafe at CC Muze, Heusen-Zolder, Belgium. These are like the Belgian cafe culture equivalent of getting Nescafé in your hotel room i.e. BASIC. The Cherry Chouffe was good though 👍
Costa (!) coffee served with a finger of banana bread. Lola’s, Genk, Belgium
Fingernails of Anzac, so small they barely registered, Blue Zone espresso, Zandvoort, Netherlands
The Classic: golden Easter egg with Liégeois waffle (there was more waffle but Josh got his chops around it quicker than I could say smakelijk. Le Cherubijn, Horebeke, Belgium
The Imposter: vegan vanilla fudge cube at Brew in Paisley, Scotland

24 April, 2023

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