Woke up extra early today. I think I have adjusted to the time zone and all the walking the past one week. I must have walked at least 10 kilometers every day since I started from London. Also, I have stopped noticing how heavy my backpack had been. Oh … I am beginning to feel homesick!
I thought I start off the day in the Grand Place and have a look at it under dry weather. I was pretty sure there are some places that I can have breakfast around the area.
I found this place just off the Grand Place for breakfast. What do Belgians normally have for breakfast? My impression is that Belgian breakfasts consists of waffle. Oh well … waffles sounds OK for me.
This is a warm and bright place. I can see lots of tourists having their breakfast here — it’s because almost every table have either a map, a travel guide or a camera on the table.
I ordered a glass of orange juice and a coffee. I normally just order either or but this time I had both. I realize I had not been drinking as much as I should the past few days. I do feel parched by the time I got back to my room everyday. One thing about drinking water … don’t get your drinking water from the convenience store or stations as they are more expensive in those places. Often, if you find a local store or supermarket, that is the best place to get them. I also have a stash of snacks — something sweet and something salty.
One thing I noticed about coffee in Europe — they always come together with a small piece of biscuit.
So, I guess this is the traditional type of waffle that Belgians take. Plain waffle with just icing sugar. This one is very light and hardly what I call a breakfast. The two drinks and the waffle costs about 9 Euros. Expensive, right?
9 Euros for those!? I agree that is expensive.
the last photo, the belgian waffle type thing, is called a gauffre pronounced (goph, sort of like gopher without the “er”). apparently they aren’t made in the US, and we ate them as a snack w/out the sugar on top, but they were still very sweet.
9 euros was sort of expensive…6 or 7 would be more like it.
Hey
I’m belgian and can safely say that in fact nobody eats waffles for breakfast 😀
Its something you eat at either 11 o clock or 4 in the afternoon.
Belgian breakfasts are very similar to the French ones: croissant or donut-like treats with an espresso to go 😉
If you eat breakfast at home, it usually consists of bread and jam or chocolate paste, with juice or coffee or good old cereal. Belgians almost never eat heated foods in the morning…
Hope you like the answer !
Hi,
I’m belgian too. Kim is correct about the breakfast. Breaky at home, most people would also put cheese or ham on the bread.
As for the price of the waffles with 2 drinks, I think 9 euro is quite reasonable. The drinks itself would be around 5 euro’s? That leaves about 4 euro’s for the waffle, which is quite reasonable. Don’t forget you are also in the centre of the city, in a touristic part (I know the shop of the photo) which makes everything a bit pricier.
There are many different types of waffles. The one in the picture is called the Brussels waffle (in Dutch/Flemish that is: Brusselse wafel). The dough is made with yeast, which makes it so light. It is eaten with icing sugar or with whipped cream or even icecream.
At most belgian trainstations, for instance, you can buy another type of waffle, the Luikse wafel, which is a much denser waffle with little chunks of sugar in it. Very nice too.
Anne