La Brouette - Brussels

We spent one day in Brussels on our summer trip, and went to lunch at La Brouette in the Grand Place. It was a great recommendation from Richard Soley. The waiter remembered him. Richard is memorable.

This is the restaurant around the corner from Maison J. Dandoy, where speculoos cookies were invented. I mentioned it in an earlier post.

We had multiple delights in this one lunch. Of course, the setting was wonderful. The wood decor was probably from the remodeling in 1697. My Belgian ale was a hit with my daughters. The waiter said it was an Affligem dark, but I'm guessing it was the dubbel.

This beer was a big departure from what I usually like. I typically go for heavy hops flavors. I must say, I'm a new fan of the Belgian style. My daughters both said that this was a beer they would order out. We joked that if someone asked them what beer they wanted, they could say, "I'd like a full bodied beer with light hops. You know, like a Belgian ale."

The next delight was my sandwich. The menu called it a Croque Argenteuil. It was a grilled ham and cheese with asparagus and hard-boiled egg. I do love a grilled ham and cheese. The asparagus added richer flavors that blended in amazingly, and the egg kept the tastes from overpowering my taste buds.

Next, we split a simple Belgian waffle. We were full, but couldn't miss out on one. It was a nice ending to a great lunch. Actually, the ending was Noele's speculoos cookie.