a day in belgium

I spent a fantastic day in Brussels today, to help a good friend celebrate her birthday eve. It's my personal belief that birthdays should span a minimum of three days: birthday eve, birthday day and birthday boxing day, and ideally more if possible.

The food in certain cities in Europe is beyond compare, and Brussels is definitely in my top ten. It isn't any particular dish or flavour for me, but more the craftsmanship and attention to detail in the national specialties - chocolate, waffles, moules, beer. Of course, there are also the enterprising locals who, intent on making the most of the tourist trade, cast crude Manequin Pis knock offs out of chocolate and waffle batter!

In any event, we spent the day wandering the beautiful cobbled streets and eating as much of the food as possible, and souveniring anything we weren't able to make room for.

These treats consist of delicious chocolate flavours with a spoon embedded in the top, and in some cases, a plastic vial of liquor. You heat some full cream milk and then stir the chocolate in (squeeze the liquor as you go) and voila! a delicious belgian hot chocolate. I brought two home for us.

Great artisanal cheese shop off the Grand Place

All of the restaurants make these elaborate seafood displays to entice you in. Worked for us.

This sweets shop looked almost radioactive.

PAUL is a chain of patisserie/boulangerie all over Europe (well, specifically, France, Brussels and the UK, I think). Their cakes are to die for, their hot chocolate the most sinful creation ever and their savouries super yummy too. The first time we had food from PAUL was in Paris - it was a baguette sliced down the middle, filled with two long, skinny sausages and topped with gruyere cheese, then grilled, so it solidified into one melty cheese mess.

This chocolate shop was fantastic. They let us try so many samples - all delicious, of course - so we picked up around 800g of chocolates between us. Brussels is a great city to explore and the food is definitely a highlight!