Perhaps the best thing about Belgium, besides its beautiful architecture, is the chocolate. It is EVERYWHERE. We has our first hot chocolate yesterday in Brugge in which we whisked solid chocolate into hot milk. It was so rich and earthy tasting. I tried a fair trade dark chocolate and Jef had a Vietnamese chocolate, which was lighter than mine. Today we stopped at Pierre Marcolini, which is the picture at the top of the page. I chose the hot chocolate with whipped cream and three chocolates to taste which were all dark. The whipped cream is, you guessed it, chocolate. This was a much thicker chocolate yesterday, but even richer and so satisfying. If you are not a chocolate lover, you probably wouldn’t understand the joy of drinking a hot chocolate as intense as these drinks, but it lifted my spirits to face the crowds at the next museum.

Waffles are another big treat in Belgium. We tried the regular waffles, but these were a different take in Brugge. You bought the waffle on a stick, which they made in front of you, then you could coat it with whatever chocolate you choose, and a topping. It was more expensive than a regular waffle, but it was so good and not as big, so I thought it was worth it.

Moules et frites or Mussels with fries. (We’ll talk about the fries in a moment, they are also an amazing food to try in Belgium.) Mussels are on almost every menu. They are usually around 20 euros, sometimes more if you want them in a particular style. I was lucky and ordered from a lunch menu and got half a pot. It was more than enough for me to eat. You can see how many mussels are in a half pot above and mine were served in a white wine sauce. I could have drank it like a soup at the end. Honestly, I did drink some from my spoon. Jef ate most of my fries, which I can’t eat a lot of anyway, but they are really good here. There is a nice balance of potato and crispiness. There are long lines at the frites places and they serve them with an extensive list of sauces. The most popular is mayonnaise, but there were also interesting ones that we didn’t understand such as Americaine and curry ketchup.

In short, I’m loving my food options here and these are just a few of the most popular. Anything else I should try? Send me a message and let me know.